The Bersih 2.0 committee intends to get Suhakam to investigate the many claims on police brutality during last Saturday's rally to call for electoral reform.

NONEBersih 2.0 steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah urged victims and witnesses to lodge police reports and submit a copy to the committee for further action.

“We will document (the reports) and we will take action,” she said at a press conference today.

Maria also urged the police to stop intimidating victims and witnesses who have lodged reports on alleged brutality, saying she had received a complaint today.

“One eyewitness to the Tung Shin (Hospital) tear gas incident has been harassed to withdraw his report. The eyewitness, a male, made a police report on Sunday and on Monday they (police) asked him to tone down his police report,” she claimed.

Bersih 2.0 chief Ambiga Sreenevasan said they are shocked by the authorities’ continued crackdown on supporters of the movement, arguing that the recent spate of post-rally arrests may not even be legal.

Referring to a suit they filed last Friday against the Home Ministry, she said the recent order gazetted by the ministry declared the first Bersih, and not Bersih 2.0, as an illegal organisation.

"We have challenged the gazette order in court, and we intend to fully pursue that,” she said.

Ambiga stressed that the burden of responsibility for Saturday’s alleged violence lies squarely on the Home Ministry as the governing authority, but noted concern over the police’s apparent enthusiasm in carrying out the order as documented by witnesses.

"I won’t quarrel so much with the police but (with) those who issue the orders. But after watching the videos I was alarmed that those executing the orders appeared to do so with such relish,” she said.

Rally ‘was necessary’

In deflecting criticism of the rally, Ambiga said the authorities did not give them many options to prove that it is a movement supported by the people, and not narrow political ambitions.

She insisted that Bersih 2.0 remains independent of political influence, though it is not averse to working with parties from either side of the divide.

NONE“We are working on our own, but welcome anyone’s support and input, be it BN or Pakatan Rakyat. We should stop playing the BN/Pakatan line... we are all rakyat.

“You would have seen it on July 9. It was the rakyat (who marched)... if that is not proof of the rakyat asking for change, then I don’t know what is.”

Ambiga slammed the BN for heavy-handed treatment of Bersih 2.0 leaders and protesters and Pakatan leaders, stating that it was the BN and not Pakatan that had threatened public security.

“Think of who was threatening us... it was not Pakatan. It came from BN,” she said.

Ambiga also said there are no immediate plans to organise another rally to push the electoral reform agenda, saying that she believes a solution is workable.

“You don’t hold rallies at a drop of a hat. When you do, (it has to be) for a very good reason. I am an optimist, and I believe we can still work these issues through,” she said.

When asked if Saturday’s rally was a prelude to her possible foray into politics, Ambiga laughed it off and said she was not interested.

“Absolutely not, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because I don’t have the stomach for politics in this country,” she quipped.

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