Is the Bersih 5 rally still on?

Three weeks after Bersih made the announcement that it would be holding a rally, this is the question on everyone’s mind.

To date, and unlike the past four rallies it organised, the electoral watchdog has not announced a date or venue.

Some are of the view that Bersih is planning to gauge public response for this Saturday's 'TangkapMO1' rally before deciding on its next move.

However, Bersih chief Maria Chin Abdullah (photo) denied this.

According to her, Bersih is still consulting with other NGOs to iron out the details and is not in a rush to announce the date.

"There are some Bersih supporters who will just go for Bersih, so I don't expect 100,000 to turn up for the 'TangkapMO1' rally... But it is not our testing ground,” she told Malaysiakini.

A source familiar with Bersih said the movement was assessing two factors – Malay sentiment and the mobilisation of rural folk.

"If there is a huge turnout for the MO1 rally, the sooner Bersih would announce the date for its rally and vice versa.

"Everyone is adopting a wait-and-see position. It's better than doing it half-baked," he added.

However, Bersih is in a difficult position – if it pushes ahead with the rally without proper planning, it risks seeing the rally become a failure; on the other hand, if it waits too long, the momentum could dampen.

Premature announcement

In other words, political analyst Tang Ah Chai (photo) said, Bersih’s premature announcement of holding a rally has placed it in a conundrum.

"It gave others the feeling that the announcement (of the rally) was made before it was prepared. And now, its leaders are forced to respond to questions on the when and where instead of mobilising the numbers.

"Their hardcore supporters will feel lost over the current situation, and their spirit could diminish.

"Bersih is caught between a rock and a hard place – it can neither cancel the rally nor announce the date," he told Malaysiakini.

Tang claimed that the delay in fixing a date reflected the possibility of unresolved disagreements within Bersih itself.

The analyst also pointed out that Bersih’s Achilles heel is the mobilisation of rural Malays, similar to last year’s rally carried out in the absence of support from PAS.

“Bersih's strength is the middle class, elites and students who possess greater political consciousness.

“Mobilising the conservative crowd from rural areas is something Bersih has never done before,” he said.

Bersih 5 was announced in the wake of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) initiating legal action with regard to funds allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB.