NO BERSIH ILLEGAL DEMO IF PM CAN GUARANTEE FAIR ELECTIONS, SAYS OPPOSITION LEADER

SHAH ALAM (Bernama) - The Coalition for Free and Fair
Elections (Bersih) will be asked to call off its planned illegal street
demonstration for July 9 if the prime minister of Malaysia can guarantee free
and fair elections in the country.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said he was willing to ask Bersih
chairman S.Ambiga to cancel the plan right away if Najib Tun Razak could give
the assurance.

"If the prime minister can guarantee this and a clean electoral roll as
well, we don't need to hold a mass procession," said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat
(People's Justice Party) de facto leader when winding up his speech at the
party's General Election Convention, here, Sunday.

Bersih plans to hold an illegal demonstration to demand for free and fair
elections, the electoral roll to be cleaned up, postal voting to be reformed,
using of undelible ink for voters, and free and fair access to the media.

Anwar, in his speech, also expressed regret over accusations by some
quarters that he was behind the planned demonstration.

He also reminded party members dissatisfied with the choice of candidates
for the general election to bring up the matter through the right channels and
not to lobby him to determine the candidates.