Bank Guarantee for BERSIH 2.0

The Police said that if the organisers of BERSIH 2.0 still want to go ahead on the planned demonstration on 9 July 2011, then they must apply for Police permit.

Wednesday July 6, 2011

Bersih 2.0 organisers must abide by Police Act, says IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: The police will wait for a formal application by the organisers before allowing them to hold their rally in a stadium, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

He added that the organisers must abide by Section 27 of the Police Act and apply for a police permit if they wanted to hold a gathering or rally.

“The police will adhere to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree in calling for the cancellation of the street demonstration and will wait for the organisers to apply for a police permit.

“Whatever decision we make will have to take into consideration the safety and security of the public,” he said.

Orderly inventory: DCP Tun Hisan (left) looking at the Molotov cocktails, parang and Bersih 2.0 T-shirts in Shah Alam Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the police are combing the city for hidden caches of weapons and explosives after the discovery of Molotov cocktails, machetes, and firecrackers stashed around the city centre.

The discovery of surgical face masks and Bersih T-shirts along with the weapons has led police to believe that these are secret stockpiles to be used during the proposed July 9 rally.

Acting City police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Amar Singh said there was a possibility that more such caches exist in the city.

He said police found eight Molotov cocktails, over 40 rolls of firecrackers, three machetes, a knife, a saw, eight surgical face masks and four Bersih 2.0 T-shirts from three locations.

“All three caches were within 150m of each other and were stashed by the same group of people,” he said.

The stockpiles were discovered after two vendors near a Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman shopping mall spotted three masked men in a silver Proton Waja acting suspiciously at 4.30am on Monday.

SAC Amar Singh said the vendors saw the men hide something in the bushes before driving up the road and stopping at a restaurant and another mall.

Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the discovery of various items in Gombak, Selangor on Monday showed they were extremely dangerous to society.

“The police will ensure public safety is maintained,” he said here yesterday.

Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid said police might enlist the help of the armed forces in taking action against illegal demonstrations.

He had earlier attended a joint exercise between the police and the armed forces on tackling illegal protests, codenamed Bersatu Aman, at the Sungai Besi army camp here yesterday.

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On the same note, BERSIH 2.0 Chairman Ambiga Sreenivasan in a media conference today announced that the demonstration would be held in Stadium Merdeka between 200 and 400pm on Saturday 9 July 2011. However, it was said that Stadium Merdeka board of trustees rejected the application of these group.

Published: Wednesday July 6, 2011 MYT 7:49:00 PM

Stadium Merdeka turns down Bersih application

By RAHIMY RAHIM

PETALING JAYA: The management of Stadium Merdeka has rejected Bersih 2.0′s application to use its facilities for the proposed rally on July 9.

“The booking officer for Stadium Merdeka said bookings could not be made because of an internal management sports event and renovations being done in the stadium,” said the Bersih 2.0 steering committee in a statement Wednesday.

Bersih expressed disappointment at not being allowed to booked the stadium and insisted that Stadium Merdeka was an ideal location for the rally.

“Bersih is strongly of the view that as part of the agreement to hold the rally in the stadium, a proper venue that reflects the scale and centrality of this issue to Malaysians throughout the nation must be selected.

“We have decided that Stadium Merdeka is the only location that appropriately meets this criteria, and the Prime Minister must as a matter of honour make good on his offer to let us use an appropriate stadium immediately,” said Bersih.

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The Cabinet in its weekly meeting late this morning decided that Stadium Merdeka, Stadium Negara and Stadium Nasional in Bukit Jalil would not be allowed to be the venue for the planned Saturday event. Minister in-charge-of-Government-propaganda Dato’ Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim Ph.D also said that the stadiums within the Opposition controlled state should be the preferred venue for the event, which has not received any Police approval.

Hindraf illegal demonstration turned riot, November 2007

We would like to advocate the suggestion that the organisers ofBERSIH 2.0 be required to put a deposit of RM 10 million in bank guarantee, at least two working days before the planned event. This is to facilitate any claims for damages and/or claims made against all the demonstration.

In the past, Opposition staged or advocated demonstration often result to destruction of public or private properties. With the exception of the ‘Lawyers’ March’ in month of Ramadhan almost four years ago, all other demonstrations met the fate of being a typical mob-street destructive mentality. This is often expounded especially when emotion is so easily raised and manipulated in these demonstration.

Since insurance does not cover any damages claim from riot or public destruction by mob, it is only fair the claimants go for the bank guarantee. The bank guarantee could be held in trust by the Accountant General’s Office and remain for minimum of 30 days where all claims must be submitted, for consideration.

Of course, the mechanics must be devised. The Police would naturally be there to ensure all participants behave and act in an orderly fashion.

We here in BigDogDotCom hope the Federal Government would seriously consider this proposition. This should be a model to be used whenever any other organisation wish to hold any form of demonstration and this is the perfect guarantee for the organisers to own up to their planned event that could easily turned destructive, for all the wrong reasons.

-bigdogdotcom