A small group of Orang Asli from Pahang, Perak, Kelantan and Selangor joined the Mayday protest rally against the introduction of the 6% Goods & Services Tax (GST) imposed by the government last month.
Although several essential goods are exempted from the tax, the impact of the tax has been felt by the Orang Asli, as it has for most of Malaysian society.
Hence the protest called by the civil society groups and the opposition parties. The Mayday annual protests, however, were a tradition of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, the Socialist Party of Malaysia, in keeping with the International Worker’s Day falling on 1st May each year. Over the past few years however, the major opposition parties have taken advantage of this annual workers-oriented rally to push their political causes as well.
It was generally a peaceful protest, despite little police presence and the insistence of small bands of protestors wanting to create trouble.
The police, however, have not let this rally off the hook. The same night they called in, or arrested, several people who they believed were the organizers of the rally.
More photos at: http://bit.ly/1zlIsDn
[Photos by Colin Nicholas, Puah Sze Ning, Jeffry Hassan.]