BY: NAEEM RAFFI
SHAH ALAM, NOV 17: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad may not be able to participate in the BERSIH 5 peaceful rally this Saturday as he is scheduled to travel abroad on the same day.
However, he expressed his support for the rally, via telephone interview with Radio Bangsar Utama on November 16.
“I had already made plans much earlier to travel abroad on November 19.
“The aim of BERSIH 5 rally is to ensure a clean election, so if the election is otherwise, then its meaningless,” he said. He also urged the people, regardless of political party, to participate in the rally.
Earlier, BERSIH 2.0 Chairman Maria Chin Abdullah had said that the rally on Saturday is not meant to cause chaos. Instead, it is meant to educate the public and deliver a message of change to all citizens across the country.
“That is the reason we sent convoys throughout towns and villages, so that Malaysians will be aware and will not continue be cheated,” she said in a statement on November 16.
Although she did not rule out the possibility of being provoked by the Red Shirts, she reminded everyone that this rally is not a football match pitting the red team against the yellow team.
On the contrary, BERSIH 5 participants go down to the streets to protest the corruption and power abuse by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in a mega scandal which gained the country the term of ‘kleptocracy’.
“We are gathering this Saturday to form a ‘New Malaysia’. We do not need to be afraid of demanding change, to improve our country which is failing.
“We do not need to be afraid of Jamal and his thugs,” she said.
BERSIH 5: Tun M may not attend
