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Gov't bans wearing of Bersih 4 T-shirts
Published:  Aug 28, 2015 7:49 PM
Updated: 1:13 PM

It is now illegal to wear a Bersih 4 T-shirt after the government this evening officially gazetted them as "undesirable" items.

According to the order issued by Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, any yellow clothing which carried the word 'Bersih 4' and any printed material and pamphlet which leads to Bersih 4 are now illegal.

The materials were included into a schedule of prohibited items.

"The printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution or possession of the publication described in the Schedule which is likely to be prejudicial to public order, likely to be prejudicial to security, likely to be contrary to any law and likely to be prejudicial to

national interest are absolutely prohibited throughout Malaysia," read the order.

The executive order was uploaded on the Attorney-General's Chamber's website this evening.

The ban came just a day before the Bersih 4 rally tomorrow which is expected to extend for 34 hours.

"This order may be cited as the Printing Presses and Publications (Control of Undesirable Publications) (NO.22) Order 2015," it read.

The order was made under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

Under Section 7(1) of the law, the minister has absolute discretion by order published in the gazette to prohibit any material deemed prejudicial to public order, morality, security or that that will alarm public opinion.

Maria says to wear T-shirts anyway

In an immediare reaction, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah ( photo ) said there was nothing wrong for people and activists to wear the yellow Bersih T-shirts.

"I would like to say, there is nothing wrong in wearing the Bersih t-shirts," she said.

"We are not going to the streets to defy the government but instead to demand for reform. We want an advancing Malaysia.

"By coming out, we are demanding that the government correct worsening political and economic situation so everything will be back on the track," she told Malaysiakini .

She called on Malaysians to bravely don their yellow t-shirts as a manifestation of their demand for change in the country.

"This is the decision we have to make," she said.

Malaysians have to rise up now or they risk facing the same problem half-a-century from now with regards to draconian law and a corrupt system.

Maria also said she was confident that the government will fail in its an intention to dampen the spirit of the Bersih 4 mega-rally tomorrow.

"Beside intimidation, they hope Bersih 4 will fail, but that is not going to happen," she said, adding a huge crowd will turn out for the rallies in three cities tomorrow.

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