More than 2,000 people cramped the main hall of the PAS headquarters in Taman Melewar, Gombak, on Saturday night to hear leaders of election watchdog Bersih explain the reasons for the Batu Talam by-election boycott by opposition parties.

Bersih, a coalition of political parties and NGOs formed to demand that the country's election processes and procedures be totally revamped to reflect clean and fair elections, is embarking on a nationwide campaign to educate the public on the inadequacies of the nation's electoral system.

Amongst the speakers at the forum were PAS chief Abdul Hadi Awang, Parti Rakyat Keadilan advisor Anwar Ibrahim, former Umno Supreme Council member Ibrahim Ali, MTUC president Syed Shahir MTUC president and Suaram's Yap Swee Seng.

In his address, Abdul Hadi refuted Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's claims on Friday that the opposition were frightened to contest the by-election for fear of losing.

Anwar said that the decision to boycott was not an easy one but it was imperative that the people be told that their rights as citizens are being robbed by the present government.

Earlier, Yap said that the present government was illegitimate following revelations by Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman that there were 180,000 phantom voters in the last general election.

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