Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said Putrajaya will not jam telecommunication towers during the Bersih 4 rally in order to block communication amongst the participants.

"No way. It does not arise," he said when responding to a question whether the ministry which regulates the Internet will do so during the 34-hour long massive rally, or allow free flow of information.

"As far as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is concerned, they will look at all the blogs and websites which publish these kind of things.

"We just monitor the whole thing," he said at an event today.

During the mammoth Bersih 3 rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2012 ( photo ), the government was alleged to have jammed cellphone signals in an effort to curb the crowd from inviting even more people.

The authorities were also criticised for allegedly temporarily halting the LRT train service thus preventing the crowd from dispersing smoothly just before riot police moved in on them.

Putrajaya claimed that too many people had tried to access the networks simultaneously causing the cell transceivers to reject the extraneous signal load.

Salleh also urged Bersih to reconsider shifting the venue of their rally this weekend out of respect for National Day celebrations at Dataran Merdeka.

Bersih urged to shift

"The organiser, Bersih should respect the celebration of National Day. If they really want so much to rally, find another place," he said, saying that Dataran Merdeka was not appropr iate for a rally.

"We have to celebrate the Merdeka Day together irrespective of our political beliefs. That is the principle. I hope the organiser will reconsider," he urged.

As the minister-in-charge of National Day celebrations, the senator said the National Day parade rehearsal will go ahead on Aug 29 and 30 even if the clashes with the Bersih 4 rally also on those dates.

"We leave it to the police to take follow-up action. The police have said the rally is illegal as City Hall, the owner (of Dataran Merdeka) has turned down the permit," he said.

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