Darell (seated second right) and Jannie (seated third right) listening to one of the forum participants give her sharing at the forum yesterday.
PENAMPANG: As plans to hold an overnight rally nationwide are being set in motion, Bersih4 Sabah is hoping that better cooperation will be shown by the local authorities in Kota Kinabalu.
As previous attempts to hold peaceful rallies in the city were hampered by the authorities, Bersih4 Kota Kinabalu organisers have admitted that they do have concerns of a recurrence of a similar outcome.
“Previously, when we wanted to hold the peaceful Himpunan May Day rally at Padang Merdeka in May, we were told by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall that it is only for government functions, and the police later got a court order to ban us from using a number of public spaces, including Padang Merdeka, despite the fact that we have all the required standard procedure for holding an assembly.
“So we hope that this time around, City Hall and the police will cooperate with us, and instead of interfering with the organising of this rally, help us facilitate and maintain the peace instead, if required.
“I think the main concern of the police is the idea that Bersih is a movement to overthrow the government, but we have made ourselves clear on that. And the police should look at it from a neutral perspective and provide protection for the people, instead of scaring them,”said Jannie Lasimbang when met at the Bersih4 KK public forum at the Hinompuka hall in Kampung Kivatu here yesterday.
Penampang member of parliament Darell Leiking also called on the Kota Kinabalu police and authorities to apply the same endorsement as per the Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed’s statement on Wednesday, saying that the government is keeping an open mind on the rally.
On Wednesday also, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim had said that the rallies have been allowed to proceed provided that public order is not disrupted.
“Some politicians and their supporters will continue to have issues with Bersih but this will not matter now that the Deputy Home Minister and the Deputy IGP themselves have given the greenlight.
“This is probably because they understand what Bersih is all about, because no one in their right mind will go against something as good as what Bersih is asking for.
“And besides, considering that Bersih’s demand is for the country to have a clean government, if the government is clean, what are they afraid of?” Darell stated, when met at the forum yesterday.
Meanwhile, Jannie disclosed that the Kota Kinabalu Bersih organisers will be submitting their application to the police today (Monday).
“We will disclose the venue soonest after that,”she said.