‘Street party’ for Bersih participants

Patrick Lee | April 26, 2012

Jalan Sultan's community is organising a party of sorts to entertain Bersih 3.0 rally-goers before and after the event.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 3.0 rally-goers can expect to have some fun near Pasar Seni, just before they make their way to Dataran Merdeka this Saturday.

Petaling Street Community Art Project (PSCAP) members will be taking over Jalan Sultan before and after the April 28 rally, with music gigs, sketches and other performances.

PSCAP director Yeoh Lian Heng said that Saturday’s performances were their way of getting rally-goers to acquaint themselves with Jalan Sultan.

“A lot of people are coming here [on that day], and they need some place to go [before they go to Dataran],” he told reporters at the Gospel Hall this morning.

Backed by fellow PSCAP members, Yeoh said that his group intended to start performances at around 10am in the morning.

They also intend to play tour guide for people meeting at Pasar Seni, one of the designated gathering spots for Bersih 3.0 rally-goers.

At 2pm, he and his troupe would head on over to Dataran, and return to resume their events after the rally was over.

This would include a Jalan Sultan street party at about 7.30pm.

“At night, we will have a lot of shows, including street bands and beatboxes… So, for those of you going for 428 (Bersih), please come back to Jalan Sultan (that evening),” he said.

Many of the hotels in the Petaling Street area, Yeoh added, were fully booked over the next few days, with the rally expected to go into full swing this Saturday.

He said that PSCAP’s Saturday event was not an attempt at taking advantage of the Bersih 3.0 rally.

In fact, he added that Bersih’s organisers approached them, and talked about Jalan Sultan’s coming event.

According to PSCAP, Jalan Sultan’s pre-and-post-Bersih events would help businesses in the area on that day.

Rumours of looting

Fellow PSCAP member Derrick Gan said “almost 70%” of businesses were in agreement with Bersih’s objectives, and were willing to open their shops on that day.

He added that there were some who were spreading rumours about the risk of looters on that day.

Adding to this, Yeoh said that none of the shops open during the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 last year were attacked by looters.

“Maybe some of them will close, but no shops here (in KL) was robbed. We hope this time, they (shopkeepers) can open their shops,” he said.