By Zefry Dahalan
The anti-GST protest scheduled to take place outside the Parliament House tomorrow has been called off by the organisers following the government's decision not to table the bill for the second reading in this parliamentary session.
The decision to call off the protest – planned to start at 9am tomorrow despite a police warning – was made late last night following a hastily arranged meeting.
“The protest is called off. We, the rakyat, have won the first round. We will fight until the GST Bill is dropped,” said a member of the organising team in an SMS to FMT.
This new twist came about following Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah's announcment yesterday that the government will not be tabling the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill for the second reading as it wanted more public feedback.
“We want the public’s opinion on the GST,” he had said, just days after dismissing speculations that the implementation of the GST would not be called off and that it will go on.
The planned protest was organised by a coalition of NGOs and opposition parties called Protes. The key members of this coalition are PSM, grassroots movement Jerit, rights group Suaram and the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), as well as political parties PAS, DAP and PKR.
The protest tomorrow was planned to coincide with the start of a new Parliament session which will kick off with a royal address by the Yang di-Pertuan Agung.
Last week, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Othman advised the public against taking part in the illegal rally.
'Our fight will continue'
Meanwhile, PSM's secretary-general S Arutchelvan said in a statement that the government's about-turn showed that it did not want to risk losing the upcoming Sarawak state elections or in the next general election.
“We call for the BN to hold a referendum on the question of GST and not just claim that it plans to consult the people.
“We also call upon the government to maintain corporate taxes at its current rates and implement a Minimum Wage Act to ensure the growing income disparity be narrowed down. But all this efforts will go in vain if we cannot plug the leakages and confront corruption.
“While we would claim victory with the Protes coalition for the bill not to be tabled for now, nevertheless we believe that the GST will be back to haunt us in another form,” he added.
