According to Malaysiakini, Bersih will hold rallies in 3 cities to push for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s resignation plus institutional reforms to prevent prime ministerial corruption.
The overnight rallies would be held in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching (Sarawak), and Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) starting 2pm on 29th August until midnight of 30th August to demand 4 major objectives:
- Clean elections
- Clean governance
- Saving the economy
- Preserving the right to dissent
MMO quoted Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah as saying at a press conference:
Bersih 2.0 hereby declares that the Bersih 4 rally will be held on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from August 29, 2pm to August 30…we are overnight [sic]. We invite all patriotic Malaysians to join the rally to demand for Najib to step down and institutional reforms to be implemented so as to end prime-ministerial corruption.
On the activities that will be held during the rally, Maria Chin said there might be some activities planned for participants who spend the night. Maria added they will announce the exact locations for the rally later.
An excerpt from Bersih’s official statement reads:
BERSIH 4: The Time Has Come
The time has come for Malaysians to come forward to demand for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation and a host of institutional reforms to put an end to prime-ministerial corruptions since Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s time. All Malaysians are now paying a huge price for the RM42 billion scandal of 1MDB amongst other incidences of corruption, leakages and mismanagement.
Najib has virtually ruled out all possibilities for truth on the 1MDB scandal to be unearthed and criminals to be brought to justice by a series of his political moves on 27 and 28 July:
The abrupt and arguably unconstitutional removal of Attorney General (AG) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail. Since the AG’s Chambers is one of the four agencies of the Special Taskforce on 1MDB investigation, the removal of the AG is a direct interference in the AG Chamber’s work and is meant as a warning signal to the other three agencies: the Police, Bank Negara and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. The constitutionality of such removal — not done on the like grounds and in the like manners as a Federal Court judge — has been rejected or questioned by many parties including the Bar Council.
The co-optation of four out of 13 members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into the administration, namely Chairperson Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (as deputy home minister), Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (as deputy foreign affairs minister), Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (as deputy tourism and culture minister) and Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau (as science, technology and innovation minister). As PAC members cannot be holding executive positions, these appointments are Najib’s unscrupulous plot to disable PAC, the only other public institution which is pursuing the 1MDB scandal with the support of the Auditor General’s Office. The acceptance of executive appointments by Nur Jazlan and his three colleagues is a betrayal of the public trust on PAC to act on 1MDB.
Continued and worsened power concentration through cabinet reshuffle with the retention of the Finance Minister portfolio by Najib himself and the appointment of Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) who continues to hold the Home Minister portfolio. Zahid has just ordered the three-month suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for exposés on the 1MDB scandal. That the PM and DPM simultaneously hold two powerful ministries of Finance and Home Affairs depletes any hope of independent investigations without more attempts to cover up corruption and silence critics.
Bersih 2.0 has previously warned that they will hold a rally should Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak fail to answer allegations of his involvement with the debt-laden state investment fund.
UPDATE (11th August, 3pm):
According to a report by The Star Online, Dataran Merdeka will be the site of the next Bersih rally, which is scheduled to last 34 hours.
In a statement on Tuesday (11th August), the group said that the Bersih 4.0 would begin at 2pm on 29th August and end at 11:59pm on 30th August.
We have decided to camp overnight at Dataran Merdeka to demand for clean elections, corrupt-free government, the right to protest, strengthening parliament democracy and saving the economy. We invite all Malaysians to join us in a gathering unlike any other in history. Participants are advised to bring camping gear, sleeping bags and other equipment needed for spending the night at the city.
Bersih 2.0 said that police and city officials had been notified on the gathering. They also expressed that they are willing to discuss the rally with Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to ensure the safety of the public and that traffic flow is uncontested.
“Members of the public are advised to gather in five places before moving to Dataran Merdeka: Brickfields, Pasar Seni, Sogo, Masjid Negara, and Dataran Maybank,” it added.
Sources: MMO, Bersih, Malaysiakini, The Star Online / Featured image from Bersih.
