(Oct 21): Electoral reform watchdog Bersih 2.0 has criticised today’s charge against its Sabah vice-chair Jannie Lasimbang over her involvement in the Bersih 4 rally in August, saying that it expected others to be similarly prosecuted as well.

In a statement, Bersih chairman Maria Chin Abdullah pledged the movement’s support for Lasimbang and hit out at the prosecution for charging her under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA).

She was charged with failure to give 10 days’ notice prior to the rally at the Kota Kinabalu magistrate’s court today.

Maria said that she expected others to be also charged under the PAA following the Court of Appeal decision earlier this month declaring Section 9(5) of the act constitutional.

On October 1, the Court of Appeal ruled that a provision in the act which punishes organisers for holding assemblies is constitutional, backtracking from an earlier ruling in April last year, where a three-man Court of Appeal bench acquitted PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of organising a rally.

“Bersih 2.0 regard the prosecution against Jannie as yet another attack on the right to protest, and the Malaysians who have shown their support on their right to protest at Bersih 4, will continue their struggle to uphold their rights,” Maria said in a statement today.

She said while Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz had said yesterday that the government allowed for peaceful demonstrations, it was clear that there was no such freedom evident after a gathering had taken place.

Organised by electoral reforms coalition Bersih 2.0, the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally held from Aug 29 to 30, demanded institutional reforms, and called for the resignation of Datuk Seri Najib Razak over alleged financial scandals.

On August 30, Sabah Bersih declared their 20-hour rally in Kota Kinabalu a success despite a lower turnout on the second day of its democracy walk, which organisers blamed on police roadblocks which shut down traffic access to their camp in Tanjung Lipat. – The Malaysian Insider