Activists defend electoral reform in Malaysia

Police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of activists as more than 10,000 demonstrators massed across Malaysia’s largest city demanding electoral reforms in the country’s biggest political rally in years.

The opposition-backed rally in Kuala Lumpur was the culmination of weeks of intense pressure on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s long-ruling coalition to make election laws fairer and more transparent ahead of national polls widely expected by mid-2012.