Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim accused Umno today of being afraid to hold fair and free elections, and pointed to a pro-government media campaign being waged against a planned electoral reforms rally.
The opposition leader also urged a 500-strong crowd in Brickfields here today to attend the rally organised by elections watchdog Bersih 2.0 on July 9.
“Why can’t Umno conduct free and fair elections?” said Anwar today.
“If they conduct free and fair elections, the fear is that they will lose,” he added.
Bersih’s first rally in 2007, where up to 50,000 were reported to have gathered in the city here, was said to have played a major role in bringing record gains for the opposition electoral pact in Election 2008, where it swept five state governments and won 82 parliamentary seats.
Umno daily Utusan Malaysia today urged Malaysians to boycott the protest and quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s warning that “it will be chaotic when those for and against the street demonstration clash”.
Protesters during the first Bersih rally in 2007 were dispersed by water cannons and tear gas launched by the police.
Anwar accused government-controlled media of representing “the unjust and the corrupt”.
He said the people merely wanted to reclaim their constitutional rights to fair and free elections.
“Elections now are not fair and free,” said the PKR de facto leader.
“We’re not asking for extra votes for Indians, extra privileges for the Malays. We’re just demanding what the country promised,” he said.
Anwar further slammed Barisan Nasional (BN) for barring Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan from entering Sarawak just before the recent state elections there.
He said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had invited him to observe the country’s elections today.
“He’s confident he has fair and free elections. Here, we’re not even outsiders (and the) Bersih chief was not even allowed to monitor elections. It means you have something to hide,” said Anwar.
PAS has promised to bring hundreds of thousands of supporters to the rally in the city, ahead of speculation that a general election will be called within a year.
