Leading protest group to stage seven-week roadshow and rally to demand resignation of Malaysia’s prime minister

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Maria Chin Abdullah (centre), chairperson of the coalition of Malaysian NGOs and activist groups known as Bersih, that also translates as "clean". Photo: AFP

Published: 4:04pm, 14 Sep 2016Updated: 4:04pm, 14 Sep 2016

Malaysia’s leading political protest group announced plans on Wednesday for a seven-week roadshow capped by a November 19 rally in the capital to demand the scandal-tainted prime minister’s resignation.

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, which held a huge two-day demonstration last year seeking Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ouster over corruption allegations, said the nationwide action beginning October 1 was in response to the “repulsive magnitude” of a stunning graft scandal.

We cannot have a prime minister who steals money from the rakyat [people]. That cannot happen in this country

Coalition’s chair Maria Chin Abdullah

Najib is clinging to power despite increasingly damaging allegations that he took part in the alleged looting of billions in state funds.

“We cannot have a prime minister who steals money from the rakyat [people]. That cannot happen in this country,” the coalition’s chair Maria Chin Abdullah told reporters.

The independent alliance of NGOs and civil-society groups, commonly known as “Bersih”, the Malay word for “clean”, has staged four major demonstrations since 2007 to demand electoral and government reforms.

Rallies in 2011 and 2012 ended with police employing tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators. Bersih accuses Malaysia’s government, in power since independence in 1957, of systematic corruption, election abuses and repressing dissent.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak laughs as he attends the Asean summit in Vientiane on September 8. Photo: AFP

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