Student activists from the Tangkap Malaysian Official 1 (TangkapMO1) coalition have put in place safeguards to ensure their rally on Saturday, Aug 27, will not be hijacked by other supporting parties.

TangkapMO1 spokesperson Anis Syafiqah Md Yusof said they have set a rule that only the students would be in charge once protesters arrived at Dataran Merdeka as their end-gathering point.

"Once we get to Dataran, only students would be allowed to speak (address the crowd)," Anis Syafiqah told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

"We have issued instructions that politicians and other NGO leaders could only give speeches at the two earlier gathering points, at Sogo and Masjid Jamek," she said when asked on possibilities of the students being overshadowed by other more prominent leaders.

Despite objections from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Anis Syafiqah (on left in photo) said, the students would proceed to gather at Dataran Merdeka as it was the only location that truly symbolised the people's strength.

Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar previously said police would not allow the rally to be held in Dataran Merdeka as the organisers did not obtain permission from DBKL.

So far, the rally, organised to pressure the authorities to investigate the individual identified as 'Malaysian Official 1' in the US Department of Justice's 1MDB-linked civil suit, has garnered support from Pakatan Harapan parties and other NGOs against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In terms of student participation, the organisers revealed that they are targeting about 1,500 of their friends from local universities around the country – based on an ongoing roadshow which started about two weeks ago.

Another TangkapMO1 coalition member, Muhammad Luqman Nul Hakim Zul Razali, said the students in charge would do their best to avoid or take action against any form of provocation.

"We will try to avoid any provocation. We also have our security team.

"On that day, we will also cooperate with the police and hand over any person caught provoking the crowd," he said.

The organisers, he said, have assembled a security team of 200 people comprising members from the Youth wings of the Pakatan Harapan parties.

Muhammad Luqman said this when asked for comment on an incident during the 2012 Bersih 3 rally which saw an unidentified individual breaking down a police barricade to Dataran Merdeka.

The authorities pinpointed this incident as a trigger for their subsequent crackdown on the rally.

In response to the TangkapMO1 rally, a 'red shirt' group led by army veteran Ali Tinju (or Mohd Ali Baharom) has pledged to hold a counter protest on the same day.