Defence minister: Bersih has lost the plot

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the public must reject the third Bersih rally planned for the end of this month as the NGO coalition for electoral reform has veered from its main agenda.

In a Berita Harian report today, Ahmad Zahid (left) who is also Umno vice president is quoted as saying that Bersih, despite having most of its demands met and still calling for the rally shows that it is a front for Pakatan Rakyat.

“Their suggestions should have been made to the parliamentary select committee (PSC) which was set up to discuss Bersih’s eight demands; not through holding yet another massive rally.

“Most of the eight demands have been met while the rest are being considered by the Election Commission, so Bersih should not think that their demands were not met,” he was reported as saying.

The Bersih 2.0 committee today announced that it will hold a sit-in at Dataran Merdeka on Apr 28, as it is disappointed with the PSC report tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The NGO coalition claims the PSC report had failed in five key areas:

1. Manipulation of the electoral roll;

2.The citizenship-for-votes scam in peninsula Malaysia;

3. Enforcement of the Election Offences Act 1954 and enhancing the definition of election offences;

4. A plan to stop “dirty politics”; and

5. Inviting international observers.