Eight to stalk Selangor MB in show of protest

By EDWARD RAJENDRA

SHAH ALAM: Eight members of Gerakan Reformasi Rakyat Malaysia (Reformis) will stalk Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and strip naked when they come face to face with him.

The men, aged 33 to 50, are from the movement’s Dare to be Nude Squad.

They have decided to go ahead to bare all in protest against the state government’s decision to raise the rental of low-cost houses.

“Our struggle is to keep the rental rate for government low-cost houses under the People’s Housing Scheme from going up.

“We wanted a police permit to strip in front of the State Secretariat as a sign of protest but we were denied it, so, now we will stalk the Mentri Besar and go butt naked when we get the chance,” said movement president Ramlan Abu Bakar.

He said the movement could not accept the state executive council’s decision in July to raise the rental from RM124 to RM250 a month for about 6,200 homes.

“We will go naked to get the message across. Our act is to humiliate or embarrass the Mentri Besar for not keeping to his general election promises to help the low-income earners,” he said.

On Nov 29, Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar had said that the police would reject applications for permits of such nature.

Ramlan said the act of going naked was similar to pie throwing, where pies are thrown at politicians or others as a means of protesting against political beliefs or against a perceived arrogance in the person.

Yesterday, Ramlan, together with nine other members, lodged a police report and also filed a report at the state Anti-Corruption Agency here against Khalid for alleged misuse of funds in organising a Rakyat’s dinner at the PKR national congress last week.

“We want Khalid to vacate his post while the investigations are going on,” he said.