Malaysiakini

Tens of thousands of protesters massed outside Istana Negara this afternoon, facing off against riot police in defiance of a government ban on the rally calling for clean and fair elections.

The demonstrators, an alliance of opposition parties and civil society groups, had marched in the driving rain to the palace, chanting “Election Reform” and “Justice”.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had vowed to suppress the demonstration, backing police who said they feared riots could break out.

But the rally went ahead despite efforts to close down the centre of Kuala Lumpur, with a heavy police presence and roadblocks that caused traffic snarls.

“There are close to 30,000 protesters here at the moment. We have agreed to have them sit down in front of the palace and have four representatives present a petition” to the palace representative, a senior police officer told AFP.

Bersih: 40,000 at palace gate

Organisers of the rally said that at least 40,000 had turned up for the rally.

Some 400 police in riot gear were deployed at the palace, including dozens armed with automatic weapons and several with tear gas launchers. Two water cannons were set up behind police lines.

“The Malaysian public must be allowed to express their opinions and views,” parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said at the palace gates before going in to deliver the petition.

“It is not fair for the government not to issue a permit for this rally to take place as it is only the voice of the people being expressed here,” he said.

Organisers had planned to hold the rally at the city’s Dataran Merdeka but were forced to shift the venue after police sealed it off.

Anwar made short speech

Anwar Ibrahim, who was heir apparent to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad until 1998 when he was sacked and jailed for sodomy and corruption, was only allowed to make brief remarks at the rally.

He yelled out his slogan of “Reformasi” or “Reform” and thanked the crowd for coming.

“We want free and fair elections and clearly Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and his cabinet are complicit to the crime of cheating Malaysians from having free and fair elections,” he told reporters later.

Anwar’s sodomy conviction has been overturned but the corruption verdict stands, barring him from standing for public office until April 2008.

Protests are rare in Malaysia, and the last major rallies were seen in 1998 during the “Reformasi” movement that erupted after Anwar’s sacking.

Andrew Ong
Malaysiakini

It appears that the city is under siege today - thousands of police personnel have been stationed in selective parts of Kuala Lumpur in anticipation of a mass rally scheduled for 3pm.

A 11am check at Dataran Merdeka, the rally venue, revealed the presence of more than 10 police trucks in front of the iconic Sultan Abdul Samad building. Rela personnel were also spotted.

The police sealed off all entrances to the square, but are allowing only tourists to visit the area.

Police checkpoints were dotted along in nearly every alley near the square while police from the General Operations Force (GOF), Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and other uniformed officers are manning several positions around the area.

Organisers have designated four meeting points - Sogo shopping complex, Masjid Jamek LRT, Pasar Seni and the National Mosque - for participants to converge before proceeding to Dataran Merdeka.

However, a check by Malaysiakini this morning revealed that numerous police trucks were already in position at all four areas.

Traffic within the city however is still smooth with a marked reduction in traffic. Apparently commuters are jammed in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. It was business as usual for most traders and business premises near Dataran Merdeka.

Major highways clogged

Several eyewitnesses also told Malaysiakini that traffic along the Federal Highway had been brought to a snarl due to at least four police checkpoints.

Each roadblock reduced the traffic to only one lane. It is believed that the police are turning back all buses and vans carrying suspected rally participants. A similar checkpoint was mounted along the Sprint Highway near Section 17.

Meanwhile, along the North-South Highway, a Malaysiakini reader reported a three to four kilometres jam at the Sungai Besi toll booth in both directions.

While being caught in the jam, the reader witnessed several cars being forced to turn back away from Kuala Lumpur.

Several eyewitnesses also reported unusual police checkpoints as far away as the entrance to the North-South Highway as far south as in Senai, Johor and in Sungai Buloh, north of Kuala Lumpur.

The Sungai Buloh to Jalan Duta stretch of the North-South Highway heading towards Kuala Limpur has been completely closed and traffic is being diverted to Kota Damansara and Damansara toll exits.

“They seem very hardworking today. Roadblocks are also seen along the North-South Highway near Tangkak (Johor), but it’s raining and they are resting under a shelter,” an the eyewitness.

A scheduled mass assembly at Dataran Merdeka by Bersih to submit a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which the police refused to permit, has resulted in road blocks being set up throughout the Peninsular Malaysia and water cannons as well as FRU trucks being deployed to the scene to disperse the expected 100,000 crowd.

While I was driving from Teluk Intan to Petaling Jaya this morning, I have encountered two road blocks, one at the Kampung Ayer Hitam junction at Route 58 and another just before the junction turning into the North-South Expressway (NSE) via Bidor interchange. At both road blocks, the policemen on duty took a peek into the car, watching everything and everyone inside before allowing drivers to proceed.

Along the NSE, I’ve seen water cannons and FRU trucks heading towards Kuala Lumpur.

The police should allow the assembly and march to proceed as it is a peaceful assembly anyway. Instead of setting up roadblocks everywhere, they should have spend the time to prevent crime from happening!