Pakatan-linked NGO Jingga 13 has condemned the government for suing Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan and nine other steering committee members, and urged them to take legal action against the Election Commission (EC), Royal Malaysian police (PDRM) and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) instead.

It also called for the withdrawal of the suit against the Bersih leaders and action to be taken against Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

The government has initiated the civil suit against the Bersih leaders for damages allegedly caused during the April 28 Bersih 3.0 rally. The suit was filed on May 15.

Inexplicably, national laureate and co-chairperson A Samad Said and prominent Bersih steering committee member Hishammuddin Rais were not among the 10 named in the suit.

The other nine named are Maria Chin Abdullah, Zaid Kamaruddin, Haris Fathillah Mohamed, K Arumugam, S Arul Prakkash, Wong Chin Huat, Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, Toh Kin Woon and Andrew Khoo.

EC root cause of protest

NONE Responding to the suit, Jingga 13 chief coordinator Fariz Musa ( left) argued today that the three bodies named should instead be ones to face legal action and laid out his reasons in a press release today.

The EC's failures, according to him, had been the main factors behind the three Bersih rallies as the demonstrations were staged to push the EC into undertaking electoral reforms.

The police, on the other hand, were to be blamed for being the trigger that set off the chaos when they acted aggressively against the protesters.

"Bersih 1.0 until 3.0 would not have existed if the EC truly had the confidence of the people... and implemented the eight demands (by Bersih) in improving the electoral system.

"The inspector-general of the police should be sued because the PDRM was the trigger for the uncontrollable situation (at the Bersih rally)," he added.

Lastly, he blamed DBKL for their attempts to "block" Bersih's efforts to hold a sit-in protest at Dataran Merdeka.

In particular, he criticised their obtaining a court order to block the rally at the venue, saying it was "extreme" and "made (people who had gathered for the rally) uneasy".

"The Kuala Lumpur mayor must also be held responsible for the incidents on April 28," he added.

The protest for clean and fair elections, which organisers claimed attracted some 250,000 participants, had been peaceful and carnival-like but clashes with police began after some protesters breached the barricade at Dataran Merdeka.