EC's ultimatum to Bersih makes things worse

Are Malaysians being overly inundated with conditions and conditioning that they are beginning to break under that very yoke that goes against human nature?

In the wake of the citizens’ announcement that they will hold their Bersih 2.0 rally, there were threats, intimidation and challenges thrown at the rakyat. At the extreme we had two quarters hinging on sedition and extremism.

One quarter screamed to spill blood. Another is raising the element of fear and pre-empting danger by asking people to stay away and stockpile food. And of course the PDRM are prepared to steam-roll the Constitutional right to peaceful assembly under the claim that it is in the interest of national security.

Despite such perils thrown at the rakyat, the citizens have met and made a resolute will to go ahead with their peaceful assembly come what may to demand for the fundamental right of humanity to a fair, just and clean election.

Now in response to the citizens’ will and determination, we get another boulder thrown into the pathway of true democracy. The mother of all atrocities to date would be the Election Commission’s categorical demand that it would only sit down and talk with Bersih organizers provided that Bersih first cancels its plan.

One would have expected the EC to immediately put democracy and nation building as a top most priority and in so doing would have invited Bersih to sit and talk first a long time ago. The least it could have done was to act sensitively and call for dialogues even before the anti-Bersih quarters had any chance to make things more uglier for BN and UMNO.

In addition to being already so late in the day, EC now rebuts with a categorical condition that citizens should abort their march for democracy plan before they can sit down with EC for discussions. If that is not un-democratic and high-handed what else could it be?

And add insult to injury, EC piles a barrage of allegations.

All that is only going to make the impasse even wider and it is of no benefit to EC or even to BN / UMNO. Now why is it so difficult to lead with solutions instead of taking on intimidating stances?

EC’s stand and response is indeed baffling.

As it is, the quarters that threw all kinds of accusations, allegations, threats and what have you at the citizens have already created a deeper suspicion in the hearts and minds of a wider cross-section of the rakyat.

The EC should have been wiser and seized the opportunity to step forward to convince the rakyat that it is indeed their white-knight for greater democracy. It could have, a long time ago, behaved proactively and forced its way to a sit-down dialogue to help the nation move forward.

But today, by its very hostile stance to the Bersih organizers and supporters, it has only further compounded nation building consistent with the fundamentals that are shaping the new world. - Malaysia Chronicle

- J. D. Lovrenciear is a reader and contributor to Malaysia Chronicle