30/11: Anti-govt groups planning three more protests next month

They have been encouraged by the success of two recent major rallies

By Chow Kum Hor, Malaysia Correspondent
The Straits Times

BUOYED by the success of two recent major rallies in Kuala Lumpur, anti-government groups and the Bar Council will hold three more protest gatherings next month.

They include a plan to demonstrate against the government's decision on Wednesday to raise toll charges for seven highways nationwide by up to 50 per cent.

In the past, protests against toll increases drew thousands of people.

The other two protests are expected to attract smaller crowds. This includes a march in the city by the Bar Council on Dec 9 to celebrate Human Rights Day.

This will be followed by a demonstration outside Parliament in Kuala Lumpur two days later to protest against a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the retirement age of Election Commission members by one year to 66.

The amendment is to allow Election Commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, 65, to continue in his current post. Opposition parties have derided Tan Sri Abdul Rashid's track record, accusing him of being subservient to the Barisan Nasional during polls.

The Dec 11 protest is organised by Bersih, a coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations advocating free and fair elections.

'We expect a few thousand to show up. It won't be like the gathering on Nov 10,' Bersih representative Faisal Mustaffa told The Straits Times.

During the Nov 10 rally, 10,000 protesters took part in a a 2km march to the National Palace to ask the Malaysian King to press the government for electoral reforms.

It was the biggest rally the country had seen in a decade.

Mr Faisal said Bersih will, for the first time, take part in the Bar Council's annual march, 'as having free and fair elections is part of human rights'. He expected a turnout of only 'a few hundred' in the low-key event to be held on a Sunday morning.

The demonstration against the toll increases is organised by a handful of non-governmental organisations and opposition parties which call themselves Protest. Details on the venue and date have yet to be fixed.

'After looking at what happened in the last two rallies, we expect many to show up at the protests against the toll hikes,' said Mr Tian Chua, a top leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, which is part of Protest.

Early this year, Protest drew thousands of demonstrators near highways where toll charges had been raised.

The Bersih rally and a gathering by more than 5,000 Indians in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday came as a surprise as mass street protests are rare in Malaysia.

In both gatherings, police fired tear gas and water cannon against protesters as the assemblies were illegal.

A police permit is required for a gathering of five or more people.