Hisham gets his Bersih comeuppance: Is it legal or illegal, asks court

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hisham has been ordered by the High Court to clarify his ban on the Bersih 2.0 movement, which staged a rally for free and fair elections last year, in contrast to his recent comments that Bersih was not a threat to national security.

“The judge has taken notice of recent activity, and is concerned on the position of Home Minister on Bersih. He seems to be alright on Bersih’s activities, but it seems to be banned. His recent conduct says otherwise," Bersih lawyer Aston Paiva to reporters on Wednesday.

Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan had filed a legal suit to challenge the Home Minister's ban on the movement.

Despite Prime Minister Najib Razak conceding that the police crackdown against the July 9 2011 protesters was overly harsh, his government has insisted on keeping Bersih an outlawed movement, with the government-controlled media frequently calling it an 'illegal' entity.

According to Aston, the judge could not reconcile the ban imposed in 2011 with Hishammuddin’s recent comments.

"The judge can only make a decision with his position clarified. She has ordered the minister produce an affidavit clarifying his stand on Bersih,” said Aston.

Double-talk and fictitious names

Ambiga and co-chairman A Samad Said, the national laureate, are due to lead Bersih's third rally or Bersih 3.0 on April 28, where they plan to conduct a sit-in protest Duduk dan Bantah at the Dataran Merdeka.

Bersih 3.0 came about after another questionable move by the Najib administration, which in the aftermath of the July 9 rally had promised to clean up the electoral system, even establishing a Parliamentary Select Committee to do so.

However, after 6 months of review, the PSC failed to carry out any of Bersih's 8 demands for reform. Even the proposal to use indelible ink was accepted, but with the qualification that it did not extend to postal voters.

Critics say that by exempting postal voters from using indelible ink, it was the same as allowing the BN government to continue to cheat at the ballot boxes.

Najib is expected to call for the 13th general election by mid June this year but Bersih 3.0 wants him to delay until the electoral roll is cleaned up and audited, pointing to independent research that showed there were at least 400,000 fictitious names on the Election Commission's register.

Malaysia Chronicle