Online, Bersih marches on

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Despite a government clampdown over the past week, online support for Bersih 2.0 has grown exponentially even as news of arrests, raids and confiscation of material rule the headlines.

As of 2am, the official Bersih Facebook group for the electoral reform movement has now 51,124 likes, growing by about 150 per cent since the middle of last month while the July 9 event page has grown from 2,200 confirmed participants on June16 to a whopping 17,039

The Pic Badges (www.picbadges.com) website, which enables small badges to Facebook profile pictures, Twitter and other social media platforms, shows that four out of the top eight badges worldwide are Bersih-related.

Ambiga leaving the Istana after her royal audience July 5 2011.

In contrast, the Patriot badge associated to Umno Youth's counter-rally only trends on in Malaysia, where Bersih-related badges take five of the top eight spots.


Despite Bersih capitulating and agreeing to move its street rally to a stadium, the past few hours has seen several posts from defiant supporters declaring victory by forcing Datuk Seri Najib Razak to come to the negotiation table.

The prime minister has now said he was ready to meet Bersih organisers to negotiate an appropriate venue after the movement's chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenvasan had accepted the government's offer yesterday to meet in a stadium

This came after Ambiga and two other Bersih leaders met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who on Sunday stepped in to diffuse tension by advising the Najib administration and Bersih 2.0 to hold consultations over the issue of free and fair elections.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had already by July 1 outlawed Bersih 2.0, saying it was inciting the people and creating an atmosphere of unrest.

The police have also arrested more than 100 people in connection with the rally, most of them for wearing yellow T-shirts with the word Bersih emblazoned on them.

Police have also detained six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members, including Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, for 60 days under the Emergency Ordinance in relation to the planned rally.