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Monday, June 27, 2011

MCA: Attacking Ambiga to stop Bersih 'irresponsible'

MCA's vice-president Gan Ping Sieu today expressed “dismay” at the extent of personal attacks and vilification of Bersih chief Ambiga Sreenevasan, by critics who had failed to make their case in a “rational manner”.

“It is very sad to see certain quarters resorting to personal attacks when they fail to put forward their case in a rational manner,” said Gan in a statement.

gan ping sieu on sport betting 250610 02While pointing out that in principle MCA did not support the planned Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 in Kuala Lumpur, he was dismayed by the “extent some are willing to go to vilify and demonise” Ambiga.

“I personally do not agree with Bersih 2.0 holding the rally in the way it is to be held, but that does not mean that I will smear her just to derail the event. That is a most irresponsible thing to do,” he said.

Gan said Ambiga's background as the former Bar Council president had nothing to do with Bersih's agenda of free and fair elections.

However the deputy minister for youth and sports took a swipe at opposition leader's quip earlier that he would tell Ambiga to call off the rally, should Prime Minister Najib Razak ensure free and fair elections, as a “sign” that Bersih was being “manipulated” by opposition politicians.

Ambiga has been the focus of attempts to halt the rally, from both the ruling coalition and certain pro-BN pressure groups such as Perkasa.

Perkasa, who has threatened a counter rally to gatecrash Bersih's, had attacked Ambiga venomously, distributing leaflets calling her “Wanita Hindu yang merbahaya (The dangerous Hindu lady)" and stomping on her image.

The pressure group insinuated that Ambiga was a threat to the Malays and Islam, playing up past issues involving the former Bar president to back their claims.

Unfazed, the Bersih chief had responded saying the rally was not about her, and would go on as planned.

MARA parrots Perkasa

Last Saturday an analyst Ramlah Adam from Universiti Teknologi Mara, a bumiputera institution, echoed Perkasa's claims to the letter, regurgitating their take on Ambiga's history with the Lina Joy conversion case, the inter-faith council initiative and other past activities that Ramlah said showed a “history of provoking Muslims”

NONE"As a lawyer, Ambiga knows better than most that an assembly without a police permit is illegal. I don't understand why she is planning to go ahead with it despite protests from various groups," said Ramlah in a Bernama report.

The same report cited unnamed “observers” perplexed at claims of unfair elections, citing that Pakatan winning the governments of “six states” in the last general election was proof that all was fine.

Ambiga was called to Dang Wangi police station today to record a statement.

Meanwhile NGO Sisters in Islam (SIS) today blasted the use of race and religion as a tactic to counter Bersih.

“The use of race and religion to demonise Bersih 2.0 has escalated in the past few days and this has resulted in death threats against Ambiga Sreenevasan and other members of the steering committee.

“We condemn the use of violence and threat of violence – instead, civil dialogue must prevail as a way to address differences of opinions,” said SIS acting executive director Ratna Osman in a statement.

Voicing support for the rally and its call for electoral reforms, Ratna criticised the use of police reports to intimidate the NGOs working towards Bersih.

She also said the manipulation of the right to demand free and fair elections that was fundamental to democracy, to suggest the opposite, was “mind-boggling and dangerous”.

“Regardless of whether one supports or rejects Bersih 2.0's position on electoral reforms, the right to assemble is an integral part of a living, functional democratic nation-state,” she said. - Malaysiakini

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