Realities and illusions plague BN

The reality is that the political parties from the opposition wings are quick and able to relate with this march. And so they are branding their presence and participation with numbers to make marked significance to the peaceful march. In a nutshell they are resolved in remaining what we popularly term as ‘relevant’.

By J. D. Lovrenciear

The on-going issues surrounding the announced Bersih 2.0 rally is unearthing truths as well as floating a deluge of illusions about Malaysian politics and its band wagon of cronies.

To begin with, everyone from UMNO – BN quarters wants a piece of the action to short circuit the announced citizens’ rally. The DPM’s most recent allegation, or leak if you like, that Pakatan is trying to unseat UMNO and its allies under cover of the Bersih 2.0. is the crowning statement for the week.

PERKASA wants to put its members on the line as they are prepared to wage a jihad if the Bersih 2.0 takes off.

UMNO Youth are wanting not to miss part of the electrifying action. They too will march for democracy – a democracy that apparently is going to be of a different color from Bersih 2.0. And to give this move an added color of courage, the Home Minster warned his own UMNO Youth.

And of course the killer move by PDRM is not to be dismissed either.

In the face of all this fracas building up to negate the Bersih 2.0 march by citizens of the nation, we need to sieve reality from illusion.

The reality is the citizens from all factions and political as well as social affiliations are geared to march for Bersih 2.0. Their call is to seek intervention so that the nation can enjoy fair and clean elections consistent with the flavor of the advancement of true democracy in the world.

The reality is that the political parties from the opposition wings are quick and able to relate with this march. And so they are branding their presence and participation with numbers to make marked significance to the peaceful march. In a nutshell they are resolved in remaining what we popularly term as ‘relevant’.

The reality is, UMNO and its BN companions are feeling threatened. Rightly so, the implication of the citizens’ march is that the half-a-century political coalition that has been the ruling government is being made to look guilty of not nurturing and upholding the development and spread of true democracy and civil liberties in a manner that is consistent and endorsing the meaning and significance of democracy as it is being perceived in this contemporary world.

The illusion meanwhile is there are politicians hell-bent in believing that just because one’s party stayed in power for over five decades, it should therefore continue till kingdom come. This illusion is further compounded by the fact that the powers that be have that entrenched believe that the almost four million civil servants will not betray the lord of their monthly paychecks.

The other illusion is that because things have always worked for UMNO and its partners all this while, it will continue to work for them. That in a way explains how the government of the day manages its propaganda drives.

Another illusion is that hardened believe that by getting the ISA’s active presence to hover over the citizens and those who are involved in the planning and or leading of the Bersih 2.0 event, citizens will back off.

And of course the threats and loud warnings issued from time to time are also an illusion.

It is unfortunate that we never want to learn and learn fast. There is a renaissance setting a blazing pathway in this new world order. It is that of a heightened sensitivity to regimes and tyranny.

The regimes and tyranny is not one that is akin to the agonies of the Dark Ages where plucking out eyeballs and finger nails were the order of the day by the powers that be upon its citizenry. Neither is it akin to struggles against the Iron curtains and the Bamboo curtains of decades gone by.

Today it is about this awakening in humanity that all man are equal. It is about true democracy and civil liberties – the very currency of the emerging world. Oiled and fired by the missile of information technology, the wiser governments around the globe have learnt to ride on this transformational wave of the congregation of the masses.

Hence, it is not too cruel nor crippling to state that the stances being taken by UMNO and its BN partners has been too heavily anchored in illusions thereby denying the realities around them. If only they had the wind behind their sail, they would have been the ones who would be sailing high with the Bersih 2.0 rally.

The more the government mobilizes its artillery to negate, arm twist, and floor the citizens’ clarion call, the deeper UMNO and the BN partners will sink in their own illusions.

If China, Russia and even the mid-Eastern nations were not able to withstand the tides of their citizens’ impatience, would Malaysia be any different? If it was, then the world history has to reviewed and re-written and the law of nature modified.

So let us not kid ourselves. Times have changed. The world is riding on a new note. The lack of humility to accept realities will only bury us deeper in a muck of illusions. Hopefully the wiser leaders within UMNO and its BN partners will make their life-saving quantum leap in time and in order to ride on this new-age wave that is sweeping across the planet with Malaysia not being an exception.