Bersih 5 leader arrested

Asked if the rally is Chinese-dominated, Dr Mahathir said “everyone is concerned about the government we have here now”.

Meanwhile, Bersih, through its official Twitter account, said Pasir Pinji assemblyman Howard Lee has been arrested in KL Sentral at 2.12pm.

He didn’t quite rule out attendance-he made surprise appearances at last year’s Bersih rally-but he has already added his voice to those clamoring for change in Malaysia. The name means “clean” in the Malay language. “Bersih 5” refers to the fifth phase of street protests organized by the group.

Malaysians clad in the yellow of the reformist Bersih campaign flooded Kuala Lumpur for the second time in 15 months to vent their anger over allegations that billions of dollars were looted from state investment fund 1MDB, Najib’s brainchild.

Earlier this week, a court sentenced Rafizi Ramli, the secretary general of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, to 18 months in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act by releasing a damaging audit report on the 1MDB scandal, in which almost US$700 million was allegedly diverted from the fund into Najib’s personal account in 2013.

“The best time to decide is when the time comes. And that’s important”, he said.

Najib is in Peru to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference of leaders.

“It is clear that these street protests are in fact the opposition disguised as an independent NGO working to unseat a democratically elected government”.

The Police officers promised to do everything in order to avoid the meeting of pro-government and opposition protesters. The deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said there could be more arrests in the coming days. Some of the allegations against this official were the same as those in a Malaysian investigation into a $681 million transfer to the premier’s personal bank account. Smaller protests are planned in as many as 57 other cities worldwide by Malaysians living overseas.

The protesters, wearing the yellow T-shirts of Malaysia’s clean government movement, known as Bersih, converged on the city centre to hear their leaders call for Mr Najib’s ouster.

Unless we are able to embrace a diversity of opinions as part of the process of developing a better Malaysia and protect participants in peaceful demonstrations from disruption, we fear the core foundations of our democratic society may collapse for good.

Firebrand Red Shirts leader Jamal Yunos has ominously warned that “anything can happen, including violence”.

“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Maria Chin Abdullah and other activists”. “The gangsters egged him, pulled him off his bike, kicked and punched him with such force that it injured him badly”. He has aligned himself with the opposition, left ruling party Umno (United Malays National Organisation) and, along with a number of other ousted leaders from the party, have formed his own political platform.

“I don’t think they will have a huge impact”, he says.