[Urgent appeal for protest letters to be sent to the Malaysian government, please visit http://www.parti-sosialis.org/en/en/articles/1585 for details of where they can be sent. See also "Malaysia: Protests demand release of democracy activists".]

June 27, 2011 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- At least 31 members of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (Parti Sosialis Malaysia, PSM) -- including member of parliament Dr Michael Jeyakumar -- have been detained by police. The Malaysian government is whipping up a massive red-scare campaign around the Bersih 2.0 rally planned for July 9 (see statement below), and is increasingly resorting to repression to try to prevent an expected huge attendance.

The PSM on June 17 announced it would mobilise its members and related organisations to participate in the July 9 rally. The PSM stated that: "July 9 is an important juncture in our nation's history. It is a day devoted to democracy and fair elections. We call all people who are for democracy and fair elections to come out and support the call for democratic and fair elections. History has taught us that the struggle for democracy and freedom does not come in a silver platter."

On June 24, the PSM also launched a separate "Udahlah ... Bersaralah (Enough ...Retire)" campaign directed at the authoritarian ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government. As part of the campaign, two teams of PSM members began three-day agitation tours of the north and south of Malaysia.

On the eve the tours, PSM leader Dr Jeyakumar told Free Malaysia Today that the BN has been diverted from its original path of uniting all Malaysians and is engaged in a divide and rule policy by playing on race and religion. Jeyakumar said there was economic development for the people during Tun Abdul Razak’s term but now only the elite in BN are enjoying the economic cake of the country.

The Sungai Siput MP said that most Malaysians will suffer economically and financially if BN is returned to power. He outlined the contributing factors to the gloomy financial outlook for the nation:

BN will implement a goods and services tax (GST), which will affect those in the lower and middle income groups. The initial rate of GST is 5% but this will go up, as it has in Singapore which started with 3%, but now the figure has jumped to 7%.

BN will privatise all hospitals, thus pushing up health costs in its efforts to promote health tourism among foreigners.

BN will also privatise education, making it difficult for most Malaysians to send their children for further education locally.

Labour laws will be amended to weaken the bargaining power of the workforce by making local companies not answerable to labour disputes or problems. This will be done by outsourcing to contractors, who will be made the fall guys for any labour problems arising.

BN will sign the free trade agreements (FTA) with Europe and USA and the cost of consumer goods like medication for life-threatening diseases like AIDs and cancer will rise beyond the reach of most Malaysians.

Arrests

On June 24, PSM secretary-general S. Arutchelvan and 28 PSM supporters travelled from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur in a chartered bus. Another PSM convoy took off from Ipoh to Perlis on the same day, reported Free Malaysia Today. Their mission was to inform the public that BN had to be removed after 54 years of alleged misrule and the pitfall of returning BN to power in the general election. However both the convoys faced police obstructions in the form of roadblocks. Arutchelvan’s group was stopped by the police in Ledang (Johor) and each of them were subjected to body searches for hidden weapons. The bus was also searched.

Arutchelvan said the police delayed their journey by about 150 minutes before taking them to the Ledang police station to record their statements. They were eventually released at 4 am on June 25 on police bail. They were informed that they will be charged with illegal assembly, publishing pamphlets and leaflets, and sedition.

Meanwhile, the PSM group consisting of 31 people led by Jeyakumar that went north from Ipoh to Perlis was detained by police at the Sungai Dua toll plaza in Kepala Batas in Penang, on suspicion of allegedly carrying dangerous weapons and being in possession of inflammatory materials. Jeyakumar’s personal assistant S. Nagenteran told Free Malaysia Today that the detained group was forced to give two separate statements to the police – one on the evening of June 25 while another at 2 am on June 26 before they were detained at three police stations at about 4 am.

Fourteen male members of the group are being detained at the Butterworth police station while another 14 women are held at the Kapala Batas police station. Three under-aged youths are being held at the Sungai Dua police station. Nagentaran said lawyers were denied access to the group members.

Thirty have been remanded until July 2 by the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court, while a 16-year-old teenager was released unconditionally.

Police also dispersed about 20 NGO members who had gathered in front of the Sungai Dua police station to hold a candlelight vigil. Two people were arrested for illegal assembly as well.

Penang deputy police chief Abdul Rahim Jaafar said the 30 activists led by Jeyakumar were deemed to be a threat to national security.

“They were carrrying items inciting the people to hate the government. This is serious and can threaten national security”, he was quoted as saying. Police also claim they seized various items associated with the "Malayan Communist Party ideology" from the activists.

The PSM dismissed this accusation.

PSM secretary-general Arutchelvan accused the police of being extremely paranoid over the July 9 Bersih rally.He told Free Malaysia Today that they were abusing their powers in arresting people who were exercising their democratic rights in speech and action.

“The police are extremely paranoid about the Bersih rally and are unnecessarily harassing people by curbing their freedom of action by putting unnecessary police road blocks. They [the police] are not acting according to the law and are carrying out orders from higher ups. They do not see whether their actions are legally right or wrong but merely following orders [from their political masters]”, Arutchelvan pointed out.

“We are being used by the police as a pawn to give psychological fear to the participants of the Bersih rally. The police are giving vague reasons of some imaginary threats to the country and it is ridiculous for them to build up (a vague theory) that our country is facing a big problem.

“It is a ridiculous charge based on three T-shirts [bearing images of former communist fighters Chin Peng and Rashid Mydin] found among the belongings of the PSM supporters,” Arutchelvan said. “Anyone can buy such T-shirts ... and it is absurd to bring such wild charges against our party members and supporters.”

Press statement: Launch of Perhimpunan BERSIH 2.0

The Bersih 2.0 rally is named after the pro-democracy mass rally on that took place on November 10, 2007. On June 19, the Bersih organisers released the following statement.