It has been confirmed that Bersih has finally spreaded to Sabah and Sarawak! An organiser of the Sabah Bersih rally even applied for a police permit t assemble peacefully at the Padang Merdeka, KK, on July 9th, with a contact person by the name Atama. The notice appear in UBF’s facebook page. Atama appeared as one of the persons interviewed in a PKR video released recently. Some PKR and PAS activists were arrested in Sabah this morning.
Before this there has been talk of smaller Bersih rallies to be held in Kuching and KK by some local groups there.
Sabah singer Atama to lead rally
An outspoken singer has come forward to organise the Bersih 2.0 rally in Kota Kinabalu.
Atama or Andrew Ambrose Mudi, who had earned the wrath of Barisan Nasional leaders before for his outspokenness, told a press conference here today that he and his friends Michael Liew and Chester Pang, had yesterday applied for a police permit for the peaceful assembly at the city’s Padang Merdeka here.
“We decided to apply for the permit, with complete documents such as the programme for that day and a list of the organising committee members,” he said.
Asked what would happen if the police deny them the permit, Atama, 36, said they would re-apply and “will cross the bridge when we come to it”.
Atama, who is a member of MCLM (Malaysian Civil Liberty Movement), said that he was leading the Bersih campaign as a civil movement.
“We are exercising our rights in accordance with the Federal Constitution,” he said.
“We have formed an ad hoc committee to get the various civil movements to come under one umbrella to support the Bersih rally in a disciplined and peaceful manner,” Atama said.
The Kadazandusun singer, speaking in fluent English, expects 500 to turn up for the march.
Bersih arrests spread to Sabah
Seven youths detained for supporting the Bersih rally.
The seven were having breakfast in a coffeeshop in Asia City at 10.40am when 60 to 70 policemen swooped down on them.
Three were wearing ordinary yellow sports T-shirts while the other three were clad in other coloured T-shirts. The seven were arrested and taken to the Karamunsing station to have their statements recorded.
PKR leader, Christina Liew, expressed astonishment over the arrests and pointed out that the group had gathered for breakfast, not for a ceramah or demonstration.
“It’s a very strange way of arresting people in a public place,” she said in a video posting on her blog. “This is a blatant abuse of power, total violation of human rights and an act of intimidation by the authorities. They have the right as citizens to gather for breakfast.”
When contacted by FMT, Liew said that the seven were still being questioned and that police have not decided whether they would be detained.
“They were not handcuffed and were allowed to call their lawyers,” she said. “I was also granted 10 minutes of private time with them at the station. We still don’t know what the exact charge is but I would be very surprised if they are detained. I fully expect them to be released within the next hour or so.”
Liew added that a 1Malaysia dinner was held in Kota Kinabalu just two nights ago which saw a gathering of hundreds of people. She wondered if that function had received a permit.
“We protest the arrest of the seven and view it as illegal,” she said. “But I hope that this incident will not make the public lose confidence in the credibility of the police to carry out their job.”
More than 120 people have been detained so far for wearing yellow T-shirts with the Bersih logo emblazoned across the front.
Opposition leaders, some of whom have been hauled up for questioning for backing Bersih’s planned rally, say the mass arrests is one of the harshest crackdowns in the country’s political history.