BN indirectly promoting Bersih rally, says Nizar
By Humayun Kabir, FMT
IPOH: Perak Pakatan Rakyat claims that Barisan Nasional (BN) is indirectly promoting the Bersih 2.0 rally with its suppressive moves to stop the peaceful rally on July 9.
“BN is conducting an adverse publicity campaign on the Bersih 2 rally through the mainstream media. But it is adding more fuel to the call for clean and free elections and encouraging more Malaysians to participate in this peaceful march,” Perak Pakatan’s chief Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said.
“The high-handed police action against the Bersih organisers and supporters who wore yellow T-shirts is driving more angry Malaysians to lend support to this peaceful assembly,” Nizar said .
He said the BN government and police should allow the Bersih rally to proceed without hindrance, but they made the mistake of trying to suppress a people’s movement.
“The right of every Malaysian to participate in a peaceful assembly is enshrined in the Federal Constitution and no one can take this away. There is no need for a police permit,” Nizar, the former Pakatan Perak menteri besar, told FMT today.
He pointed out that the first Bersih rally in 2007 was peaceful but turned ugly when the police violently cracked down on the march.
He said the aggressive response eventually backfired on the BN when it lost its two-thirds majority in the 2008 historic general election.
Nizar hopes that the police will not make the same mistake again in the Bersih 2.0 rally, saying that if they do, it will cause greater negative consequences for the BN in the coming 13th general election.
He said that public disorder will only be caused by the Umno and Perkasa rallies, and not from the peaceful Bersih 2.0 march.
