Gerakan Youth’s offer to help Bersih find a stadium to hold its rally is open to the “red shirts” counter-protest as well, said the wing’s chief Tan Keng Liang.

He said the party is sincere in wanting to help rally organisers find a proper venue so that they won’t have to hold street protests, which pose security risks.

“Please do it in a stadium. We don’t take sides. I have already said clearly that the red shirts should not do street protests, but sometimes it is not highlighted in the press […]

“Gerakan Youth does not care what colour: Red, yellow, purple, pink… Please do it inside a stadium. So the offer to do this thing is to all.

“If you want, you can come to us and we will try to assist,” Tan told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

The press conference was held to announce that Gerakan Youth has sent official letters to Bersih reiterating its offer to help the pro-electoral reform movement to find a stadium for the Bersih 5 rally.

He was asked if the same offer would be extended to Himpunan Merah as well, which had threatened to hold a rally to counter Bersih 5 if that ever happens.

Tan answered in the affirmative, but said a letter has yet to be extended because only Bersih has made an official announcement that it would hold a rally thus far.

Moreover, unlike Bersih’s steering committee, the Himpunan Merah movement led by Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos do not have an office to correspond with.

In a related development, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah has declined Gerakan Youth’s offer.

The Bersih 5 rally is slated to demand action on the 1MDB scandal, but a date and venue for the protest has yet to be decided.

Previously, about two weeks after last year’s Bersih 4 rally, Jamal had led a group of protesters donning red shirts to hold a counter-demonstration.