Bersih

Bersih
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections

Bersih 2.0 logo
Location
Chairperson
 Maria Chin Abdullah
Deputy Chairperson
 Shahrul Aman Mohd. Saari
Website bersih.org

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Malay: Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil) or Bersih (meaning clean in Malay) is a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which seeks to reform the current electoral system in Malaysia to ensure free, clean and fair elections. It was officially formed on 23 November 2006 as a joint communiqué that comprised leaders from political parties, civil society groups and NGOs.[1] Bersih accused the Election Commission under Prime Minister's Department [2] for manipulating the electoral process to give an unfair advantage to the ruling National Front coalition. Bersih claimed that the electoral roll was marred by irregularities such as gerrymandering, phantom voters, malapportionment and postal vote frauds. On 10 November 2007, Bersih organised the first rally with 10,000 to 40,000 turnout and held a public demonstration at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. Supporters of Bersih were urged to wear yellow T-shirts as a symbol of protest. The rally was often credited for the shift in political landscape in 2008 general election, when the incumbent National Front coalition failed to obtain a two-thirds supermajority for the first time since 1969.

In April 2010, the coalition was relaunched as an entirely civil society movement ("Bersih 2.0") unaffiliated to any political party. On 19 June 2011, former president of the Bar Council, Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan became the chairperson of the coalition. In 2011 and 2012, two more rallies (Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0) were organised seeing that the demands for the electoral reforms have not been met by the Electoral Commission.

History

Bersih started out as a Joint Action Committee for Electoral Reform which was formed in July 2005. In September 2006, an Electoral Reform Workshop was held in Kuala Lumpur. Leaders from political parties, civil society groups and NGOs, including Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Guan Eng, PAS, Nasharudin Mat Isa, Teresa Kok, Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud among others, came together to formulate a joint communiqué with the objective of campaigning for clean and fair elections in Malaysia.

2007 Bersih rally

Rallying crowd in front of the Istana Negara.
Main article: 2007 Bersih rally

On Saturday 10 November 2007, Bersih held the first mass rally to make four demands to ensure a clean and fair electoral process in Malaysia:[3]

  1. Clean up of the electoral roll
  2. Use of indelible ink
  3. Abolition of postal voting for military and police personnel
  4. Free and fair access to mass media for all parties

The rally took place in the area of Kuala Lumpur around Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) and Istana Negara (The National Palace). Bersih estimated the turnout to be at least 30,000, while the official claimed there were 10,000 protesters.[4] Yellow shirts and ribbons were used as the symbol of protest as yellow is also the colour for citizen actions worldwide and for press freedom movement. A memorandum containing the four demands was submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Malaysia's head of state, during the rally.

Malaysian police refused to issue a permit for the rally, rendering the rally illegal. Tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon were used by the riot police to disperse the crowd. 245 people were detained following the protest.[5]

Following the initial rally, Bersih indicated it may hold another street demonstration if government extended the tenure of Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman. On 20 November 2007, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz tabled a first reading of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2007 that sought to extend the retirement age of members of Election Commission (EC) from 65 to 66. Parliament passed legislation on 11 December to increase EC members' retirement age from 65 to 66.[6]

2011 Bersih 2.0 rally

Main article: Bersih 2.0 rally
Protesters marching the streets of Kuala Lumpur peacefully before the police confronted them.

The 2007 rally had raised Malaysian citizens' awareness to the irregularities and controversies in the electoral system. Ahead of the anticipated 2012 13th general election, Bersih scheduled a second public demonstration at Kuala Lumpur on 9 July 2011. Bersih 2.0 rally, also called the Walk for Democracy, called for eight points, including the four demands that remained not met in the 2008 general election:

  1. Clean up of the electoral roll
  2. Reform of postal ballot
  3. Use of indelible ink
  4. Minimum 21 days of campaign period
  5. Free and fair access to mass media for all parties
  6. Strengthening of public institutions
  7. No corruption
  8. No dirty politics

Bersih 2.0 was endorsed by 62 NGOs and joined by rallies in more than 30 international cities by oversea Malaysians in solidarity. The rally was again denied a permit. Plans for the demonstration were extensively criticised by the government and pro-government media. Police set up multiple road blocks around Kuala Lumpur and arrested 225 Bersih supporters in the lead-up to the event.[7]

After being granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to discuss the issue, Bersih subsequently agreed on 5 July 2011 to move the rally from the streets to Stadium Merdeka.[8][9] Estimates of the turnout on 9 July 2011 ranged from 10,000 to 50,000. The police deployed tear gas and water cannons to break up the protest and arrested more than 1600 protesters, including Ambiga and several event organisers and opposition figures.

2012 Bersih 3.0 rally

Main article: Bersih 3.0 rally
A scene from the Bersih 3.0 rally in Polo Ground, Ipoh.

Following the Bersih 2.0 demonstration, the Malaysian government set up Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on 2 October 2011 to respond to the electoral issues. In early April 2012, PSC released a report with 22 recommendations to improve the electoral system. The report was received and passed by the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) on 3 April 2012 according to the voice of the majority without debate. An opposition minority report was proposed to be included but was rejected by the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat.[10]

Bersih was unsatisfied with the PSC reports as (i) the existing Election Commission was tasked to carry out the recommendations; (ii) many of the recommendations asked for a lengthy implementation period; (iii) many allegations of electoral frauds were not acknowledged in the report.[11] In light of the issues, the third public demonstration, namely the Bersih 3.0 rally, was announced and took place on 28 April 2012 at Dataran Merdeka. The Bersih 3.0 rally was a sit-down protest (Duduk Bantah in Malay). In addition to the eight previous demands, it called for:

  1. Resignation of the existing Electoral Commission
  2. Implementation of the 8 demands before the 13th general election
  3. Observation of the 13th general election by international observers

Bersih 3.0 was endorsed by 84 NGOs. In particular, it was joined by Himpunan Hijau (Green Assembly), a civil movement protesting the Lynas rare earth project in Malaysia. In addition to the main rally at Kuala Lumpur, smaller rallies were held in 10 other cities in Malaysia, as well as in 34 other countries.

Police again deployed tear gas and water cannon against the protestors, despite it being a peaceful demonstration. The chaos started when police began to scatter the crowd. Tear gas and water cannon targeted the exit points and the middle of the crowd.[12]

Bersih People's Tribunal

Crowd listening to Maria's speech in Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur

A tribunal was organised by Bersih on 18–21 September 2013 in regards to the general elections that was held on 5 May 2013, whereby invited witnesses gave testimonies on the irregularities and incidents of fraud. [13][14] There were also calls for Election Commission to resign due to the way electoral demarcations were formed in past redelineation exercises.[15][16]

2015 Bersih 4 rally

Main article: Bersih 4 rally

Bersih 4 rallies are scheduled to be held on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu from 29–30 August, 2pm until midnight.[17]

The gathering places for the rally should be located at Brickfields, Pasar Seni, Dataran Maybank, National Mosque, and Sogo shopping mall, according to the Bersih 2.0 chairperson.[18]This is the first Bersih rally that are racially imbalance, with Chinese predominantly at the rally.[19]

Global Bersih

Global Bersih is a movement by Malaysian diaspora communities to lend support to Bersih and its cause. In conjunction with the Bersih 2.0 rally, Global Bersih organised rallies in 38 international locations with 4003 overseas Malaysians in solidarity:[20]

Endorsees

As of 28 October 2014, the 62 non-governmental organisations that endorse Bersih include:[21]

Original member organisations

On 23 November 2006, Bersih issued its first joint communiqué with the endorsement from 25 non-governmental organisations and 5 political parties:[22][23]

Non-government organisations:

Political parties:

References

  1. ↑ "About Bersih 2.0". bersih.org. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Election Commission of Malaysia". Prime Minister's Office. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "Bersih people's gathering". bersih.org. 22 October 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Tear gas fired at Malaysia rally". Al Jazeera English. 10 November 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Hundreds held over Malaysia protest". Al Jazeera English. 12 November 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Malaysia: Bersih May Stage Another Protest". Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  7. ↑ Gooch, Liz (9 July 2011). "Thousands of Malaysians Rally for Changes to Elections". New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  8. ↑ Lee, Yen Mun (5 July 2011). "Bersih's Ambiga: No street march, rally will be held in stadium". The Star. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  9. ↑ Gan, Yen Kuan; Ten Kate, Daniel (5 July 2011). "Malaysia Street Protests Averted as Group Agrees to Use Stadium". Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  10. ↑ Mokhtar, Ili Liyana (3 April 2012). "PSC report on electoral reforms passed in Parliament". New Straits Times. Kuala Lumpur. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Response from Bersih 2.0 to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reform" (Press release). bersih.org. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  12. ↑ ► 2:50► 2:50www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek5mQkugUxQ
  13. ↑ "Bersih Tribunal Report: GE13 failed in many ways". 25 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  15. ↑ "EC must quit before new boundaries drawn, Bersih says". 4 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  16. ↑ "Bersih Tribunal: Set up Boundaries Commission". 25 March 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "Bersih 2.0 | Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil – BERSIH 4: The Time Has Come". www.bersih.org. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  18. ↑ "Bersih 4.0 organisers list five demands, propose institutional reforms". http://www.thesundaily.my/. Retrieved 2015-08-27. External link in |website= (help)
  19. ↑ "Racial imbalance, predominantly Chinese at rally". malaysiakini.com. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Global Bersih 2.0 – The Awakening of the Malaysian Diaspora". www.globalbersih.org. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  21. ↑ "Endorsees". bersih.org. 28 October 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  22. ↑ "BERSIH Launchin Parliament". bersih.org. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  23. ↑ "Launching of BERSIH - Gabungan untuk Pilihanraya Bersil dan Adil". dapmalaysia.org. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

External links

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