KOTA KINABALU: Two Sabah opposition leaders have described a court order to stop them from gathering for the May Day rally as “police tyranny and abuse of police powers”.

Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Tamparuli representative Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing said although they were not promoters of the event, the order obtained by police and naming them as defendants was misleading.

“While we fully support the issues to be raised at the rally, both of us are not involved with the organisation of the gathering,” they said in a joint statement yesterday.

They said the action was nothing short of police tyranny, abuse of police powers and contempt of court.

The issues raised by Sabah Bersih 2.0 and the 40 civil society groups that support the rally are legitimate grievances of Sabahans and should be addressed by the federal and Sabah governments, they said.

Both leaders said the police ought to look at the issues and take the necessary action, instead of going to court. The rally to be held in Kota Kinabalu tomorrow is to protest issues such as the goods and services tax, land rights and problems resulting from illegal immigration in Sabah.

Kitingan and Bumburing said the lack of action in Sabah, including by the police, “has led to up to 1.5 million illegal immigrants being given MyKads dubiously and then entered into the electoral roll”.

Both said police should allow the rally as peaceful assembly was allowed under the law. “The police action and the court order also serve to confirm the recent statement by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia is now a police state,” they said.

The court order covers five main open areas in Kota Kinabalu and will be in effect to Sunday even though the rally is only scheduled to last two hours from 3pm tomorrow at Padang Merdeka in the state capital. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 30, 2015.