CYCLE FOR CHANGE!

JERIT or Oppressed People's Movement organised a cycling campaign throughout the nation to put forward 6 demands to the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The Objectives

To increase awareness to the people on real problems and solutions

To increase awareness among the people to be environment friendly to save our dying earth

To popularise JERIT's main demands amongst the people

The Demand

>Enact Minimum Wage Act

>Abolish draconian laws such as the Internal Security Act (ISA)

>Adequate housingfor all

>Controlled and Affordable goods' price

>Revive local municipal council election

>Stop privatisation of public services such as water, hospitals and education.

The campaign officially began on 3 December 2008 in Kedah, the northen state of Malaysia. 50 cyclist have been flagged off and would cycle for 16 days throughout 4 states namely Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. On 18 December 2008, they will arrived in Kuala Lumpur to hand over the memorandum to the Prime Minister in Parliment House.

The cyclists and volunteers will be leafleting in each stop to make known their demand and various activities also being put up in each state. Since lauching of the campaign, the cyclists and volunteers have been intimidated and faced with constant harrassment from the police to dampen their spirit. But the cyclists persevere!

On Dec 8, 2 bicycles were torched early in the morning. Among those detained by police were a Member of Parliment and leader of the campaign.

Dec 9, a bus load of participants and supporters were detained in Kuala Kangsar, Perak. Four campaign coordinators and the bus driver were detained. One of the female coordinator, Helen was sexually assaulted - breast grabbed and punched on the face.

Today, Dec 10 in conjunction with the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Secretariat of JERIT will be submitting a memorandum to SUHAKAM (the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia), protesting the police intimidation and harrassment on the JERIT Cyclist Team.

Time : 12.00 noon

Venua : SUHAKAM office, Menara Tun Razak, Jalan Raja Laut, K.L. (Opposite DBKL Bldg)

All are invited to lend support. See you there!

The cyclist will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur and the highlight event will be the handing over memorandum to the Prime Minister at the Parliment. This event will be witnessed by approximately 1,000 people from the Coalition and partners in this campaign!

For more info on JERIT, log on to www.jerit.org