By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Oct 2: A group of netizens will be staging a flash mob-style protest at the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, Jalan Stutong, here, this Friday (Oct 4) at 10am.
This to urge the Indonesian government to seriously act on the rampant forest fire and open burning, which has choked Sarawak in haze recently.
The protest group representative, Sivanesan Sanmugalingam, said the move was initiated to pressure the Indonesian government for the lack of pre-emptive and pro-active action on the forest fires and rampant open burning, which was seen as main cause of the haze that engulfed Sarawak for weeks.
“We will also be delivering a letter (to the consulate) addressed to the Indonesia President (Joko Widodo), seeking his attention and help pre-empt the haze next year, so that not only we in Sarawak but his citizens in Kalimantan will be spared from the toxic air,” he told a press conference today.
Sivanesan said he was prompted to act on the support by fellow netizens concerned about the issue following several sessions on Facebook live.
He had then proceeded to obtain the permit from the police pursuant to the Peaceful Assembly Act and Section 736 of the Act pertaining to rights to protest.
“Today (Oct 2), I have received the necessary permit from the police to conduct the protest at between 10am and 10.45am on Oct 4,” he said.
“The permit comes with 25 conditions, which I will meet to conduct the gathering in a peaceful and orderly manner,” he added.
The conditions include no shouting, no miss behaviour of any sort, as well as no banners and placards.
Sivanesan pointed out that the number of people attending the event will be limited in efforts to prevent unknown entities, who may have other intentions or agenda, from tarnishing the effort made by caring Sarawakians. — DayakDaily
