'Mat Sabu and Hisham Rais tried to occupy Dataran'

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has alleged that PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and Bersih steering committee member Hishammudin Rais led 2,000 people to try to occupy Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur this morning.

The minister in his tweet also accused politicians of hijacking the coalition for clean and fair elections Bersih, comprising over 80 NGOs.

"This morning at about 2am about 1,000 led by Mat Sabu and Hishammuddin Rais tried to occupy Dataran Merdeka.

“Politicians have hijacked Ambiga (Sreenevasan, Bersih co-chairperson)," said the minister at about 5am.

Responding to a tweet by Umno cybertrooper Papagomo showing Bersih supporters trying stop a police bus, the minister tweeted, "Is this the peaceful sit-in Ambiga promised."

The events that Hishammuddin referred to at 2am remain unclear.

The minister further took a swipe at the opposition asking how Ambiga is going to ensure 500,000 rallyers will be peaceful with Pakatan Rakyat allegedly hijacking the movement.

"Two top leaders from PAS and DAP already cannot agree," said Hishammuddin in another tweet referring to DAP vice-chairperson and former Transparency International Malaysian chapter chairperson Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim and former PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Md Isa.

The minister added in yet another tweet that he believes that the majority of Malaysians would not be cheated.

"I believe the police will do their job with trust in maintaining security of all of us.”

'EC heads must roll'

Last night about 3,000 gathered at a pre-rally in the city in anticipation of the sea of yellow and green that is expected today to call for electoral reform.

The Bersih 3.0 rally today demands:

• The resignation of the Election Commission (EC) heads;

• That the electoral process must be cleaned up before the next general election,

• That International observers must be allowed to monitor the polls

This follows the revelation this week that the EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and his deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar are in factUmno members, thereby compromising their credibility and independence as custodians of the electoral process.

With PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail exposing theirmembership records, Abdul Aziz admitted he may have been registered as an Umno member in the past but said he could not remember.

Amendments to the Election Offences Act that the ruling party rammed through Parliament this month that severly limits observation of polls has also riled Bersih supporters, saying it was a good enough reason to rally.