No political party has received any invitation to the Bersih 5 rally because invitations have not been sent out yet, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said today.

"We have not sent out any invitation to any political party and we will do so when we are ready," Maria told Malaysiakini.

She was responding to PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man's comment last Saturday that his party was awaiting a formal invitation to participate in the Bersih 5 rally.

The date for the rally is yet to be fixed as Bersih is still consulting with its contacts, Maria said.

Tuan Ibrahim said that as PAS was still waiting for the invitation, it did not raise the matter at the party's central committee meeting last Saturday.

Maria had first announced on Aug 3 that the Bersih 5 rally would take place following the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) filings that more than US$3.5 billion had purportedly been stolen from 1MDB.

In an interview with Malaysiakini last week, she had said Bersih was reaching out to PAS.

Participation in the rally by PAS is crucial as the party is capable of mobilising the Malay heartland.

The last Bersih rally on Aug 29 last year saw a lacklustre turnout among the Malay community, attributed to PAS' decision not to mobilise its members.

Critics used this to attack the rally as being "Chinese" and turned it into a racial issue.

The Bersih 4 rally drew more than 100,000 people, who demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for his handling of 1MDB and the multi-billion ringgit deposits in his personal bank accounts.

Najib had denied any wrongdoing or taking public funds for personal gain.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.