Socialist Alliance – URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY – CRACKDOWN ON MALAYSIAN SOCIALISTS

URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY – CRACKDOWN ON MALAYSIAN SOCIALISTS

Dear friends and comrades

We have received an urgent appeal for solidarity from the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) following the arrest and detention og 30 of their members including their Member of Parliament Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj and several other leading members. They were arrested while conducting a peaceful nation-wide bus tour to build a mass rally for democracy to be held in the capital Kuala Lumpur on July 9. For background see “Malaysia: Government arrests socialists ahead of Bersih 2.0 pro-democracy rally”: ).

Please publicise this matter and send your messages of solidarity to the PSM to:

“International Bureau PSM” and

Thank you,

Peter Boyle
National Convenor
Socialist Alliance (Australia)
+61 401 760 577

* * *

URGENT APPEAL : 28 JUNE 2011
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CRACKDOWN ON MALAYSIAN SOCIALISTS:

30 PSM ACTIVISTS CHARGED UNDER ABSURD SECTION 122 – WAGING WAR AGAINST THE KING

30 Activists from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) including two juvenile have been charged under the Section 122 of Penal Code (waging war
against the Monarch and trying to revive the communist ideology ) and are remanded for 7 days for practicing their freedom of expression. If
they are charged on this section, then they will be denied bail.

The group were arrested on the 25th June at Kepala Batas, Penang while they were distributing leaflets to inform the public in their campaign
Udahlah-Bersaralah (It is Enough, Time to Retire) national awareness campaign that PSM recently conducted from 24 to 26 June 2011.

The news of PSM trying to revive communism was based on common t-shirts of left leaders found in the bus carrying the PSM activists.
The news that PSM trying to revive communism was the major story in all the local mainstream media and it is meant to create fear on an
imaginary enemy – a tactic used commonly in the past to crackdown on activist.

Among those arrested are PSM National Deputy Chairperson M.Saraswathy and PSM Member of Parliament Dr. Jeyakumar Devaraj.

The following are the PSM activists arrested.

7 detained at the Penang Police Headquaters are:

1. Dr, Jeyakumar – PSM’s sole Member of Parliament

2. Choo Chon Kai – PSM International Coordinator

3. Selvam (bus driver)

4. Letchumanan- PSM Sg. Siput Branch Secretary

5. M.Sarasvathy – PSM National Deputy Chairperson

6. Chong Moi

7. Soh Sook Hwa – PSM Central Committtee Member

The remaining are being held at Kepala Batas detention centre :

8. M.Sukumaran – PSM Central Committee Member

9. Kamaladevi

10. Indra

11. Saroja

12. Velayutham

13. Santhana

14. Ravindran – PSM Youth Secretary

15. RaveenVeerasenan

16. Thivya Kumar

17. Packialechumy

18. Jody

19. Wong Mei Yong

20. Nalaiyani

21. Deepa

22. Remy -Tanjung Malim Branch Chairperson

23. Saratbabu – PSM Youth Chairperson

24. Gana – Buntong Branch Chairperson

25. Sivoosamy – Bercham Branch Secretary

26. Shanmugam

27. Subramaniam

28. Arokiammangalam

29. Murugan

30. Tanushia

31. Kavitha

PSM condemns the charges by the government who is trying to implicate PSM as waging a war against the King and reviving the old Malayan Communist Party. This big blatant lie is used on the 30 PSM activists who were involved in the (It is Enough, Time to Retire)”, national awareness campaign by PSM held from the 24th-26th June 2011. The activists who were supposed to be released unconditionally have been remanded for 7 days under Penal Code Section 122 that is waging a war against the King.

The statement by the police and the accusation by the current government on the PSM activists is baseless, absurd and politically motivated. Thus
PSM demands the government to stop all this nonsense, release the detainees and apologise to the PSM on its baseless accusation.

PSM feels it is rather hilarious that the government tries to connect PSM with Communists just by finding a few t-shirts that have communist leader images. This t-shirts are sold very openly and anyone can buy it without any problems. Moreover the government of Malaysia has political and diplomatic ties with the Communist Party of China, Cuba, Vietnam and many other countries.

Besides that, it must be pointed out that the, the Malaysian government has signed the peace agreement with the MCP in 1989 and also senior communist leaders like Rashid Maidin, Suriani dan Abdullah CD have had a royal audience with the DYMM Sultan Azlan Shah. Thus, bringing
back the communist bogeyman in post cold war era is a desperate move by the UMNO –BN regime to continue to cling in power while instilling fear among the people and to justify the use of the draconian [Internal security Act] ISA.

PSM is a registered party who is doing legal (above ground) activities and is well known and a popular party. PSM has always acknowledged the contribution of the left parties in the struggle for independence such as PKMM, API, AWAS and the MCP (PKM). These recognition of these left
parties by the PSM cannot be narrowly interpreted that the party is trying to revive the MCP.

The media controlled by UMNO-BN has highlighted this accusation to scare people away from the Bersih 2 rally scheduled for July 9th. PSM supports the BERSIH2 rally, even though the Enough …Retire BN Campaign has got nothing to do with Bersih 2 rally. However police are trying to make a connection between the both so that they can stop the Bersih2 rally.

PSM is aware that the action against the PSM is a systematically planned action by the police to create an imaginary enemy with the intention to create an ”Emergency” environment where the government can justify the use of the ISA as well as do a massive crackdown to stop the Bersih 2 rally on 9th of July which is gaining momentum and mass support by the people.

The recent police action on PSM will not stop us from continuing our struggle and fight for the rights of the workers and people.

We seek solidarity locally and Internationally. PSM is currently the sole socialist mass movement in the country and we will continue this
great struggle.

Long Live Socialism !
Long Live the PSM

Released
by, S.Arutchelvan

National Secretary General
Parti Sosialis Malaysia

visit our website at

http://parti-sosialis.org

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