Bersih

Bersih, which means "clean" in Malay, is a coalition of Malaysian opposition political parties and NGOs with the stated aim of reforming the electoral process in Malaysia. Specifically, they demand the following reforms:

• The use of permanent ink to ensure that voters may only vote once.
• A clean out of the electoral rolls to remove entries that are no longer valid such as deceased people.
• The abolition of postal votes on the basis that they are easily abused.
• Perhaps most importantly, Bersih demands that all candidates and political parties have equal access to print and broadcast media.

Following the developments, Bersih scheduled a second street demonstration for 9 July 2011, ahead of the anticipated 2012 national Malaysian elections. Plans for the demonstration were extensively criticised by the government and pro-government media, and the police arrested a number of Bersih supporters in the lead-up to the event. After being granted an audience with the King to discuss the issue, Bersih subsequently agreed on 5 July 2011 to move the rally from the streets to a stadium.