Bersih: Nothing to fear, BN is too busy shooting itself in the foot

Bersih 2.0 was launched 20 days ahead of its actual date, but the buzz has been playing out for roughly a month now. And it seems that certain quarters are crazed over who can pull off the greater stunt as compared to the other.

But before we take a stroll into reaction land, we first must understand what Bersih 2.0 stands for. In a single sentence and with the least number of complicated words, Bersih 2.0 is a march for free and fair elections. There are 8 core demands the election watch group headed by former Bar Council head Ambiga Sreenevasan wish to submit in the form of a memorandum to the King, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Disappointing EC

Bersih is an election watchdog committee and it was Ambiga herself who was denied entry into Sarawak during the recent state elections.

This unassuming and dimunitive lady had enough charisma to scare the Immigration Department into denying her entry without giving any explanation. And it is this 'little' lady who has some 'wannabe leaders' pulling their hair in frustration for all the wrong reasons.

The Election Commission finally stepped out and offered to meet Bersih with one condition - the march has to be cancelled. The reply from Bersih was swift and sparing in words - No! Bersih has already met with the EC before without getting as much as a squeak in reply on the list of reforms they suggested.

The EC even took the extra step of stating that they should not be made the scapegoat for unfair elections. Why the defensive stance from the EC unless you know that there are irregularities in the election process?

The EC went further to point out the irregularities in the PKR internal elections, funny thing though, internal party elections are the domain of the ROS and not the EC, so why bother comment on party elections?

This is a clear indication of the the non-partisan stand of the EC. Even as it smugly calls on others not to politicize, it itself is politicizing left, right and centre. And this why the people despise the EC and the BN. They despise its chairman Abdul Aziz Yusof for trying to emulate such a bad role model, for being such a bare-faced hypocrite and for not having the spine to stand up for a better society.

So the EC is left chasing its tail and wondering what other stunts it can pull to help stop the march.

Gerakan and Koh Tsu Koon, MCA and Liow Tiong Lai

Early on in the saga, Penang Gerakan's Baljit Singh stated that he and a group of lawyers would be lending their support to the march. They were to attend on a Bar Council platform and not on Gerakan turf. Gerakan has since called all sides involved in the march to take it off the streets and take it in-doors.

Sounds reasonable until you realize that Gerakan pulled out all the stops in supporting the 1-Million Youth Rally in Putrajaya that was conducted out in the open and at a whopping cost RM27 million. All for the sake of delivering a fake feel-good factor to Najib. Few Malaysians believed in the hype, having grown accustomed to the BN predilection for falsehood.

And Koh Tsu Koon, president of Gerakan, was up front, right next to the Prime Minister when Najib uttered the call “to defend Putrajaya at all cost”. Koh could be seen framing a wide smile and clapping his hands in 'ecstatsy' at Najib's 'brilliance'.

Thus, the call for Gerakan to take the march indoors is lop-sided and nonsensical. Only Gerakan and BN organize events that frivolously use taxpayers money; only these events can be held out in the open. All other non-BN sanctioned events must be held behind closed doors. So much for freedom of speech and expression. It is not that one wishes to be critical of the BN, but doesn't such logic deserve a scolding?

Gerakan got into the act, so obviously MCA would want some of the action too. So the party led by Chua Soi Lek and Liow Tiong Lai took it a step further. Word on the vine is that, any MCA member found taking part in the Bersih march would be sacked.

Very odd for a party that should be looking into recruiting more members, rather than threatening the sack. But perhaps MCA's top leadership decided that the Bersih march was the greatest opportunity to cull from the flock all elements that support the freedom of assembly and free and fair elections.

It seems to have forgotten such are the core fundamentals of any self-respecting party in a democracy. Maybe it knows that with free and fair elections, it would be hard pressed to win any seats.

The police, Ibrahim Ali and Khairy

Not wanting to be left out, the police added to the chorus with a rather odd statement. Pre-emptive arrests will be made if Bersih does not scrap the ‘illegal’ gathering. Arrest is serious, and to conduct them before an event would mean that the police have information that the said event would be detrimental towards the nation.

Fine, if it insists so. But the police must first present to the public what are the grounds that would make the Bersih march such a threat to the nation? And if pre-emptive arrests are to be made, will it include the leaders of Perkasa and UMNO Youth who are also having their own ‘illegal’ gathering on the same day.

To round it off, there is Perkasa and its self-proclaimed war-general Ibrahim Ali - whose warning to the Chinese to stock up food in their homes was aimed to tarnish Bersih with an undeserving racial tone. He tried to make it seem that it was the Chinese behind the rally, when PAS had already offered to send 300,000 supporters!

How Ibrahim Ali can think out such bad plots is beyond everyone's comprehension. Best of all, those of Perkasa inner circle positively swear by his intellect, prompting the wider question, is there a future for the Malay youth under a regime so engrossed in making a hero out of a fool.

This man lives in a cave of illogic all of his own. And to have Ibrahim Ali brand the Bersih rally as dangerous while his henchmen burnt effigies of Ambiga only underscores how far gone is the BN in its terminal mental disease.

Perkasa and its sister UMNO will both march on the same day although for different reasons. Perkasa launched its anti-Bersih march and UMNO Youth will also march for ‘keeping things the way they are'. And also for 'democracy’, they have both said.

However, if one were to look at it closely both are marching to keep the democratic process in Malaysia unfair and unfree. What is their real purpose then?

But UMNO is shooting itself in the foot

Khairy actually let the cat out of the bag. UMNO Youth and Perkasa are marching to maintain the way things are because to disrupt the status quo would be to disrupt UMNO’s desperate hold on power. Power that UMNO wishes to keep come the 13th General Election.

Come 9th July, the world will bear witness to the mess Malaysia is.

Even a citizens' march can be taken out of context, politicized and bullied until it becomes a full-blown national blot. It certainly looks like the Najib administration no longer cares what the developed world thinks of his government.

Perhaps this is why he is trying to make himself champion of the Third World nations, in a copy-cat move to former premier Mahathir Mohamad. Like Sudan's Bashir, Najib may no longer be welcome by civil society of other countries if he pulls any unwelcome stunts come July 9.

So the people of Malaysia should fear not. Join the march forward while BN regresses and chases its own tail. There is really very little the BN can do. They are too busy shooting themselves in the foot.

- Malaysia Chronicle