MEDIA ADVISORY

(20 June 2014) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WHO: Former Steering Committee members of BERSIH 2.0 – Maria Chin Abdullah (now BERSIH 2.0 chairperson), Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa (now BERSIH 2.0 deputy chair), Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan, Arul Prakkash, Yeo Yang Poh, Zaid Kamaruddin, K Arumugam, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon (now BERSIH 2.0 north peninsula vice-chair), Andrew Khoo, Ahmad Syukri Abdul Razab, Hishamuddin Rais, Liau Kok Fah, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ A Samad Said (Pak Samad).
WHEN: 23 June 2014 (Monday); 9am.
WHERE: NCVC1, 3rd Floor (left wing), KL Courts Complex, Jalan Duta, KL.
WHAT: The federal government is suing several members of the previous BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee for damages to government property sustained during the Bersih Duduk Bantah (aka Bersih 3) rally that was held on 28 April 2012. The hearing started on 6 January and 33 witnesses for the government have been called since. It is now the turn of the defendants to be heard (except for Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa), starting with former BERSIH 2.0 co-chair Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The statement of claims lists 15 vehicles, mostly belonging to the police, that had to be repaired at a cost of RM122,000.
The government also wants compensation for general damages, with interest, as well as a declaration that BERSIH 2.0 breached Section 6(2)(g) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which states that organisers must “ensure that the assembly will not endanger health or cause damage to property or the environment.”
NOTE: Please note that the court was unusually strict over the last days of the previous sessions and barred observers at the public gallery from using their mobile phones; even journalists were prevented from using wifi-enabled mobile devices to note down the goings-on or type out their reports. Only paper notebooks and wifi-disabled laptops were allowed to be used.