Jannie (fourth left), Muthu (left), organizing committee members and Bersih Sabah committee make the ‘four’ sign to represent the Bersih 4 overnight rally outside the
Karamunsing police station.
KOTA KINABALU: Organizers of the Bersih 4 overnight rally have appealed to Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir to grant permission for Bersih Sabah to hold Pesta Demokrasi at Tanjung Lipat on August 29 and 30.
Bersih Sabah chairlady Jannie Lasimbang said it looked like Pesta Demokrasi would suffer the same fate as Himpunan May Day, but she insisted that the organizing committee would go ahead on holding the rally at Tanjung Lipat from 2pm on August 29 to 2pm on August 30 even without permission on using the public space.
She said the organizers had been trying to set up an appointment with Abidin to obtain his permission to hold the event at Tanjung Lipat as well as to keep the public toilets open beyond the closing time at 7pm.
“We have not managed to get an appointment with him so we sent him a letter this morning. We hope he will respond and give us the place.
“We do not expect (to get City Hall’s permission) but we are hoping that City Hall will be more open because it (Tanjung Lipat) is an open space,” she said to the media at the Karamunsing police station here yesterday.
Jannie, who is also vice chair of Bersih Malaysia, said the organizers felt it was their duty to inform City Hall of the event, though she argued that Tanjung Lipat was a public place where people could visit or camp there.
She said the rally was contingent on City Hall’s approval, considering that Bersih was previously told by the police that their fourth schedule form, which was a notice to the authority about the Himpunan May Day, could not be processed as they did not have City Hall’s permission to use Padang Merdeka for the May Day rally.
Jannie, along with the Bersih Sabah committee and organizing committee, had met with a police officer in charge of the licencing division yesterday to submit the fourth schedule form informing the authority about the rally.
She said the officer had declined to accept the form because the city police chief was not around. The organizer was later informed by the police that their notice had been received around two hours later.
“We have also written a letter to the OCPD (police chief) saying that we would be happy to meet him to discuss more about security and traffic control if there was a need for it.”
Jannie said the police had also requested a sketch map of Tanjung Lipat, which she deemed was meaningless, but would comply as it was part of the criteria.
“We have asked a volunteer to take (a screenshot) of a Google map and fax it to them (police).”
She said the police had also asked for the letter of permission from City Hall.
“I said I did not think we could get that. If we cannot get that (permission), I hope they will still look at our notice.”
Jannie explained that the reason Bersih Sabah decided to hold the rally at Tanjung Lipat was because the place was more comfortable, more public and easier to access.
“We have looked at the place. It is very nice to do a 24-hour (rally) there. There are toilets, camping place, places to eat, shelter. We have also asked people to bring tents and food to prepare (to stay) for 24 hours there.”
Asked what the organizing committee would do if Pesta Demokrasi ended up like Himpunan May Day, Jannie said the committee would go ahead with the plan if the situation came down to it.
The police had previously obtained a restriction order to ban the organizers from holding the May Day rally at five public locations, including Padang Merdeka, on May 1.
Even if the police gave the organizers an alternative location to hold the rally, Jannie said there was no point to go to a place where no people could see.
“We are making five demands. We want the people to know that we want a clean government, clean election, save our economy, right to speak up and stronger parliamentary democracy.
“If we do that in a corner, like what they told us the last time, we will say no. We have to insist on this place (Tanjung Lipat).”
Jannie said the May Day rally was a tragedy as it could have been a peaceful assembly.
“But the authorities were not cooperative. They suspected negative things from the people and organizers so it became difficult.”
Bersih Sabah insists that the intention of Pesta Demokrasi is not to topple the government or to bring the Prime Minister down, but to voice out the people’s rights.
Jannie said Pesta Demokrasi would brief participants on the reason for Bersih 4 and security measures at 3pm on August 29, followed by half an hour to an hour of interactive slots run by different groups such as the mountain guides to talk about their experience, indigenous groups to talk about land, Cracko Art Group, youth, women, as well as film screening and much more.
Jannie hoped the public could join the rally for 24 hours, though they were also welcome to attend at any time.
“I believe a lot of people will come,” she said, adding that Tanjung Lipat was big enough to accommodate a few thousand people.
On the other hand, Jannie said a #yellowtrees solidarity project to tie yellow ribbons on trees had started.
“We tied yellow ribbons on 20 trees in Donggongon this morning.”
The aim of the project was to tie yellow ribbons on as many trees as possible, on cars or even on their vehicle headlamps during the day, or take a selfie of oneself wearing a yellow shirt and post the pictures on Facebook.
Also present were Bersih Sabah advisor SM Muthu.