Although the Bersih 2.0 rally took place three days ago, the police have continued to arrest political activists wearing the yellow T-shirts promoting the coalition of NGOs calling for clean and fair elections.

In an incident in Johor Bahru today, two PAS division leaders were arrested by police.

PAS’ Pulai division vice-chief Zaaba Ibrahim and Johor Bahru division chief Rosli Kemin were at a press briefing, after lodging a police report on police brutality during the rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

According to Johor PAS deputy commissioner Mazlan Aliman, Zaaba and Rosli at the press conference in a restaurant near the Sentral Johor Bahru police station when they were nabbed.

penang bersih 3.0 rally participant with yellow shirt “Four police officers pulled them away. They didn’t do it roughly, but they should have spoken to them.

“Anyway, the Bersih rally has ended. They could have just asked them to take off their (Bersih) T-shirts instead of arresting them."

It was learnt that the pair were standing behind PAS Johor commissioner Dr Mahfodz Mohamed – who was addressing journalists at the time – when police moved in to arrest them.

This is believed to be the second known arrest of PAS grassroots leaders, after Sabah Youth chief Lahirul Latigu was detained in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

'T-shirts still illegal'

When asked, the police officers simply said that both Zaaba and Rosli were being detained for wearing Bersih 2.0 T-shirts, which are still deemed illegal, said Mazlan.

“They said the ban has not been retracted and wearing a Bersih T-shirt is still illegal... this is unethical,” he said.

At the time of writing, Mazlan said about 10 PAS supporters and their lawyers were waiting at the police station for the pair to be released.

There has yet to be any statement from the police on the arrests, although it is believed that the action was under Section 47 of the Societies Act 1966 for displaying the logo of an illegal organisation.

Crackdown 'stupid'

Meanwhile, DAP national organising secretary Teresa Kok urged Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to lift the ban on Bersih 2.0, saying the on-going crackdown on supporters is "stupid" and a gross violation of Malaysians' human rights.

NONE She said the brutality that protesters endured at the hands of the police - on top of the arrests of nearly 200 people in connection to Bersih 2.0 and the detention of six PSM leaders under the Emergency Ordinance - have reduced the nation to an international laughing stock.

"Since the Bersih 2.0 rally is over, I urge Hishammuddin and the police to drop the ban and apologise to all Malaysians.

"I call on Prime Minister Najib (Abdul) Razak and his cabinet members to respect the demands and wishes of the rakyat , and to carry out political reform by honouring the eight demands of Bersih (2.0).

"The time has come for the BN government to respect human rights, including giving Malaysians room to have peaceful assemblies as practised in many countries of the world."