Police today arrested a 48-year-old man over a placard he held during what is believed to be the Bersih 5 rally in November 19, 2016.

The arrest was conducted in Klang at 3.15am over suspicion that he insulted government leaders, Dang Wangi district police chief Mohd Sukri Kaman said in a statement.

The suspect is remanded for four days, after admitting to uploading the picture online "with the purpose of maligning the government on Facebook", Mohd Sukri said.

The arrest followed a police report lodged on April 5, over a message received by the complainant via messaging application WhatsApp.

The complainant received several pictures of a man who was holding a placard while wearing Bersih 4 and Bersih 5 T-shirts.

The Bersih 4 rally, also organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, was held on Aug 29 and 30, 2015.

Mohd Sukri said the placard was written in Chinese characters and "maligned national leaders".

Police seized suspect's mobile telephone, SIM card and other items to assist in investigations under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, he said.

The suspect has no criminal record, he added.

According to a picture published by Oriental Daily, the placard included profanities and accused the government of corruption, but it is unclear if this was the offending placard.

Bersih 4 attracted about 100,000 protestors, who demanded free and fair elections, a clean government, the right to dissent, the strengthening of parliamentary democracy, saving the Malaysian economy and the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak amid corruption allegations.

Najib consistently denied abusing public funds.

Bersih 5 meanwhile attracted about 40,000 protestors, who demanded for clean elections, clean government, strengthening parliamentary democracy, the right to dissent and the empowerment of Sabah and Sarawak.