Ambiga fights ‘illegal’ order outlawing Bersih

Ambiga fights ‘illegal’ order outlawing Bersih
By Debra Chong
July 08, 2011

Ambiga maintains that Bersih 2.0 is unrelated to the original Bersih movement. — file pic
KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bersih 2.0 chief Datuk biga Sreenevasan today mounted legal action to challenge the decision by the home minister, the Inspector-General of Police and the government to outlaw the electoral reform movement.

Bersih 2.0 said the government order issued was illegal and not rational, and is now seeking a judicial review for the order to be cancelled immediately.

Ambiga and 13 other people connected with the electoral reform movement named in the suit want the court to issue a restriction order against the authorities to stop government officers from entering and raiding their premises, and to return all Bersih 2.0 property and materials seized in the last two weeks — ranging from the yellow T-shirts, posters, placards, pictures, members’ list.

In its papers filed at the High Court earlier this morning, the group said Bersih 2.0 is wholly different from the entity known as Bersih launched in 2007 as the new movement launched in November 2010 is a coalition made up of only civil society organisations and does not include any political parties.

It further said that Bersih 2.0 had held several meetings with the three authorities named in the suit since its launch and “no complaints have ever been made that Bersih 2.0 had acted illegally or in a way that prejudiced national security or public peace”.

Bersih 2.0 said it had planned to hold a gathering tomorrow, July 9, to demand for free and fair elections and that many other regular citizens also want take part.

But in the last two weeks the authorities have mounted an “intensive crackdown on Bersih 2.0 supporters” and that the plaintiffs were given no chance to air their views before the order was issued.

MORE TO COME

The above article is taken from The Malaysian Insider