Ex-Bersih leader: Remember, Harapan rose from street protests

Former Bersih secretary Mandeep Singh is no stranger to street protests or police intimidation. On the eve of the Bersih 5 demonstration in 2016, he was arrested together with the electoral watchdog’s then-chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah.

Now, ahead of the planned protest against the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in the case of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he has reminded Pakatan Harapan leaders not to forget the past.

“We should not forget where we came from. We also protested on the streets,” he told Malaysiakini.

“We are in power now, but we should not behave like the regimes of the past, who cracked down on dissent,” he added.

Mandeep, who is the political secretary to Selangor DAP chairperson Gobind Singh, was responding to reports that the police had launched an investigation into Perikatan Nasional’s plan to hold a protest on Sept 16, in conjunction with Malaysia Day, over the DNAA.

This was over a TikTok video urging the public to gather at the Sogo shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.

Mandeep said it is important for the organisers to adhere to procedures similar to how during the Bersih rallies, the necessary documents were submitted to the relevant authorities.

However, he noted this still did not prevent the authorities from clamping down on Bersih and its participants.

Therefore, Mandeep is hoping that the coming protest will not witness similar actions being taken.

“This is not about supporting or not supporting the rally. It is about the underlying principles such as the right to peaceful assembly and the right to expression.

“We should not only just talk about reforms, we need to walk it.

“Remember. Almost all of Harapan’s current ministers, including the prime minister, had protested on the streets before,” he added.

Similarly, he pointed out that Zahid had also taken to the streets in 2018 to participate in the anti-Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) rally.

Meanwhile, PN Youth, which is organising the upcoming “Save Malaysia” protest, has now branded it as a gathering to celebrate Malaysia Day instead.

In 2020, a “Save Malaysia” gathering was held outside the same venue to protest the PN government, which came into power following a political coup that toppled the Harapan administration.

At the time, the police had investigated former Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan and former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s daughter Marina over their involvement in the protest.

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