Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) calls upon all Malaysians to liberate Dataran Merdeka from the clutches of the ruling party UMNO-BN who seems to once again using various means to stop the peaceful assembly calling for clean and fair election first before polling day is announced.
Najib Tun Razak should immediately instruct DBKL to allow the BERSIH rally at Dataran Merdeka if he indeed believes in his own political transformation plans. The Prime Minister must also understand that apart from the one seat BN won, all other seats were won by the Opposition in Federal Territory. This means DBKL itself is being ruled by a Government without any mandate in Kuala Lumpur. It will also mean that all Najib’s big reforms are just hollow promises.
The previous two BERSIH rallies had been peaceful except in places where the police clashed and denied people to right to assemble. The May day Coalition have also used the Dataran Merdeka for workers days rallies before. Therefore there is no reasonable reason to stop BERSIH3 from using Dataran Merdeka. In fact the local authorities should assist BERSIH3 in the logistics rather than giving bare denial and unwanted relocations.
In the last two weeks, two groups the Students and Occupy Dataran have been staying put in Dataran Merdeka. PSM salutes the determination and courage put forward by these groups who have been fighting democratic space in spite of numerous harassments from the authority. These efforts will go in vain unless Malaysian seize the opportunity and make April 28 a referendum from the rakyat who wants a clean democratic system. PSM will mobilize and work with all parties to make this assemble a success.
It will be meaningless to call Dataran Merdeka or Independence square by its name if the square is going to barricaded and enslaved from public using it. Let’s us together liberate Dataran Merdeka. Let us join the movement for change !
Released by
S.Arutchelvan
Secretary General