Despite facing sedition charges that carry hefty jail sentences, Tian Chua, the MP for Batu, and Haris Ibrahim, founder of the Anything but Umnomovement, came to the Black 505 rally in Petaling Jaya to fire more bullets at Prime Minister Najib Razak's government for its "high-handed intimidation".
Student Leader Adam Adli, who has already been charged and released on bail, was due to arrive but had to renege on his promise because his mother had taken seriously ill.
Even so, Adam sent a message of thanks to all his supporters, especially who had kept candlelight vigils to pressure the police into releasing him when he was under a 5-day remand last week.
"Although I cannot be with you, rest assured of my solidarity with all of you who are brave enough to stand up to this cruel and despotic regime," Adam said in his email message read out by the emcee.
Adam was arrested under the Sedition Act for allegedly inciting the people when he called on Malaysians to topple the Umno-BN regime during a speech at a Black 505 rally in Ipoh earlier this month.
The Black 505 rallies were begun by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim just 2 days after the controversial May 5 general election, where Najib had claimed victory with a 133-seats win versus the Pakatan Rakyat's 89 seats.
But Anwar, the Pakatan's de-facto head, had refused to concede defeat, claiming widespread cheating. He called for the first rally in Kelana Jaya to protest the electoral outcome on May 8, and 150,000 people turned up despite the short notice. Since then the Black 505 rallies - with black signifying the death of democracy - have been packed to standing room only, at every venue that Anwar and team visited.
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