Over 200 activists were detained and thousands of police fanned out across the city of 1.6 million people to stop the protest, which could derail Najib’s economic reforms programme.
A massive turnout could signal that the ruling National Front coalition was losing ground and may spur Najib to reconsider a snap election and delay painful economic reforms seen as essential to woo substantial foreign investment.
Polls are not due until 2013 but analysts have said Najib is likely to seek an early mandate after economic growth accelerated to a 10-year high in 2010.
Bersih has vowed to bring together tens of thousands of supporters this afternoon in the city’s downtown area to demand electoral reforms. It could be the biggest anti-government demonstration since Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking as deputy premier in 1998 led to violent street rallies.
Over 200 protesters gathered in the morning, as the organisers pledged to proceed with plans to march to a stadium in the capital despite warnings of a police crackdown.
“Our people cannot move into Kuala Lumpur now, Kuala Lumpur has been cordoned off and is incommunicado. People gathering at the national mosque are being dispersed, so I don’t know things will continue,” Mohamad Sabu, deputy president of PAS, told Reuters by telephone.
“But our spirits are high, up to this point we already consider that we have succeeded, in placing the reform demands of Bersih in the minds of the people, and as of now we will continue.”
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar told Reuters that the authorities were taking all possible security precautions.
The government has banned the gathering and bus services into the city centre were halted today, turning the usually busy tourist and shopping area in central Kuala Lumpur into a ghost town. Several roads were blocked off by police vehicles.
Suburban train services were however functioning, and areas outside the city centre were not much affected.
Protesters walked and boarded trains to try to gain access to the national mosque and various other parts of the city, where crowds are expected to gather to march to the stadium later in the day.
“I am hoping we will make it through the police blocks,” said Nor Shahidal, a college student in her early 20s, as she made her way to the national mosque.
“We are not being disruptive, we want to walk for free and fair elections.”
Major street demonstrations are rare in the country, but the rise of alternative media channels and a signs of strength in the opposition are gradually creating a more vocal public.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets at a November 2007 rally, which analysts said galvanised support for the opposition ahead of record gains in a 2008 general election.
Najib took power in 2009, and inherited a divided ruling coalition which had been weakened by historic losses in the 2008 polls. He has promised to restructure government and economy and introduced an inclusive brand of politics aimed at uniting the country’s different races.
Najib’s approval ratings have risen from 45 per cent to 69 per cent in February, according to independent polling outfit Merdeka Center. But analysts said recent ethnic and religious differences have undermined his popularity. — Reuters
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