Gerakan Merah leader Mohd Ali Baharom, better known as Ali Tinju, said he plans to invite Bersih chief Maria Chin Abdullah to speak at his Nov 13 forum on street rallies.

Ali said he would even abandon his planned 'butt exercise' in front of her house if she attends the forum.

"I promise to Maria, if she attends the forum... I, Ali Tinju will not do anything.

"But if she fails to do so... Then until Nov 19, we will meet her, wherever it may be," Ali told Malaysiakini, referring to the date of the Bersih 5 rally.

However, the former soldier was quick to clarify that he was not “threatening” her, but was just indulging in “political talk”.

Yesterday, Ali sent the media an invitation to a forum titled 'Street rallies and the country's future' on Nov 13.

Among the listed panelists are Maria, activist Ambiga Sreenevasan, Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, and Umno minister Noh Omar.

However, checks by Malaysiakini found that none of the panelists have received an invitation to the forum.

Maria and Ambiga, who is also the former Bersih chairperson, have also confirmed with Malaysiakini that they have not yet been invited to Ali's forum.

Ali had previously said he would perform the second edition of his "butt exercise" outside Maria's house, after Bersih announced its fifth rally.

He had performed a similar exercise outside the residence of then Bersih chief Ambiga in 2012, a month after the coalition for clean and fair elections held its third protest.

The Bersih 5 rally in Kuala Lumpur is to demand for clean government, clean elections, strengthening of parliamentary democracy, empowerment of Sabah and Sarawak and the right to dissent.

Meanwhile, Ali said he hoped that there would be a stop to protests, be they "yellow or red" – in a reference to the yellow-clad Bersih demonstrators and the red shirts worn by the pro-establishment Gerakan Merah group.

He also reiterated his challenge to Maria to face him in the next general election.

"If Maria thinks she's great, if I think I'm great then in the 14th general election, let's square off in the Bandar Tun Razak parliament seat.

"Then if one of us wins, we can go to Parliament and make as much noise as we want to."

He said Bandar Tun Razak has an equal number of Chinese and Malays.

He expressed confidence that he could win the Chinese votes in the constituency, currently held by independent MP Khalid Ibrahim.