VIDEO

Some 50 Bersih supporters marched through central Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the first anniversary of the Bersih 3.0 rally today, urging people to return home to vote.

NONE The yellow-clad group spent about two hours from 1.30pm making its way from Pasar Seni to the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, where Bersih is scheduled to have a book launch at 5pm.

The marchers distributed yellow ribbons and bookmarks to bystanders as they moved, amid chants of " Jom balik undi, hantu jangan mari ". (Let's go home to vote, phantom voters don't join in).

The first 30 minutes of this was done in the rain, which stopped only after the group reached Dataran Merdeka and sang the national anthem.

The march was organised by the anti-Peaceful Assembly Act group Kill the Bill. Bersih steering committee members Maria Chin Abdullah and Wong Chin Huat were also present.

'We want to see a clean, fair and safe election'

“Here we are here today not because we want to remember or celebrate the first anniversary of Bersih 3.0,” said Kill the Bill core member CY Phang in a speech at the historic square, around which the rally took place last year.

“We are here today because we want to send out a strong reminder that we want to see a clean, fair and safe election that is not tainted by political violence or fraud.

“We are here today because we want to tell our fellow Malaysians that the struggle for true democracy and human rights will continue,” Phang said.

NONE Speaking to reporters later, she said the event was organised at the last minute, after she realised that the Bersih anniversary was around the corner. Therefore, there was little publicity ahead of the event.

Pprior to the start of the event, the group leaders advised participants to stick to ‘neutral’ slogans and not to use ‘provocative’ or partisan messages to avoid trouble with the police.

Nevertheless, the popular anti-establishment chant “ Ini kali-lah. Tukar! ” (This is the time. Change!) was occasionally heard.

The police kept watch from a distance and did not interfere at all, while the participants tried to engage with them by thanking them for keeping the peace and offered them balloons.

The police officers and men, who numbered no more than eight at any given time, responded by smiling back and kept their distance.

Most passers by offered little more than a curious look at the group, though motorists sometimes responded to their presence by honking and giving the thumbs-up.

At the end of the event, the remaining ribbons and bookmarks were distributed among the participants, while Wong urged them to pass these on to their friends and display them prominently.

NONE “This is to embolden good people and to frighten bad people, so do help us take from the big bag here and tie it everywhere you can,” he said, adding that the bookmarks were not meant to be used in a book but to be displayed in places, such as a shirt pocket.

Wong ( left ) said this was necessary to show that the majority of the people  supported clean elections and that there was no need to fear political repercussions for casting their votes.

The group, which included two children and a person on a wheelchair,  dispersed peacefully about 3.20pm, after marching a distance of about three kilometres.

Some members of the group are also slated to perform in flash mobs around the popular Bukit Bintang shopping district this evening to encourage the people to come out and vote on May 5.