Condemnation on Putrajaya’s application of security laws to detain Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah continues to gather steam.

The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) said Maria Chin’s goal in organising Bersih 5 was to demand for a clean government and to stamp out graft.

“How is this detrimental to public security? The misappropriation of public funds and abuse of public institutions are the real threat to parliamentary democracy.

“All Malaysians know that the ‘terrorist’ is not Maria but the individuals who were involved in money-laundering and mismanagement of 1MDB,” C4 said in a statement today.

C4 said the crackdown on Bersih, which is on an anti-corruption and good governance drive, proved that the Najib Abdul Razak administration saw these as antithetical ideas.

Maria Chin was arrested last Friday, during a raid on the Bersih headquarters. She is being investigated under Section 124C of the Penal Code for participating in activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

The authorities said she was also detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), under which she can be detained without trial for 28 days.

‘Maria Chin’s success story’

Meanwhile, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim said Maria was being locked up under Sosma because of her ability to rally the public against Putrajaya’s misdeeds.

“More and more people are willing to show that they are not afraid of this government. This is the true success story of Bersih. This is Maria Chin’s success story.

“She is a good and fearless organiser and she inspires ordinary Malaysians to be brave. She has been successful and that’s why the cowards have placed her in solitary confinement.

“We must do whatever we can to help her cause, which is also ours!” Zaid said in a post on his blog today.

Bersih 5 drew an estimated 40,000 protesters, despite threats from the pro-Umno red-shirts and more than a dozen arrests of political leaders and activists on the eve of the rally.

The rally urged the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB controversy and called for a reinvigorated anti-corruption drive, good governance and electoral reforms.

Echoing C4, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) questioned how Maria is detained while those who issued death threats and threats of violence against her are still free.

"The right to peaceful protest of any elected government’s wrongdoing is the people’s right, and Maria and others are only exercising and defending that right," it said in a statement.

"We strongly urge the Malaysian authorities to stop the clampdown on Bersih, human rights defenders and civil society leaders.

"We call for the immediate release of Maria and to drop all charges against those who have been critical of the government’s abuse of power and protect our constitutional right to freedom of expression and association and peaceful assembly," it said.

The JAG is made up of All Women’s Action Society (Awam), Justice for Sisters, Perak Women for Women (PWW), Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (Sawo), Sisters in Islam (SIS), Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Women’s Centre for Change (WCC) and Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower). Maria is also Empower director.