-Rani Rasiah, PSM  Central Committee Member, September 14, 2013.  

Rewind to the dark days of early 2009 in Perak when the democratically elected Pakatan Rakyat government was unseated in a coup d’état unashamedly plotted and staged by no less than the Prime Minister himself.

Last ditch attempts to hold on to the legitimate government failed, with large numbers of protesting Perakians getting arrested.

The Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court’s judgment today on the case of 13 Perak activists who protested the illegal oath taking of the coup organisers, marks another sad day for Malaysia. With its verdict, the court has punished in the severest manner those who defended democracy by giving the maximum sentence under the law: imprisonment of two years plus a RM5, 000 fine, and denial of stay pending appeal.

The verdict has allowed the offenders, the coup stagers to walk free despite their crime of undermining and toppling the elected government by buying over unscrupulous PR state assemblymen. The popular vote remained clearly in favour of the PR, and calls for a by-election in Perak went unheeded. Perak was to be taken, even if it was through foul means.

While the full impact of the verdict is on the 13 brave individuals, all Perakians and Malaysians who value democracy are also affected.  Perakians know the truth, and they know that the 13 who are in jail now represent them, and that there is no natural justice in the court verdict.

The PSM calls for the 13 to be granted stay of execution until the appeal is over.

Section 145 of the Penal Code under which they have been convicted reads thus: Joining or continuing in an unlawful assembly, knowing that it has been commanded to disperse.

Do the 13 activists deserve two years plus RM5, 000? And in the context of a coup?