Just when you thought it was all over, Pakatan Rakyat rises again, and this time in style, as it stole the thunder from Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak who opened his BN convention last Sunday.
According to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moo, “Safe drinking water and basic sanitation are intrinsic to human survival, well-being and dignity”.
When more than 3,000 people, led by their mentri besar staged a peaceful protest in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, they did so with dignity.
That they were forced to do so was because they were desperate for their well being and survival. Water is needed to satisfy a basic human need for life, just as the state needed the water for its industries to ensure economic survival.
It was the actions of the water companies and the adverse police reaction that lacked decorum.
Human rights NGO Suaram condemned the heavy-handed police action and the “authority's intolerance to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression” that saw the arrest of even a minor.
Some people complained that they were arrested for wearing red, in scenes reminiscent of Perak in 2009, when people wearing black were arrested.
Former PKR supreme council member Zahir Hassan who was arrested said that it was apparent that the police had been prepared to make mass arrests. He said, “There are at least four desktops and many more with laptops used by police, which are taking our particulars. Lawyers have not been allowed in to meet with us.”
In the air-conditioned comfort of Wisma MCA, Najib tried to rouse the 2,300 participants and told them that they had to discard four ‘ailments’ which he said could turn the people against the coalition. These were “delusions, complacency, backwardness and arrogance”.
A few miles down the road in the blistering heat, another leader, Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had assembled around 3,000 of his supporters and his trusted lieutenants - PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, Selangor DAP chairman Teresa Kok, PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and the PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad.
Their proposal was to deliver a petition to their king, to request his intervention in the Selangor water industry impasse.
But firmly planted in their way, stood the might of the Malaysian police, armed with water cannons laced with chemical water and lines of men complete with riot-shields, tear-gas and batons. A police helicopter hovered overhead.
Khalid has accused Putrajaya of practising cronyism by backing the water concessionaires: “The rakyat has to now pay high water rates and Malaysian taxpayers are forced to undertake the risk of Syabas’s business. We call upon the Tuanku to remind the federal government of their promise to end cronyism”.
Back in the cocooned comfort of the conference hall, Najib said, “From my observation, this convention has been successful not just in rousing up the spirit of the component parties, but in being a guideline and providing a clear direction on what should be done to bring about political transformation.”
Perhaps it is Najib who is suffering from the “delusions” that he alluded to earlier. Far from being successful, the BN convention was just raking over old ground.
Najib said that to achieve success, BN had to win the hearts of the people and act in the interest of the people, in all matters and at all levels, including the grassroots.
“When we put the people's interest before our own, I believe we (BN) will gain more public support for BN,” said Najib who expressed satisfaction at how the third BN convention went.
Najib is only treading water. Not everyone will agree with his supposition.
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