Demonstration for Fair Elections Draw 50,000 People

The planned demonstration by a non-governmental organization called Bersih was a success yesterday when it drew about 50,000 demonstrators. This was despite threats by the government to arrest demonstrators. Even locking up Kuala Lumpur did not prevent protestors to show up.

Bersih had initially wanted to hold a peace rally to call for clean and fair elections in Malaysia. However the federal government had been attempting to prevent the rally from day one. After much deliberation, it was agreed that Bersih could have their demonstration at Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur. However in the end even this was not allowed.

By Friday midnight, the whole city of Kuala Lumpur was locked down. Chartered buses were not allowed into the city, a list of 91 individuals were barred from entering the city, many roads were closed, hotels were combed for potential demonstrators and those wearing Bersih t-shirts were apprehended.

Surprisingly, by Saturday morning the planned rally did take place. Government figures put the number of demonstrators at 6,000, clearly as an attempt to downplay the success of Bersih. However figures from Bersih, foreign correspondence and eyewitness accounts say the number of demonstrators was anywhere around 50,000. If Kuala Lumpur had not been locked down, the number would probably be around 500,000. Also not to mention the repeated threats against the public not to attend the demonstration by the government officials.

By the end of the day, Bersih proves that many Malaysian indeed want a clean and fair elections. As has been proven from the scenarion in Sabah over the years, it is obvious that there is a lot of hanky panky, especially when illegal immigrants with genuine but fraudulently issued identity cards could vote.

Cheers for BERSIH!