PKR’s youth wing, the Keadilan Youth Movement (AMK) today denied allegations that it was paying people to participate in this Saturday’s #KitaLawan street demonstration.
Speculation on whether PKR would give cash handouts to protesters flared when a copy of a letter bearing the letterhead and signature of PKR secretary-general and vice president Rafizi Ramli began circulating online.
The letter stated that PKR members from party branches across the country would be given a RM150 travelling allowance each, not including a RM500 accommodation allowance per branch, should they choose to participate in Saturday’s demonstration in front of the Sogo shopping centre in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.
The cash incentive offer in the letter was limited to 10 general delegates, five AMK delegates, and five Women’s wing delegates per branch. Delegates were also urged to wear black to the event.
The letter was seemingly signed off by Rafizi.
AMK leader Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad told Astro Awani that no such letter had been issued by PKR leadership, and that those who distributed the “fake letter” had ulterior motives against the party.
“What we have done is only to mobilise our party machinery and to invite members of the public to stand in solidarity with us during the gathering,” Nik Nazmi said.
“But we never offered anything by way of monetary incentives.”
Vice chief of the AMK, Fahmi Fadzil, noted that there were visual discrepancies in the letter being distributed online, including a missing letterhead on the second page of the letter.
The #KitaLawan campaign, and Saturday’s impending street protest, arose from the Federal Court’s decision to uphold a sodomy conviction and five-year prison sentence for PKR de facto leader and parliamentary Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
The street demonstration is scheduled to begin at 3pm in front of the Sogo building.
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