A poll conducted show that a huge majority of FMT readers are in support of the rally to demand for clean and fair elections.
The Bersih street rally has now been cancelled and instead will be held at the Stadium Merdeka on Saturday from 2pm to 4pm.
In an online poll that ran for 10 days which ended at midnight last night, a whopping 81% or 5,179 readers said that they would participate in the election watchdog’s rally as it was for a good cause.
In stark contrast, there were far less votes from those not in favour of the rally.
Some 12% or 791 readers believed that the rally would provide a good “side show” but it will not make a big impact.
Despite repeated warnings by the police and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak not to join the rally as it was deemed illegal, only 234 readers or four percent of the participants think that the rally was an illegal assembly and would subsequently stay home on the day.
The rally has drawn much flak from Perkasa, Umno Youth and the government which claimed that Bersih’s agenda was hijacked by the opposition and the rally was to topple the Barisan Nasional government.
Only 134 FMT readers or two percent polled believed that this was true.
Waste of time
Forty-eight readers or only one percent thought that the rally was a waste of time and would join the other two rallies – Perkasa which is staging a counter protest and Umno Youth which is holdiing one in support of the Election Commission.
All three rallies were initially planned to take place on Saturday. However, as tensions escalated between the organisers and the state apparatus, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin issued a rare statement on Sunday calling on all quarters to hold consultations rather than follow their emotions.
On Monday, Umno Youth announced that it will cancel its rally to heed the advice of the King.
Bersih chairperson S Ambiga yesterday had an audience with the King and said that Bersih will not hold a street rally but instead would take up the government’s suggestion to hold it in a stadium.
Perkasa will announce today if its counter-rally would take place.
In 2007 Bersih had organised its rally demanding clean and fair elections, which drew about 10,000 to 40 000 people.
Many analysts have said that the 2007 rally had some impact on the outcome of the 2008 general election when the opposition won more seats than normal.
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