KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) today announced a gathering near Parliament this Tuesday to push the political coalitions in power to deliver on previously promised demands.
In a post on Twitter, the electoral watchdog also suggested that the gathering would only be the start of its active demands for reforms such as term limits for the prime minister, among others.
“Join our first act to demand 100 per cent reforms at Plaza Tugu Negara on Tuesday, 8am. Wear black or yellow. See you there!” the group said in its post.
Earlier this month, Bersih warned the national unity government that the group could launch another of its mass protests unless there were visible efforts to deliver on reforms previously promised in their election manifestos, including the separation of the attorney general’s functions and the restoration of Parliament’s independence from the executive.
New Bersih chairman Faisal Abdul Aziz issued the warning in a press conference held after the partial pardon for ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was confirmed.
Faisal said Bersih was issuing this warning due to recent developments that show the derailment of the reforms agenda.
Bersih and other NGOs present at the press conference expressed their disappointment with the government’s failure to reveal the advice submitted to the Pardons Board on Najib’s pardon application as well as the discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) given to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for his corruption charges after the courts had determined prima facie.
Faisal said that while there is no legal obligation for the government to explain, it still has a moral responsibility to do so in matters that were of significant public interest.
Electoral watchdog Bersih has organised five massive protests considered to be inflection points in the evolution of Malaysia’s political landscape, beginning with the first in 2007.
