Thousands of supporters throng the streets at the last year’s Bersih rally. File Photo
GEORGE TOWN: Plans have been laid out for the upcoming Bersih 5 rally in Kuala Lumpur, expected to be held on Nov 19, despite the threats received from the Red Shirts group.
Bersih chairman, Maria Chin Abdullah said the locations for the rally, however, would not be disclosed yet to the public until the right time.
“We will go through with the rally as planned and we will have our own security team. We also hope that we will get assistance from the police to maintain order during the rally,” she said when contacted.
Bersih has been receiving threats from the Red Shirts, urging Bersih to call off the rally.
“The Red Shirt participants had been violent but their threats will not stop us. They had acted like gangsters and action should have been taken against them. As for our side, security measures had been taken,” she said.
Last week, the Red Shirts clashed with the Bersih convoys at a number of locations, including in Teluk Intan where a fight broke out between a group of Bersih supporters and members of the Red Shirts, while thousands gathered at Gurney Drive as a sign of disapproval for the Bersih rally.
Bersih in their statement today, claimed that the clashes nearly killed their supporters and stressed that the body only wanted to promote peace, not to create riots.
Meanwhile, Penang Umno Youth Chief, Rafizal Abdul Rahim when contacted, promised that the Red Shirts in Penang would not act violently unless being provoked by the Bersih group.
“The Red Shirts’ objective is to stop the Bersih rally from taking place as it will disturb the peace in the country. Hence, don’t provoke us if you don’t want unwanted things to happen,” he warned.
Rafizal also said that the convoy of Bersih 5 in Penang did not receive much support from the public because of the corruption charges against Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“Guan Eng’s reputation has been tarnished and he himself did not walk the talk. How are the people going to believe the demands made by Bersih if their counterpart is facing corruption charges?” he said.
Rafizal said the Red Shirts in Penang were ready to face the Yellow Shirts (Bersih group) if they still gathered without a police permit as the Yellow Shirts were attacking their leader.
During the gathering at Gurney Drive last week, some 3,000 youths on motorcycles demanded Guan Eng to resign and claimed that the Bersih rally was a move to oust elected Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Maria said the rally would not be affected by Guan Eng’s case as she believed that “he is innocent until proven guilty by the court”. – Bernama