J

uly 9, Online

Police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of activists as more than 20,000 demonstrators massed Saturday across Malaysia’s main city demanding electoral reforms in the country’s biggest political rally in years.

The opposition-backed rally was the culmination of weeks of intense pressure on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s long-ruling coalition to make election laws fairer and more transparent ahead of national polls widely expected by mid-2012.

Demonstrators marched in defiance of Najib’s administration, which has declared the rally illegal and warned people repeatedly to avoid it.

Opposition leaders accuse Najib’s National Front coalition of relying on fraud to preserve its 54-year grip on power, which has been eroded in recent years amid mounting complaints about corruption and racial discrimination. The government insists the current electoral policies are evenhanded.

The federal police force said in a statement that it detained 670 people (media reports say 1,667) in a clampdown called “Operation Erase Bersih”, referring to the Bersih coalition of civic groups organizing the rally.

Those arrested included several senior opposition officials.

Your comments:

Bersih 2.0 expected 100,000 to join them but maybe only 30,000 did.The quickest and easiest RM200 I made last week by the courtesy of Bersih.

I thought that I and my friends were the only ones who skipped the rally after receiving our RM200 but it looks like 70,000 others had the same idea.

Can’t wait for Bersih 3.0, hopefully the PKR may up it to RM500 by then.

Din
Kuantan, Malaysia

The entrenched leaders are naive, clueless and totally misled not to mention greedy.

The future is with the young.

Ben
Sabah

What excuse do the police have for firing tear gas into a hospital compound?

Nina
Kuala Lumpur

When the public is still arguing whether or not people are allowed to hold a protest instead of debating the issue they’re protesting about, you have a long way to go to real democracy.

Jon
Jakarta

Why are you holding up the election, Prime Minister Najib?

If you believe you have done such a good job and claimed the Bersih march was a failure, call new elections and get a new fresh mandate from voters, then Bersih would shut up if you win in a clean and fair election.

Neni
Indonesia

The police did not fire tear gas and water at the Bersih/Opposition group but the police fired tear gas and aimed their water cannons at the pro-government group to stop them from reaching and physically engaging with the Bersih demonstrators.

The pro-government guys assembled themselves as soon as they heard that the Bersih/Opposition group decided to proceed with their demonstration.

Nikmat
Kuala Lumpur

News without a leg to stand on will get around some other way. Never give up your rights and get rid of the unelected dictator.

Klen
Bandung

Now the Malaysian government has shown the world that there is no freedom of expression for the opposition.

The police fired tear gas at protesters just because they were there, a regular tactic used by oppressive governments to deliberately start chaos.

In democratic countries where street rallies are citizens’ right, the police guard and direct the crowd to keep them safe. They only use force if violence breaks.

Ian
London