Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah has denied the coalition is being 'too obedient' in compromising with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

Maria pointed out DBKL also told Bersih not to hold its rally on Aug 29-30, and to move it to several alternative venues instead.

Despite this, the Bersih 4 rally would still be held in vicinity of Dataran Merdeka on the original date.

"It is not a matter of obedience or not… It is not meant to be confrontational.

"We will still exert our right to assemble, but within reasonable grounds," she told reporters at the lobby of the DBKL headquarters today.

The alternative venues proposed to Bersih were Stadium Merdeka, Stadium Titiwangsa, and Bukit Jalil National Stadium, on dates after the National Day celebrations.

Earlier this morning, Maria met with Kuala Lumpur Mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz to discuss the electoral reform coalition’s plans to hold the overnight rally.

'This will be like a fiesta'

Speaking at the press conference after the meeting, Maria said DBKL had also told Bersih to give a written undertaking to take full responsibility for the rally, but she turned it down on the grounds that it should be a shared responsibility.

"The majority of the resources is actually with the police to take care of crowd control, the traffic, and so forth.

"On our side, the undertaking that we will take is to make sure that people who come out will be peaceful, and it has always been peaceful.

"We will take care of the rubbish, the toilet, facilities, and make sure that there are rubbish bins," she said.

She also highlighted that Bersih has recruited 500 volunteers to help clear garbage and 2,000 persons so far to help with security and crowd control, and are prepared to cooperate with the police.

Following Mohd Amin Nordin's statement that Bersih participants would not be allowed to set up tents or use sleeping bags during the rally, Maria said instructions would be given to participants not to bring tents.

She also downplayed the impact of the directive, saying that most people are unlikely to sleep that night.

"We meant this to be more like a fiesta, so there will be programmes going on," she said, adding that the itinerary would be distributed later.

However, Maria is adamant that participants should at least be able to bring sleeping bags or blankets to stay warm at night, pointing out that even some of the city’s homeless enjoy these comforts.

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