Bersih asks Najib to get Stadium Merdeka for rally

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Bersih has asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to instruct Stadium Merdeka officials to allow them to use the historic stadium for a rally calling for free and fair elections this Saturday.

The electoral reforms movement said a meeting with the police agreed that one of it 62 component societies can apply for a police permit if they can book the stadium from its owners, the Merdeka Heritage Trust.

“Bersih 2.0 calls upon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (picture) to intervene and instruct the management of Stadium Merdeka to issue a letter of approval for the usage of Stadium Merdeka for Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 to be held on 9 July 2011.

“This will accord with the government’s promise to provide us with a stadium for the rally,” the movement’s steering committee said in a statement.

The electoral reforms movement said its chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan met the Inspector-General of Police and reiterated their intention to hold the rally in Stadium Merdeka and ask police to free all those detained in connection with the rally.

The movement also asked police to stop harassing Bersih supporters.
Police have said that Bersih remains an illegal organisation after the Home Minister outlawed it effective July 1.