Bersih 3.0 rally is on! April 28 in Dataran Merdeka

The Bersih 2.0 committee announced this morning that its next rally will be held at 2pm on April 28, at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

The theme of the rally, dubbed Bersih 3.0, is Duduk Bantah (sit-down protest), co-chairperson A Samad Said told a press conference.

Simultaneous protests are expected to be held in several places nationwide and other parts of the world, keeping up the coalition's pressure for clean and fair elections.

Ambiga Sreenevasan, the other co-chairperson, said three key demands would form the focus of the street rally:

The Election Commission (EC) must resign;
The electoral process must be cleaned up before the next general election; and
International observers should be allowed to monitor the polls.
Ambiga said the PSC’s audit of the electoral roll was incomplete, and it has not addressed issues related to postal voting, election offences, and measures to end dirty politics.

On security concerns in the wake of disrupted protests in the past, Ambiga said the security measures of Bersih 2.0 would be in place, in addition to hiring private security.

She also hoped that the police would ensure the security of the people.

“I call upon the leader of the opposition to meet with the prime minister, and come up with a bipartisan statement condemning political violence,” she added.

Berish 2.0 yesterday said the report of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform had failed in key areas.

The coalition of NGOs had previously warned that another rally would be held if its demands were not met as a result of the PSC process.

Andrew Ambrose, 36, representative from Sabah

The PSC was formed after Bersih 2.0 led a rally of about 15,000 people in Kuala Lumpur on July 9 last year to back eight demands for electoral reform.

The first Bersih rally had been held in 2007 with an estimated 40,000 people walking to the Istana Negara gates to submit a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Himpunan Hijau 3.0 as well

Himpunan Hijau, the people's protest against the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Pahang, will hold its 3.0 rally alongside Bersih 3.0.

“We are now facing a critical moment, where we need an immediate solution from the government to resolve the Lynas issue," Himpunan Hijau steering committee member Clement Chin (left) said.

“Because of this, we have decided to have our Himpunan Hijau 3.0 the same day, and we will be converging on Dataran Merdeka."

Met later, Chin said the Himpunan Hijau 3.0 protesters would gather in the vicinity and then march to join the Bersih 3.0 protesters.

Lynas president and chief operating officer Eric Noyrez said yesterday that Lamp would be completed and ready to start operations in three weeks.

By Koh Jun Lin