KUALA LUMPUR, AUG 11: The upcoming BERSIH 4 rally will be held at Dataran Merdeka, starting from 2pm on Aug 29 to 11:59pm Aug 30 , elections watchdog group or Coalition of Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH 2.0) today said.
Its chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said the the rally will demand clean and fair elections, a clean government, the right to dissent, improved Parliamentary democracy, and for the ‘saving’ of the Malaysian economy.
Maria also urged the protestors to gather at five other places first, namely Brickfields, Pasar Seni, Sogo, Masjid Negara, and Dataran Maybank, before converging to the Merdeka Square.
“We have already arranged numerous events, such as civil workshop, public discussion, cultural performance, and speeches delivered by several BERSIH leaders for the participants during the protest,” said Maria in a press conference.
Maria added that BERSIH 2.0 had sent letter to Inspector-General of Malaysia (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar informing the latter about the rally. BERSIH 2.0 will remain adamant in using Dataran Merdeka as their ultimate destination even if the request to do so were rejected by the police.
BERSIH 4 will be the fourth BERSIH rally in Malaysia history, with the first one being held in 2007 and the subsequent ones in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
BERSIH 2 and BERSIH 3 rallies managed to gather more participants than the first one. All BERSIH rallies, however, were greeted with tear-gas canisters and chemical-laced water gun from the police force which attempted to deter the crowd.
This rally, according to Maria, aims not to repeat the history again and expects cooperation from the government. It is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, and 35 other international cities simultaneously.
There will also be a launch on this Friday (14 August) regarding the BERSIH 4 rally in Menara Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) Auditorium at 8pm to promote the programs, increase the publicity of the rally and to give the participants more instructions during the event.
– The Rocket