BERSIH RALLY: Let reason prevail

[pywong]

http://media1-cdn.malaysiakini.com/370/4f093d2e3babdb8fffcc6b6bbf30a50d.gif

Bersih 2.0: Let reason prevail (http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/168806)

Pahlawan Volunteers
Jul 3, 11
8:24pm
10 friends can read this story for free

Those present at the 1997 Hong Kong hand-back ceremony to China would have developed great admiration for the police force of the Special Economic Region.
At that time there was a lot of concern on a potential noisy demonstration staged by the pro-democracy groups outside the convention hall where the historic hand-back ceremony attended by the world's dignitary and 6000 journalists was held.

Many thought that Beijing would do all it can to block the demonstration; but the territory's police did Hong Kong proud by managing the demonstrations orderly; the democrats had their say; the hand-back ceremony went smoothly; both events happening side by side, watched by the people of Hongkong and the world.

A really big step for living democracy in HongKong's nascent democratic system which only started elections in the recent past.

Five years later, on September 24, 2002, the Hong Kong government released its proposals for the anti-subversion law, known as Section 23. The proposal became the cause of considerable controversy and division in Hong Kong.

On July 1 2003, some 500,000 people took to the streets in anger — the largest mass demonstration on Chinese soil since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. Critics had argued that Article 23, the controversial anti-subversion legislation, violated the civil liberties guaranteed in Hong Kong's Basic Law.

But the demonstrators railed against more than Article 23: pent-up anger over the wobbly local economy and the government's handling of the SARS crisis prompted a huge outpouring of anger, much of it directed at Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. In the aftermath of the public protest, two cabinet members resigned, and the government ultimately retreated from the proposed law.

Pressure vaults

Peaceful demonstrations are necessary and are guaranteed by the constitution; even if only one single person who does not agree with the system, he or she must be allowed to express his feelings on the street.

http://media1-cdn.malaysiakini.com/13/07c899f15086e8705ada90bab9a752a6.jpg
No matter how many people want to walk on the street, peaceful demonstrations are an expression of democracy, and all democratic governments must have the capabilities to manage them. To keep order in public demonstrations; the responsibility lies with the police force and it is a test of their management skills. The police cannot ban public demonstrations because of its imagined fear of chaos and inconvenience to the public.

Development is not about hardware or physical infrastructure alone. We can have state of the art technology and tall towers, we must also show that the system respects each and every single individual among us; and that we have the capability to sort out differences among ourselves.

Those with contrarian views, or opposing positions from the power of the day must be given fair and free expression. Democracy functions with a free market; the marketplace of ideas should be unrestrained and the people be allowed to choose.

Bersihkan Malaysia

Many of us were not aware of Bersih 1.0. The Pahlawan brothers and sisters who come together to rally around a national cause are non-partisan. We only come to notice Bersih in the recent months and are attracted by their 8-point rational appeal.

http://media1-cdn.malaysiakini.com/106/75a92cc37d4c558dc7016e05e10f2515.jpg
Bersih has won our hearts because the movement is agitating to build a better electoral system that will enable Malaysia to elect better leaders; and better leaders are exactly what the doctor would prescribed for Malaysia's current woes.

As Bersih moves into 2.0, Malaysia too must move from its old operating system mindset into a Malaysia 2.0 mindset and framework.

For example we have a state of the art Mykad being used for national registration; but we still need each eligible voter to go register before they can vote. This is totally unnecessary and ought to be reformed yesterday; anyone holding the Mykad attaining the legal voting age must be permitted to vote with the Mykad, no separate voter registration required — saving national resources, man power and no paper forms needed; therefore less waste and save more trees!

Our demands

So if the Election Commission has not got around to doing this, now they can pay attention to a much neglected reform. This is what Bersih 2.0 is all about.

http://media1-cdn.malaysiakini.com/376/15025c381659583c5b292016c35e1f57.jpg
Bersih 2.0' s very reasonable demands are:

1. A clean electoral roll

2. Reform the postal ballot,

3. Use of indelible ink to reduce voter fraud

4. A minimum 21-Day campaign period

5. Free and fair access to media,

6. The strengthening of public institutions to act independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and democracy

7. The end of corruption by acting against all allegations of corruption including vote buying

8. And end to dirty politics.

All these eight demands are good for the entire country and good for all political parties because a clean and fair system will enable the best people be elected to run the country.

In today's competitive world, the success of each and every citizen depends on the efficiency of the political and economic system one operates in; and our well being and success is directly related to how smart and efficient our public administration and its leadership. Why are so many Malaysians voting with their feet; the answer is obvious. They have no confidence in the current system in delivering success to their career, business and family.

If our government does not wake up to the demands of the times, the country will become sidelined and our people will no longer be able to compete. We cannot talk about any national vision if we don't fix our governance system first.

Why peaceful demos must be allowed

There are eight reasons.

1. Public demonstration is guaranteed by our constitution. It is a legal right of every Malaysian citizen. Every individual or group must be allowed to take his or her cause onto the street.

2. Malaysia has a tradition or history of public demonstrations; UMNO and the Malay pressure groups successfully won their case by taking their cause to the street.

3. Peaceful and orderly demonstrations reflect on the maturity of the populace, and the competence of the police force. They add on to the attractiveness of the country to all, including its citizens, visitors, foreign investors and tourists included. Everyone will feel secure that Malaysians can sort out their differences in public and in an orderly manner, and that the police force is impartial and fair.

4. Bersih 2.0 is about improving the Malaysian electoral system, it is non-partisan. It is working for the interest of One Malaysia. Bersih 2.0 has a just cause.

5. It is a test of the police's public order management abilities; the police and government must not made groundless accusations and propagate imaginary threat and fear. Our police must demonstrate that they can handle public expressions of the people and that they can manage peaceful and orderly public demonstrations with rational argument for our cause. Misplaced emotions do not help our national cause.

6. The government should not worried about the public being misled by public demonstrations staged by whichever groups; in open societies, the public will and can make out whether they can identify with the cause, and competition is the best guarantee for fair play. Today Bersih 2.0 is gaining support not because of the personality of its leadership; but because of its cause.

7. The government of the day would win votes by acting responsibly and in a liberal manner. In this age of transparency enabled by the Internet and social networking media; “spins” would only bring negative backlash; the only way to win hearts is to be open and transparent and compete on merits.

8. Malaysia need Bersih. This is an important message to be sent to all Malaysians, political parties and leaders; the wellbeing and development prospects of Malaysian society rests on the foundation of a Clean society and fair political system.

http://media1-cdn.malaysiakini.com/374/c9166a9991ca397b8ffce4c31fe5d485.jpg
On July 2, 2011, the BN government has declared Bersih as an illegal organization. Yes, Bersih does not fit the conventional legal framework of social institutions; it is a convergence of NGO groups; it is the coming together of many registered groups who share the same agenda and love for the country. Bersih 2.0 is an expression of the internet age's free association of NGO groups working on different causes being united by one common agenda. Their cause is just and legitimate.

They, therefore, should be allowed to take the people's cause in public. When the BN government allow the will of these groups to prevail, it will only help them win or win back more hearts!

Anyway, Malaysians will support Bersih 2.0 whether one or 1 million people walk on the street on July 9 2011. And if things don't improve, there will be Bersih 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 until the cause is successful.

World history has shown governments the wisdom to uphold the will of the people, and the law of nature dictates that energy cannot remained pent up; they must be channeled productively to bring positive outcomes.

From now on, July 9 will be Hari Bersih because Malaysia needs to be cleaned up badly. Our success and our family's well-being can only be guaranteed in a Clean Malaysia.

This article first appeared on the website Pahlawan.

[pywong]

Grow up and work with Bersih, Najib (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/07/05/grow-up-and-work-with-bersih-najib/)
Jeswan Kaur | July 5, 2011

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Najib-Bersih-300x202.jpg
If Ambiga can bend over backwards and change the route of the rally, why can't the PM show some maturity as well?

COMMENT

An innocent intention to undertake a walk for democracy has got Barisan Nasional, the police, the National Fatwa Council, the Election Commission, the bogeyman of Umno and even a silat grandmaster going hysterical, to the extent of willing to cause hurt to organisers and participants of the Bersih 2.0 rally.

July 9 has become a date synonymous with anarchy and hidden agenda, as far as Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is trying so very hard to imply.

Looks like the impact made by the inaugural Bersih rally on Nov 10, 2007, still haunts Umno. It was said to have attracted between 30,000 to 50,000 people and played a major role in helping the opposition parties win big in the 2008 general election.

The 2007 rally was intercepted by the police using tear gas and chemical-laced water cannons.

Four years later, Bersih 2.0 is going on another rally, on July 9. The aim, as far as its chief S Ambiga is concerned is to clean up the electoral system, to ensure elections are conducted in a just manner.

Still, Bersih 2.0 failed to realise that the heartburn the 2007 rally caused Umno never went away. This explains the hysteria behind Najib’s actions this time around to leave nothing to chance, to ensure July 9 favours his leadership as the premier.

All means are being deployed by the Najib administration to ensure the July 9 rally never sees the light of the day. Participants of Saturday’s “Walk for Democracy” are being harassed and hounded with threats of imprisonment, including using the Internal Security Act draconian law against the organisers.

The truth however is that the walk, organised by election watchdog Bersih 2.0 is a cry for clean and fair elections, which to BN and Umno is asking for the impossible, hence all attempts by Umno to thwart the spirits of all those behind the rally.

What however is unforgiving is the way the police treated the 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists detained in Kepala Batas, Penang, while campaigning for their “Udahlah” Bersaralah” (Enough already – Retire Now) roadshow campaign.

PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan said the 30 were not campaigning for the Bersih 2.0 July 9 rally.

Arutchelvan said the police was mistreating the Hindu detainees, giving them beef to eat, knowing fully well eating beef goes against their religious belief .
‘People first’ – truth or fallacy

Now, with all the rantings about national unity and harmony by Najib, what does he, the Penang police chief Ayub Yaakob, Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein have to say about the police brutality being carried out towards the PSM activists detained in what is seen as Najib’s way of sending a message to Bersih 2.0 chief, lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan.

The detainees were denied visitation rights, visits by their lawyers, proper medical care and treatment and also basic items like toothpaste and soap.

Such is Najib’s desperation that a special team from Bukit Aman was brought in to question the detainees for unreasonably long hours. The Bukit Aman team is said to have abused the detainees with racist and foul languages such as “pariah”.

With so much abuse being meted out by the police, must the rakyat still suffer in silence?

Silat the new ‘weapon’

Another character that has joined the bandwagon of angry and disturbed minds is a silat mahaguru or grandmaster. Omardin Mauju of the Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia is going ecstatically hysterical over the impending July 9 rally.

So “disturbed” is Omardin that Bersih has not cowered to the BN government ultimatum that he went on to say: “We maintain our stand to go to ‘war’ if they still want to proceed with this illegal rally. I cannot guarantee I can control the emotions of my members because they have been taught to act when faced with opposition.”

Omardin went so as far to say that the exponents were the third line of defence in the country, after the police and military, to ensure national security.

Can Najib, Ismail or Hishammuddin clarify since when Omardin and his band of “thugs” become the third line of defence when the grandmaster has failed to meet the fundamental principle of martial arts, that of self-defence and not to serve as killing machines?

Why has no action been taken against Omardin for threatening participants of the rally?

Umno arrogant as ever

The move by Bersih 2.0 to undertake a walk to press for a reformed electoral system has been twisted and manipulated as something dirty, so much so that the government propaganda arm, the national television station wasted no time in roping in local actors to condemn the July 9 walk.

One skit has actor Bell Ngasri, Ezany Nizariff and another actor chatting over a drink. Bell starts talking about the rally, saying it will help “clean” the rakyat. The other encourages them to invite their friends to join the rally until Ezany buts in and shows them pictures of a chaotic street demonstration, saying the rally is illegal and disrupts peace and harmony.

An upset Bell then denigrates Bersih 2.0 saying it is “dirty” and slams the rally poster down on the table.

A second skit has actress Norseha out with her two children who suddenly cry for food. She looks for foods stalls but all are closed and as she approaches one that is in the midst of closing shop, she asks why the rush to close shop. The stall owner tells her it is the doing of the July 9 rally that has caused all the disruption and instilled fear in people.

Norseha gets all worked up and condemns the walk, saying it is nothing but trouble to the rakyat.

Both skits are Umno’s pathetic attempt at discrediting Bersih 2.0 and its rally. Umno, feeling overwhelmingly threatened by the people’s support towards the walk, has proved it will engage in any move however despicable to halt the move towards reclaiming a true and just electoral system.
EC supports anti-Bersih 2.0 booklet

That is not all. A booklet condemning the July 9 rally is now making its way into people’s houses.

What begs an answer is what was this 12-page booklet entitled “Tuntutan Bersih Yang Perlu Anda Tahu (The 8 Bersih Demands That You Should Know), published by Gerakan Generasi Prihatin Malaysia (GenPrima) doing at the Election Commission luncheon talk held recently at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur?

The booklet was displayed on a table outside the ballroom that was manned by the EC staff, although they were not seen personally distributing it.

Interestingly, the luncheon entitled “Bersih’s demands – what is EC’s explanation” turned out to be a Bersih-bashing affair by EC deputy chairman, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

But then how much more can Umno through BN go on lying to the rakyat? The EC is going about denying that the BN ever indulged in dirty tactics at the polls but the rakyat have become wiser and can tell the wheat from the chaff.

So, best Najib and associates stop insulting the rakyat’s intelligence and also stop testing the people’s patience.

Come clean, Najib

When Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the education minister reacted to the word “pariah” in the school novel “Interlok” nonchalantly, Najib could not care less.

Now, the Hindu detainees are purportedly forced to eat beef by the cops. What does Najib have to say? Will he deny this incident ever happened?

What about the fact that a local non-governmental organisation Suara Anak-Anak Mamak turned rowdy in preventing a human rights group from delivering a memorandum seeking the release of PSM activists held in remand in Penang?

Will action be taken against its leader Mohamed Ghani Abd Jiman who turned racist towards the group representative Hui Fei when she refused to hand him a copy of the document, to which he shouted: “Who are you? I am Malaysian, how can you distribute such a thing? This is seditious… go away, I do not want to see your face anymore. If you do not want to obey the law, go back to your country of origin.”
Supported by 10 honchos, Suara Anak-Anak Mamak barked: “We need to defend the nation’s sovereignty. Do not let them in (the police headquarters).”
1Malaysia meaningless

Obvious it is that Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan is not helping unite the people. The police have no respect for it.

So, best Najib comes clean and sincerely accords the rakyat the due respect they deserve. The country is not a “private limited” entity reserved for the prime minister and his cronies.

Malaysia is a “public limited” nation and the stakeholders are the rakyat and like it or not, the BN government and Umno have exhausted their bags of tricks in taking the people for a ride.

Using the various laws to terrorise the people is only going to backfire. All however is not lost for BN provided it is willing to embrace humility and work with Bersih 2.0.

If Bersih 2.0 chief Ambiga is willing to bend backwards and change the routes according to those identified by the police, why is it terribly hard for Najib to reflect a similar maturity?

Fifty-three years is a long time to remain in the “dark” – the priority is the nation and the people, is it not?

[pywong]

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

BERSIH and the inane responses (http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2011/07/bersih-and-inane-responses.html)

This present government has developed one distinguishing characteristic not unlike the previous administration. If the previous administration was maligned as being uninspiring and sleeping through its job, this present government isn't that far from being similarly aspersed. How so?

It has shown it has a knack of being inept at handling small shocks to the system. Many of us for example are not supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, but the manner the government handles the Anwar affairs- whether it's the sodomy 2 charge or the recent video clip showing a person resembling Anwar in a sexual tryst, the administration has shown its ineptness and incompetence.

In the video clip affair for example, people see the court as being a manipulated instrument to serve the interest of the siting government. The court has allowed itself to be the pulpit for making political statements; lawyers representing the three people accused of possession and distribution or broadcasting pornographic material, used that occasion to declare the authenticity of the video and its main actor. How was it relevant and moreover we heard it through a secondary source- i.e. regurgitation from the defense lawyers. That become hearsay evidence and can be contested.

Its Anwar again this time having his hands tied behind and walloped defenselessly. Last time it was the physical black eye. This time it is the legal black eye. The last time, it nearly cost the loss of Najib in Pekan, this time it could probably cost more to UMNO as a whole.

The current shock to the system- a system made merry by numerous announcements of projects by the PM and his chief major domo in this field of auta-mania, Idris Jala, is how the government handles the Bersih NGO.

This is an NGO led by a Malaysian Indian lady by the name of S Ambiga. This lady has managed to rattle almost all the top guns in UMNO and those wishing they were part of UMNO.

Ibrahim Ali is responding mindlessly justifying his conduct as an answer to his interpretation of Bersih as being a movement to (1) unseat the government and (2) attacking the position of Malays. So he steps in as the self-appointed warrior defending the position of Malays. He says he is willing to be murderous and warned the Chinese to stay away. But he hasn't asked his Chinese business backers to do the same.

Bersih was a godsend re-invigorating Ibrahim Ali from an otherwise political stupor. He now has an issue and Ibrahim Ali lives.

But why is Ibrahim Ali defending the UMNO led government? Ibrahim Ali is not even an UMNO member. Two, has UMNO not got enough warrior politicians to defend it in its hour of need? UMNO does not need Ibrahim Ali to speak for the party. If it does, then the warrior politicians in UMNO have since become eunuchs.

The other reason for attacking Bersih as a movement to endanger Malays and Malay interests is too far-fetched to be dignified by answering it.

Who is the right mind will entertain the idea of unseating the government through undemocratic means? The only one that did, were the UMNO politicians who engineered the downfall of the Perak PR government. Already there are signs that the Perak government will be retaken by the PR forces.

Ambiga and the Bersih people must be absent minded or must have suffered a bout of spontaneous amnesia to not be aware that Governments can be unseated only though democratic means, that is by way of free and fair elections. Therefore to seriously suggest that Bersih is a copycat version of the mass movements in Tunisa and Egypt is not acceptable.

Our response becomes more bizarre when the discovery of the portrait of Shamsiah Fakeh among Bersih rally paraphernalia is taken as proof that Bersih is communist inspired! The whole handling becomes even more macabre with the 'discovery' of weapons said to belong to Bersih would be participants. Oh yes. Oh yes- more of the incompetence. The discovery is a miracle to happen just before the planned rally. I hope the people masterminding the discovery will also be ready with some creative answers to tell the PM, how the weapons were 'planted' there. How convenient! The gods must be smiling at the politicians and police.

And now the investigation into the finances of Bersih shall be used as proof that Bersih is a Trojan horse for foreign subversion. That would probably provide an aphrodisiac for the recuperating Dr Mahathir who is a well-known opponent of any form of colonialism.

People may get inspired by those movements but were probably so without seriously entertaining the idea of unseating a government by undemocratic or violent means. Public opinion will certainly go against Bersih if that is the case. Ambiga will be lynched for that.

But the aims of Bersih are not that. By asking the elections commission to conduct itself properly shows that Bersih accepts that the means to unseat a government is through the voting system. But the voting system is in need of better supervision and that's where the demands on the election commission come to the fore.

This aim should be supported. Some people will show their support by participating in the rally. Some will not do so. It's a matter of choice.

The right to express their wishes must be upheld by the government. If Perkasa and other groups supportive of the sitting government are allowed to gather and demonstrate, that right must also be given to others. If the Bersih planned rally is wrong in law, then the same judgment applies to the rallies carried out by supporters of the sitting government.

Our laws are clear. If people break the law, irrespective of who they are, they must be brought to before the forces of the law. We have the institutions to deal with that and we certainly don't need a third line of defense. Can any secret society and gangster organizations apply to be a bona-fide 3rd line of defense?

The problem here is that the elections commission is seen as a pliant tool for one side of the contestants. It doesn't answer questions with solutions but gives all sorts of excuses. People accept the principle of elections as a means to establish governments. But they also want that means to be above board. They accept they are powerless unless they act collectively and speak as a voice. The powerless are striking back demanding that competition to get power to form governments be carried out fairly and in even handed manners.

The body that oversees elections is conducted fairly and transparently is the elections commission. We mustn't lose sight of the object of the current disputes now. Bersih's objective is to call upon the election commissions to conduct itself as it's chartered to do. This isn't a rally threatening the sovereignty of the Agong or to strike fear at Malays.

The election commission is an independent commission. It's not just another government department answerable to the Chief Secretary or even to the PM. It's the custodian of fair and transparent conduct of elections and it must guard this role jealously. It does so jealously from the meddling and intervention of interested parties. It must also rid itself of any perceptions of being a submissive tool for those holding power at the moment.

Its responses to criticisms therefore mustn't be evasive. It has to avail itself to the latest methods and technology that upgrade the participation of people in an electoral process. If the use of indelible ink is good for participatory democracy it must adopt the method as a natural development without having to be at pains defending its non-usage. If making voting compulsory and its cost effective doing so, then it must do so.

People are now diverting their attention to debating whether the planned assembly of people in the Bersih Rally should be allowed or otherwise. The real issue has and is always the conduct of the elections commission.

The watching majority must be dismayed at the response of our police. The police with all the sophisticated instruments of crowd control and other suppressive means appear to have admitted that they are powerless to control the crowds. What have we spent public money for then? The idea of a police is to keep the peace. In keeping the peace, it must conduct its business in a professional manner and be fair minded. If Bersih is not allowed to hold rallies, then other parties must also be disallowed.

In Penang, the police have given permit for some people to hold a rally? In Rembau, some people consisting of ex policemen were given permit? Ibrahim Ali was even given a permit to denounce a rally that has not taken place. He is a clairvoyant extraordinaire- can see the future. In ancient times, people like Ibrahim Ali got burnt at the stakes. Shall we roast Ibrahim Ali then?

Let's not forget the object of the issue. It's the election commission. It answers to the Agong and therefore should not be seen as working for an interested party. What's the problem with clearing the electoral registers off dead people? How can it apply its resources and time to restructure how postal votes can be seen to be fair and transparent? How can it monitor and apply strict rules to election spending and election funding etc.?

These are important issues to those looking at elections as a means to exercise their democratic rights to elect a government of their choice. This isn't an issue whether public demonstrations or going on a march as practices that are good only elsewhere but not suitable in Malaysia. The need to express publicly the collective wants and demands is part and parcel a democracy.