Free All Political Prisoners!

Democracy for the Malaysian People!

On 19 June 2011 a campaign called Bersih 2.0 was launched by Malaysians wanting a free and fair elections in the country as the 13^th General Election is around the corner. The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) also called a gathering for 9 July 2011. On 24 June, the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM - Socialist Party of Malaysia) launched a Udahlah BN, Bersaralah (Enough BN, Retire Now) campaign. The PSM campaign aimed to expose the corruption of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and also to drum up support for the Bersih 2.0 rally.

Since 22 June, over 100 individuals have been arrested because they have expressed their support for a mass rally on 9 July, called for by Bersih. As for now, 81 people have been arbitrarily arrested and detained by the police at various locations in the country before the Bersih 2.0 rally. A further 15 people have been called or summoned by the police for their statement to be recorded in relation to the Bersih 2.0 rally. The police harassment and intimidation included arresting people for wearing Bersih 2.0 T-shirts, distributing Bersih 2.0 leaflets, holding and carrying Bersih 2.0 T-shirts, taking 112 statements for more than one time, access to lawyers and medication have been denied during the detention period and sexual harassment against women activists.

On 3 July, six PSM members, including Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj (a Member of Parliament), have been rearrested under the Emergency Ordinance (EO), which allows for 60 day detention without trial, renewable for up to two years at the discretion of the Home Minister. The six were part of a group of 30 PSM activists who were remanded on 25 June for allegedly “waging war against the King”.

We view these acts of the Malaysian government as the suppression of the democratic rights of the Malaysian people. This is part of an attempt to protect the elite power that has been in power for years in Malaysia through the UMNO-BN regime.

We strongly condemn the Malaysian government for using harassment, arrest and intimidation as a method to try and silence opposition to the anti-democratic, anti-poor and anti-working class policies of the Malaysian government.

We demand:

a. That the government of Malaysia immediately and unconditionally release all the PSM activists in detention.

b. That the government of Malaysia must stop all forms of repression and intimidation against the Malaysian people from expressing their democratic rights.

c. We call on all the socialist and pro-democratic movements, in South East Asia and all the world, to build and give solidarity to the PSM and to the Malaysian people who are being repressed and arrested.

We also declare our fullest support for the ongoing campaign and the struggle of the Malaysian people for democracy.

Signatories so far: Socialist Alliance (Australia), Working People Association - Reorganisaton Committee (KPO-PRP Indonesia), Resistance (Australia), Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), Party of Labouring Masses (PLM, Philippines), Socialist Aotearoa (NZ), Solidarity (Australia), Peoples Democratic Party (PRD Indonesia), Political Committee of the Poor-People’s Democratic Party (Indonesia), All Pakistan Federation of United Trade Unions, Radical Socialists (India) .

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