Bersih 2.0 - Will US intervene?

Four international human rights organisation has written to US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to denounce Malaysian government’s behavior with regards to Bersih 2.0 rally.

The four Human Rights organisation were Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Physicians for Human Rights.

In the letter dated 8 July, it mentioned that these organisation was disappointed because US only gave a reminder to Malaysia the importance of respecting human rights.

They have also reminded Hillary Clinton that she presented BERSIH 2.0 chairperson S. Ambiga with the International Woman of Courage Award in 2009.

The 4 Human Rights organisation also urged Hillary Clinton to denounce publicly the Malaysian government’s behavior for being contradicting to democratic principles and being a member of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Malaysian has gone against their obligations to up hold Human Rights.

US which is a country with political and economic connection with Malaysia, should not keep silent when there is a violation on basic civil liberties and human rights.

Malaysian government’s action which goes against fundamental basic rights to free assembly and expression, should be condemn since it has been given membership to the UNHRC.

Also in the letter, a request for US to publicly demand the Malaysian government should stop all harassment and prosecution on all Bersih supporters, lift the ban on Bersih, launch an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into the crackdown, and hold accountable those officers found to have used excessive force.

Releasing of the 6 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leaders were their next concern since the detention of the 6 under the Emergency Ordinance (EO)

“We want the US government to publicly call on the Malaysian government to immediately end all use of preventive detention to hold Bersih, PSM supporters, and other groups that advocate peacefully and stop using laws that provide for preventive detention for political reasons,” the letter said.

It also asked that the US government take the seriousness and timeliness of its Malaysian counterpart’s response to these concerns when considering a possible visit by President Barack Obama to Malaysia later this year.