Ambiga sees King, to hold rally in stadium: Supporters unhappy

Bersih chief Ambiga Sreenevasan has met the King and accepted the government's offer to hold a rally in the stadium. However, doubt has been cast onto what was previously supposed to be a rally for free and fair elections.

Supporters are not only disappointed but suspicious of the motive of the July 9 gathering now.

“We accept the government’s offer to hold the demonstration in a stadium. We will not hold it in the streets,” Bersih 2.0 chief Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters on Tuesday. he was accompanied by fellow Bersih steering committee member Zaid Kamaruddin and national laureate Datuk A. Samad Said. The trio came out at 3.15pm.

She has not revealed what else was discussed with the King and whether any attempt was made to secure his influence in getting Prime Minister Najib Razak to clean up the country's notoriously 'dirty' elections system. Najib was not at the meeting, she confirmed.

Ambiga was accompanied by two other committee members Zaid Kamaruddin and national laureate A Samad Said.

Gauging from Najib's speech on Monday and the suddenness with which the royal audience was granted, chances are at best, Ambiga and team would have secured little more than lip service for both voters and Malaysians.

Many have expressed deep disappointment in her.

Pakatan to meet Wednesday

Meanwhile, Pakatan Rakyat leaders declined to comment if they would send their members to the stadium rally. As of now, even the venue has not been identified.

However, Pakatan has also stressed they would "for sure" support free and fair elections and any movement that urged for it so long as they were confident that the initiative was not "contaminated".

"Of course, we support free and fair elections. We gain together with all Malaysians if the system is clean. At the moment, it is not. But we will meet tomorrow and only after that will we announce our decision whether to attend the rally," PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub told Malaysia Chrnonicle.

"We will do our checks with Ambiga and make our decision. We do not want our supporters to be used."

Hours ago, Pakatan issued a joint statement that they would accept a stadium rally provided the BN government recognised that the right to peaceful assembly was guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, and that all Bersih detainees were immediately released. The statement was signed by DAP's Teresa Kok, PKR's Nurul Izzah and PAS' Mohamad Sabu.

Growing unhappiness

However, there is growing dissent among members and Bersih supporters, who have spent money on travelling arrangement to come to Kuala Lumpur. Cash has already been paid and few operators make refunds, they complained to Malaysia Chronicle.

They also pointed that a stadium could not contain the million-odd crowd expected and few wished to come down only to be turned away due to lack of space. Sad to say, most of them heaped curses on the Najib administration and also accused Ambiga of selling out their interest. Many expressed hope that the Pakatan leadership council could offer a better solution and explanation after its Wednesday meeting.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar was amongst the irate supporters. He said he understood the predicament of the Bersih supporters, warning that they were also Malaysians and voters and the government should heed their plight.

"Sorry, I have dissenting opinion. Since when have we succumbed to the government's propaganda that street demos would bring more harm than good," said Shamsul.

But as a group of academicians have pointed, it was the underhanded and aggressive tactics by Prime Minister Najib Razak that has triggered the current situation. They urged Najib to allow the march to go on and to stop bullying Bersih.

"A government that uses the laws, institutions and resources of the state to suppress or repress such activities undermines its own credibility and claim to practicing democracy. The actions of the Government to curb thisBersih campaign will only hurt public perception of the Government’s commitment to the freedoms enshrined in the Federal Constitution," 15 top academicians said in a joint statement on Tuesday. These included Andrew Aeria, Azmi Sharom, Christopher Chong, Sharmani Gabriel, Terence Gomez, Lim Teck Ghee, Francis Loh, Ooi Kee Beng, Janet Pillai and Johan Saravanamuttu.

Still at it, Molotov cocktails in flower pots now

Meanwhile, in a move suspected as being another UMNO ploy to further convince the general public that the July 9 rally was dangerous, police said they discovered weapons including Molotov cocktails, machetes and Bersih t-shirts hidden in flower pots nearby to the Sogo mall in downtown Kuala Lumpur. It is one of the key gathering points in the march.

“You can see, the T-shirts are there. You can see Molotov cocktails have been set up and also weapons to be used. So, it clearly shows, on the surface of it, to be used during the rally,” KL police chief Amar Singh told a press conference on Tuesday.

The list of weapons released by the police were three machetes, one butcher’s knife, one hand saw, eight Molotov cocktails, two metal pipes and some 40 firecrackers. Eight surgical masks and four Bersih T-shirts were also included among the weapons.

Bersih activists immediately condemned the police and accused them of resorting to further "UMNO madness", pointing out that 'genuine' culprits would not hide such items in such easy to discover places so far in advance of the Saturday rally.

"Unless they want it to be found," said a Bersih activist. - Malaysia Chronicle