OPPOSITION AND POLICE HEADED FOR SHOWDOWN OVER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001604

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL KDEM MY
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION AND POLICE HEADED FOR SHOWDOWN OVER
NOVEMBER 10 RALLY

REF: KUALA LUMPUR 1377 - RIOT IN TERENGGANU

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark
for reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary
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1. (C) Opposition parties and the election NGO Bersih are
organizing a major rally in Kuala Lumpur for November 10,
despite police warnings not to proceed without a permit.
Organizers optimistically hope for 10,000 demonstrators to
participate in the rally, and expect the event to culminate
in a march to the National Palace to present a memorandum to
the King. This would be the first major Bersih rally since
its September 8 Terengganu demonstration, which ended in a
riot as police forcibly dispersed the crowd. The Islamist
party PAS called on its youth wing to turn out and drew
comparisons with protest actions in Burma. The Kuala Lumpur
police chief warned organizers that participants and leaders
will be arrested if no permit is issued for the event.
Organizers refuse to recognize this condition, citing their
constitutional right to peaceful assembly, and they tell us
they will proceed. Khairy Jamaluddin, influential son-in-law
of Prime Minister Abdullah and ruling UMNO party youth
leader, called for police to arrest the Bersih organizers.
While the November 10 rally appears headed for a showdown,
during this pre-election environment the National Front
government also has an interest in avoiding any incident that
creates sympathy for the opposition. End Summary

Opposition plans rally calling for electoral reforms
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2. (SBU) Opposition parties represented by the Islamic Party
of Malaysia (PAS),the Peoples' Justice Party (PKR) and the
Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP),along with
civil society groups, operating under the banner of the
election NGO Bersih (formally known as the "Coalition for
Clean and Fair Elections"),are organizing what they hope to
be a major rally in support of electoral reform in Kuala
Lumpur for November 10. As planned, the rally would begin at
Independence Square in the city center and culminate in a
march to the National Palace to hand over a petition to the
King. Opposition organizers are seeking the King's
intervention for electoral reforms and asking him to consider
a royal commission to enable the reforms to be carried out.
The petition also will include a request that the King
exercise his power under Article 40(2)(B) of the Constitution
to withhold approval of the Prime Minister's request to
dissolve Parliament until electoral reforms are in place.
The rally would cap a series of opposition "road shows"
focused on electoral reform. Bersih's last attempted rally,
in Terengganu on September 8, ended in a riot as police
denied permission for the event and forcibly dispersed the
gathered crowd. Scores of people including police personnel
were injured and two civilians suffered gunshot wounds when a
policeman fired into a crowd (reftel).


3. (SBU) Publicly, Bersih claims the rally will be a
gathering of 100,000 people to demand election reform before
the next election. Opposition planers told poloffs that they
anticipate approximately 10,000 supporters to participate.
Major opposition leaders including PAS President Hadi Awang
and PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim have pledged to attend, along
with senior DAP leaders. Bersih organizers have also invited
representatives from Malaysia's Human Rights Commission
(Suhakam),the United Nations, Transparency International,
Amnesty International, and the Malaysian Bar Council to
observe.

Police warn Bersih not to assemble
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4. (C) On November 1 Bersih organizers called on the police
chief to advise him of their intent to hold the rally, but
stated their opposition to filing a request for a permit.
Bersih stated it was exercising the constitutional right to
peaceful assembly, and in its public comments cited past
argumentation by the National Human Rights Commission
(Suhakam). Subsequently, Kuala Lumpur police deemed the
November 10 rally an illegal gathering and warned that anyone
who takes part in the gathering at Independence Square will
be arrested. City police Chief Zul Hasnan Najib Baharudin
told the press that police would act to ensure peace and
order, and advised the public not to believe claims made by
the organizers that the gathering was legitimate. Zul Hasnan
warned Bersih to refrain from holding the gathering: "I am
responsible for the safety of the public here in the city.
As a law enforcer, I will not compromise in this matter."

KUALA LUMP 00001604 002 OF 002




5. (SBU) When Bersih did not respond to the police
admonishments and continued planning the assembly, Zul Hassan
sent Bersih a letter dated November 4 directing the NGO to
apply for a permit to hold the gathering. He added that
without a police permit the organizers are violating Section
27(3) of the Police Act 1967 which reads, "Any police officer
may stop any assembly, meeting, or procession in respect of
which a license has not been issued or having been issued was
subsequently cancelled...."

Bersih: No permit needed
--------------


6. (C) In response, Bersih officials later submitted an
"application for a permit," which one of the organizers
described to poloffs as "just a notification to the police."
She added that even if the police were to reject the
application, "the show will go on." Local attorney Sivarasa
Rasiah, another leading coordinator of the rally, told
poloffs "the application was just a formality to inform the
police that Bersih was going to have the rally on Saturday."

Bersih Website Hacked and Call by RMP Special Branch
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Unknown computer hackers compromised the Bersih
website on November 4 and subsequent visitors were greeted
with the message: "The gathering on November 10 has been
forced to be postponed indefinitely." Bersih officials
discovered the hacking on the same day and told us they had
repaired the damage, though the website appeared inoperable
November 6-7. Bersih members told us the hacking of the
website was an attempt by government authorities to confuse
supporters and to deter them from attending the assembly.


8. (SBU) A Bersih coordinator also told us that they had
cooperated with a request from the Royal Malaysian Police
Special Branch unit (Malaysia's internal intelligence body)
for information on their planning for the rally.


9. (SBU) The war of words over the rally heated up November
6-7. As the leading United Malays National Organization
(UMNO) kicked off its annual general assembly in Kuala
Lumpur, UMNO Youth Wing deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin, Prime
Minister Abdullah's influential son-in-law, called on police
to arrest the Bersih rally organizers. Delivering his speech
to the Youth Wing assembly, he said the Bersih rally "is an
illegal gathering by an illegal organization...the police
must apprehend those who organize this gathering." "Don't
act like monkeys on the streets," Khairy added.
Concurrently, the youth wing of the Islamist party PAS
declared participation in the rally "obligatory." A Bersih
leader drew a comparison with the Burmese regime's harsh
reaction to peaceful protests and the response of Malaysian
authorities to the November 10 rally.

Comment
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10. (C) On the face of it, the November 10 rally appears
headed for a showdown with police talking tough and Bersih
organizers not prepared to back down. Police warnings will
deter some of the opposition supporters, yet a gathering of
several thousand protestors is well within the realm of
possibility. Beyond the calls for election reform, the
UMNO-led government does not want the opposition to succeed
in a prominent display of support in the center of Kuala
Lumpur, particularly the day following UMNO's own
highly-publicized assembly. Nevertheless, we believe the
Terengganu riot is still freshly in mind of the government,
along with the concern that violence or arrests will play
into the hands of the PAS and PKR's Anwar Ibrahim, as they
did in 1999. With national elections on the horizon, the
National Front government has an interest in avoiding a major
incident that creates sympathy for the opposition.
KEITH