DAP national secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has rubbished the restriction order on 91 individuals the police have issued, barring them from assembling and entering certain areas in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to take part in a rally for electoral reforms.

NONE This order subjects all the individuals listed in the order to be “arrested on sight” by the police should they be found entering the so-called hot spots.

Lim, who is Penang Chief Minister, described the act to prevent the individuals from taking part in the event as “ridiculous and exposes an irrational fear” on the part of Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the police.

He said there were men holding offices of high power who were “inexplicably petrified” by the prospect of a group of Malaysians intending to exercise their basic human rights.

This section of society, he added, wanted to gather peacefully to highlight the need to address what they see as electoral flaws.

“We agree that conflict and violent demonstrations should be avoided, but from the beginning the Bersih 2.0 rally has always been intended to be a peaceful gathering,” said Lim.

“There is absolutely no element of violence, despite the painstaking efforts by the police and the government to portray it that way,” he added.

Lim said the movement was given “royal ratification” when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong himself deemed it fit to grant an audience to Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Royal consent

His Majesty also accorded royal consent to a gathering in any stadium that the Bersih organisers chose, added Lim.

azlan He stressed that Prime Minister Najib Razak himself had advised Bersih to use a stadium, "but today we find that his cabinet colleagues, especially Hishammuddin, do not understand this simple language”.

Lim added: “Not only are they not allowing Bersih to use any stadium in the Klang Valley, they have now issued a restriction order on 91 individuals, including all of its leaders.

“This is notwithstanding the arbitrary arrests of 193 people over the last few weeks, including six from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) being charged under the Emergency Ordinance.”

However, PSM leaders said the six party members were being subjected to the same treatment as that under the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, which allows detention without trial.

The list of restricted individuals includes Ambiga, parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Kelantan Mentri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, Selangor state exco member Teresa Kok, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and his deputy Mohamed Sabu.

“What is happening to our country when even our leaders are treated as strangers in our own land? How can so many elected leaders of our country be treated as if they are insidious elements?” Lim asked.

NONE He reminded the people that Ambiga ( right ), who is a former Bar Council president, was given the Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

The leaders of the world, he said, treated her as a courageous woman, yet in Malaysia she was being “vilified so severely as a public enemy” that Umno leaders even asked for her citizenship to be revoked .

“Indeed, Plato was correct in saying that truly it is a tragic day in Malaysia when grown men like Hishammuddin have succumbed to a bewildering fear of the light.

“Or are the police and Hishammuddin still children who are afraid of the dark and not yet grown men?” Lim asked.