SHAH ALAM, Aug 26 — Bersih 2.0 activist Maria Chin Abdullah has been summoned to police station tomorrow, possibly in response to a plan by supporters of the polls watchdog group to rally during next week’s National Day events in the city.
The Gabungan Janji group’s programme involves some 47 non-governmental organisations, including the Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower), where Maria Chin (picture) is executive director.
“Maria Chin has been asked by police to report to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters tomorrow at 2pm.
“She will be escorted by a lawyer (Honey Tan) from Empower,” said Hishamuddin Rais, spokesperson of Gabungan Janji, when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
Gabungan Janji will gather at Dataran Merdeka, clad in yellow, on the evening of August 30, which coincides with the eve of Malaysia’s national day.
In a press conference on Friday, Gabungan Janji said that simultaneous gatherings will be hosted in other states, including Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.
The gatherings aim to lobby the government to implement Bersih’s eight demands, such as cleaning up the electoral roll, using indelible ink, a minimum period of 21 days for campaigning, free access to the media for all parties, strengthening public institutions, stopping corruption and bringing an end to dirty political campaigning.
When contacted, Maria confirmed that police had spoken to her on Friday to discuss Gabungan Janji’s programme.
“The police contacted me last Friday evening.
“They wanted to ask about the Gabungan Janji programme which we announced during the press conference that morning,” she said.
National literary laureate, Datuk A. Samad Said, who is also the joint chairman of Bersih, will read a special poem on the evening of August 30.
On April 28, a gathering sponsored by Bersih to demand free and fair elections was peppered with incidents of violence.
Razor wire barricades placed to stop participants from entering Dataran Merdeka were cut, resulting in police firing teargas into the crowd.
A few journalists and photographers were also casualties of the violence that broke out during the rally.
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