![](\"https:\/\/media.themalaysianinsider.com\/images\/uploads\/2011\/july\/01\/wao.jpg\")
Despite repeated warnings and claims of communist links from the authorities, the Bersih secretariat today insisted they will continue organising a rally for free and fair elections as they are \u201cnot challenging anyone\u201d.<\/p>\nDespite repeated warnings and claims of communist links from the authorities, the Bersih secretariat today insisted they will continue organising a rally for free and fair elections as they are \u201cnot challenging anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Police have said they will ensure the July 9 rally does not take place while leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government have warned people to stay away from the Bersih movement, which they claim has been hijacked by political interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appeal to the government to be rational. Deal with the issue brought to the table and give us an explanation… don\u2019t attack the civil societies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think they are killing the nerve of this campaign. But in fact, it has gone beyond this the secretariat. The rakyat is the nerve,\u201d Empower executive director Maria Chin Abdullah told reporters here today.<\/p>\n
Empower\u2019s premises acts as the Bersih secretariat, which was raided by police two days ago. Seven activists were called in for questioning while police seized goods related to the planned rally.<\/p>\n
Pictures of Samsiah Fakeh and Abdullah CD, former leaders of the now-defunct Communist Party of Malaya, were also confiscated, and were used to link the NGO with communism. Maria said the communist claim was to discredit the organisation.<\/p>\n
All Bersih-related materials are now deemed illegal as they are said to be promoting the illegal July 9 rally.<\/p>\n
Maria said Bersih, which represents 62 non-governmental organisations, has gathered 5,000 people to act as security personnel, with 100 doctors volunteering to be part of the medical team along with lawyers to deal with the immediate arrests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is any violence, certainly it will not come from Bersih,\u201d she said, adding that the police should co-operate with them to ensure the rally will be peaceful.<\/p>\n
Police have shut off all forms of negotiations with all organisers of rallies on July 9, with the Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar warning earlier today that the police will make sure the rallies do not take place.<\/p>\n
He said there would be no more room for discussions, and warned the organisers \u2014 Bersih, Perkasa and Umno Youth \u2014 to be prepared to be arrested if they did not abort their respective rallies.<\/p>\n
Despite Khalid\u2019s announcement, Maria said they will still arrange for a meeting with him again in the coming week.<\/p>\n
Bersih yesterday asked the police to suggest different routes and directions for the three groups on July 9 to ensure that its rally goes off without a hitch.<\/p>\n
WAO executive director Ivy Josiah said it is not Bersih\u2019s intention to challenge the government and that the rally should not be seen as a threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not challenging anyone. We just want a free and fair election. It is not a competition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.themalaysianinsider.com\/images\/uploads\/2011\/july\/01\/bersihitems.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHer remarks was in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak\u2019s announcement that he could have three million members from Umno to take part in the rally, but that it would be irresponsible to do so while adding that the BN government would not resort to force.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think every political party should be behind this. We\u2019re not looking for a fight,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Maria pointed out that Bersih is a civil society movement, not a political one.<\/p>\n
She also said that the eight demands by Bersih have been presented to the Election Commission (EC) \u201cmany years ago\u201d but no action has been taken.<\/p>\n
Election watchdog Bersih along with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component parties are gearing up for a rally this July 9, the second such gathering calling for electoral reform.<\/p>\n
Among others, the group is demanding that the government ensure a clean and fair general election, reforms in the postal voting system and an extended campaign period of at least 21 days.<\/p>\n
The first rally, also organised by Bersih, was held in 2007 and saw some 50,000 people take to the capital\u2019s streets. The gathering eventually descended into chaos when the police deployed tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators.-MalaysianInsider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite repeated warnings and claims of communist links from the authorities, the Bersih secretariat today insisted they will continue organising a rally for free and fair elections as they are \u201cnot challenging anyone\u201d. Police have said they will ensure the July 9 rally does not take place while leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}