(The Malaysian Insider) - One
million people will join the next Bersih rally in protest if Putrajaya does not
implement immediate electoral reforms, Mohamad Sabu has said.
The PAS deputy president pledged his
party’s commitment to organising the next Bersih rally, saying it would be
necessary if the government did not initiate proper polls reforms before the
next general election.
“The students who went for Bersih
3.0 showed their anger to the ruling government who have let them be saddled in
debt before even getting a proper job,” Mohamad (picture) was quoted by Sinar
Harian as saying at a ceramah in Shah Alam last night.
PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik
Abdul Aziz Nik Mat recently said that his Islamist party would organise and
facilitate Bersih’s next gathering.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit
Siang was also quoted by the Malay daily as saying that international observers
were needed to probe the violence which occurred during the April 28 Bersih 3.0
rally.
“People do not agree with Tun Hanif
Omar leading the panel for Bersih 3.0; we want something neutral, with no
interests,” the Ipoh Timor MP said.
The opposition and civil society
have called on the former police chief to be disqualified due to anti-Bersih
statements that came immediately after the rally for free and fair elections,
which had spiralled into chaos when protestors tried to enter Dataran Merdeka.
The so-called “Hanif panel” has
already been criticised for having no legal basis by Bersih and the Bar Council
and both bodies have also criticised the choice of the former police chief to
head the committee.
However, Hanif, who led the police
for two decades from 1974, has insisted he will be impartial, saying that he
has always acted fairly in previous enquiries and police investigations.
The opposition and NGOs have called
on the government to back a Suhakam probe into Bersih’s third rally for free
and fair elections, as the commission had also done so for a previous Bersih
gathering held last July.
The April 28 rally, which saw tens
of thousands gather at six different locations before heading to Dataran
Merdeka, was peaceful until about 2.30pm when Bersih chief Datuk Ambiga
Sreenevasan asked the crowd to disperse.
But her call was not heard by most
of the crowd who persisted around the historic square which the court had
already barred to the public over the weekend.
Just before 3pm, some protestors
breached the barricade surrounding the landmark, leading police to disperse the
crowd with tear gas and water cannons.
Police then continued to pursue the
rally-goers down several streets amid chaotic scenes which saw violence from
both sides over the next four hours.
Several dozen demonstrators have
claimed that they were assaulted by groups of over 10 policemen at a time and
visual evidence appears to back their claim but police also point to violence
from rally-goers who also attacked a police car.
The police car then crashed into a
building before some protestors flipped it on its side.
Sumber:http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/49326-one-million-people-to-join-bersih-40-says-mat-sabu
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