PETALING JAYA: The organisers of the Bersih 4 rally will take the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry to court if they are slapped with a RM65,000 clean-up bill.
Bersih 2.0 chief Maria Chin Abdullah said the ministry’s statement was very disappointing, as their volunteers had stayed back to clear the rubbish after the rally over the weekend.
“If he had been there, he would have known how hard our volunteers worked to actually clean up,” she said.
Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said Bersih could expect to be slapped with the bill this week and urged them not to spend all the RM1.5mil they collected for the rally yet.
Maria said that she would seek legal advice if Rahman wanted to slap the bill on the organisation.
“If he wants to do it, there is nothing that I can do. We will seek legal advice,” she said adding this could mean taking the matter to court.
Separately Bersih 2.0 deputy chairman Sarajun Hoda Abdul Hassan denied dirtying the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
He said the organisers made extra effort to ensure the streets were clean during and after the rally.
“We have photos to show that we cleaned up the area with thousands of our volunteers.
“You can ask anybody who attended the rally that everyone was cooperative,” he said.
Sarajun said this was not the first time Bersih 2.0 was slapped with a ‘cleaning bill’.
“They have sent us bills in the past but they could not defend their bill. When our lawyers wrote to them, they went silent.
“Before we concluded the rally, we also made an announcement for rally-goers to pick up the trash if they see any.
“I don’t know what this bill is for,” he said.
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