Pakatan Youth: Gov't should apologise to Bersih

PAS Youth has urged the federal government to apologise to Bersih 2.0 and its supporters now that the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the polls reforms group was not an unlawful entity.

Commenting on the ruling, PAS Youth information chief Riduan Mohd Nor said the government should learn from this mistake and show remorse for the heavy handedness of the authorities towards participants of Bersih’s previous rallies.

This morning, the court overturned Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein declaration on July 1 last year that Bersih was an illegal organisation.

Justice Rohana Yusof also remarked that Hishammuddin’s declaration was “tainted with irrationality”.

Bersih 2.0 had sought a judicial review of Hishammuddin’s declaration on July 8 last year, a day before a rally for election reforms was held in Kuala Lumpur, where dozens of mostly peaceful protestors were manhandled by the police.

A public inquiry by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) had concluded that the police had violated the human rights of protest participants.
Show sincerity

Riduan said the decision bodes well with Malaysians who advocates free and fair elections and that the federal government was wrong for punishing them.

“The government should have never punished Bersih as being ‘unlawful’ just because it is an organisation that speaks out for most Malaysians and does not agree with the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, PKR Youth information chief Najwan Halimi said the federal government apology must be forthcoming if the Najib administration sincere in respecting the law and the Federal Constitution.

Najwan said that in developed countries, it was normal for leaders to apologise for their mistakes and some would even resign to maintain the integrity of the government.

“Najib Razak wants Malaysia to be an example of the best democracy in the world, so it would be a good idea for him and Hishammuddin to show their kindness by apologising to the people of Malaysia,” he said.