Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said books and other material that promoted “subversive ideologies” would be given due consideration by the authorities if they did not incite people to join Bersih’s July 9 rally.
“It is seditious content that can create anger and inflame emotions leading up to the 9th (of July) that is the focus of the police,” he told reporters here today.
“There are third-party elements, certain ideologies, that wish to incite and get people to assemble. This demands we look at it . . . with urgency.”
Hishammuddin was in Kajang to open the new building of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, and to launch the 1Malaysia Squad.
He was responding to a question as to why Bersih supporters were arrested for wearing T-shirts adorned with the faces of former Malayan Communist Party (MCP) leaders such as Rashid Maidin while books on communism were freely available.
He said it was unfair for certain “irresponsible parties” and the international media to portray Malaysia’s clampdown on Bersih supporters as heavy-handed, citing the election reform group’s “deviation” from its original goal.
The police have made hundreds of pre-emptive arrests and raids, and confiscated materials related to Bersih, which plans to hold the mammoth rally this Saturday to demand free and fair elections.
More than 100 people, including opposition politicians and civil society activists, have been detained in connection with Bersih 2.0.
Six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members, including Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar, have also been detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO) for allegedly planning to revive communism and “wage war” against the King.
It is understood that their arrest last weekend was based on the seizure of paraphernalia including T-shirts bearing the images of former communist fighters Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin.
