KUALA LUMPUR: Over RM1.5 million so far has been donated to Bersih 2.0 for the upcoming Bersih 4.0 rallies, exceeding the RM200,000 originally targeted.
“The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections 2.0 (Bersih 2.0) is overwhelmed by the phenomenal show of support from Malaysians who responded to our call for donations for the Bersih 4.0 peaceful assembly,” said Bersih chair Maria Chin Abdullah.
“By giving so generously while suffering such economic hardship, the rakyat have overwhelmingly endorsed our call for clean elections, clean government, the right to dissent and the strengthening of our parliamentary democracy so that our economy can be saved.”
She said that Bersih plans to use the funds to lease better equipment, including portable toilets, communication devices, sound systems, lighting and generator sets.
A large portion of the expenses will be used to ensure that security personnel and logistics volunteers will be able to carry out their duties safely on August 29-30, and to fund bail money and litigation costs for participants and organisers.
“We will use the remainder of the donations to fund our operational expenses, public interest litigation, publicity and other various programmes such as the re-delineation monitoring programme, the up-coming Sarawak state elections and voter education programmes throughout the country,” she said.
Maria added that Bersih would publish their accounts after the rallies this weekend.
According to her, donations kept flooding in even after they announced that they had exceeded the target, with donors saying that their donations were a signal of their discontent with how the country was run, and was a small investment to “put things right”.
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