Bersih denies it’s anti-govt, it wants free and fair elections

Teoh El Sen

PETALING JAYA: A Bersih 2.0 leader today sought to correct a misconception that the movement is anti-government.

“If the government stands for free and fair elections, then we are not anti-government,” said Haris Ibrahim, who sits on the steering committee of Bersih 2.0.

“But if the government is going to stand in the way of free and fair elections, we are against anyone who is against free and fair elections.”

He made his remarks in an interview on FMT RAW, a half-hour online broadcast that made its debut at 3pm today.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently accused Bersih of having a “dirty political agenda” in its plan to rally Malaysians for a “Walk for Democracy” on July 9.

In the interview with FMT reporter Stephanie Sta Maria, Haris said the conduct of the recent Sarawak election underlined the need for electoral reform in Malaysia. Watch Video

He added that a post-mortem showed that “it was corruption upon corruption upon corruption”.

Elaborating on Bersih’s purpose, he said: “We are just acting against anyone acting against the interest of the rakyat. We have eight simple demands. I think they are all legitimate demands.

“If the government is going to wake up to the need to clean up, and effect these reforms, why would anyone be against the government?

“We say again and again, Bersih is not pro-Pakatan Rakyat. Neither are we anti-Barisan Nasional. We are pro-reform.”

He said Bersih sent invitations to both sides of the political divide, but “it’s not our fault if BN chooses to stay away”.

Pre-emptive arrests

He renewed his invitation to all parties to participate in the rally. “Join us,” he said.

Referring to plans by Perkasa and Umno Youth to hold their own rallies, Haris said he respected their “right to peacefully assemble and I hope they respect ours”.

However, he accused the two organisations of attempting to taint Bersih’s objectives with their racial rhetoric.

“Every time they get involved in something like this, they bring in the race issues.”

But he added: “Malaysians are more mature, and are not so easily swayed by race rethoric, thank God.”

On the possibility of police action against the rally, Haris said Bersih was hoping that the police would realise that their function was to facilitate.

“Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees the rakyat the right to peacefully assemble,” he said. It supersedes the Police Act, which was enacted by Parliament.

“Yes we don’t have a permit and we never intended to and we don’t expect to get one.”

He speculated that pre-emptive arrests, as the Home Minister has threatened, would further spur people to participate in the rally.

He expected more than 150,000, which would be more than twice the number in the first Bersih rally in 2007, when police attacked participants with teargas and water cannons.

“If you want to arrest us, take the whole bunch of us,” he said. “This has become bigger than the committee. This is a movement that belongs to the rakyat who want to take part in this call.”

In ending the interview, he urged all citizens to participate and to wear the colour yellow, which he called “the new black”, the “bad colour”.

“Come on, it’s just yellow, for God’s sake. Don’t be afraid, claim your space. Do not allow the authorities to bully you.”