A hundred and twenty-eight artistes across the country have condemned the recent crackdown on Bersih 2.0 activists, saying they felt "disturbed" by all the injustices meted out by the authorities.

NONELamenting that after half a century of independence the space for creative freedom has not expanded much, the group expressed its "deep grievances" over the recent use of sedition laws and the Police Act to question national literature laureate A Samad Said (right).

"Has he committed a monstrous crime when the septuagenarian poet has only recited his poem Unggun Bersih at the ‘launch' of the Bersih 2.0 rally?" the group asked in a press statement today.

"Semakin lara kita didera bara, kita laungkan juga pesan merdeka... (No matter how badly we are persecuted, we shall continue the call for freedom)", Samad said in his poetic recital.

"It reveals to us such poetic sensibilities of one who cares and feels for one's time and country," they said.

Worse still, they added, their lives were still shrouded in a "culture of fear".

The group said they could foresee more absurd "handcuffs" and "shackles" to further clamp down on cultural producers who advocate fairness and the pursuit of democracy as Samad had done.

"We are concerned that such heavy handed political ploys will lead to 50 years of backwardness in our cultural development," they said.

"As part of creative communities, we certainly cannot stay aloof but to issue the following statement together."

Upholding personal freedoms

In the statement, the group said all cultural producers have the right to a personal political position and creative freedom.

They urged the police to adopt an "open, fair, and professional practice with wisdom", rather than use outdated laws to disrupt the flow of rational dialogues.

"The poet A Samad Said was simply expressing his longing for democracy and freedom, and not offering abusive, offensive irrational emotions," they noted.

NONEThe group also endorsed Bersih 2.0's eight demands for electoral reform.

"However, regrettably to date, the appeal has not yet received a positive response from the EC (to address these issues)," the group said.

As the location of the rally remained up in the air, the group was optimistic of the outcome, despite police threats of arrests and crackdown.

"Regardless of the consequence, we hope that all hearts and souls entrapped would be freed, and above all (that) the country would emit rays of humanistic brilliance," the artistes added.