Dr M: Bersih not seeking reforms but political tsunami

By Clara Chooi

July 02, 2011

SEREMBAN, July 2 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today trashed Bersih 2.0’s purpose for its July 9 rally, saying the coalition did not want electoral reform but was gunning for a repeat of the 2008 election tsunami.

“Its objective is to tarnish the government’s name and the police, and with that the opposition parties will win.

“The purpose is political... precisely for PR (Pakatan Rakyat). It is not about whether the election is clean or not... that is secondary. But they want to paint the government black and therefore, although you are gray, you look more white,” Dr Mahathir (picture) told reporters after delivering a speech at the national Youth Generation Forum luncheon talk here this afternoon.

The former prime minister said he had studied Bersih’s eight demands and found that the group was merely using the protest to attack the administration.

“It is supposed to be a demand for cleanliness but, basically, it is an attack on the government because it is claiming that the government is not doing things,” he said.

Dr Mahathir insisted that Malaysia’s electoral process has always been clean and fair, pointing out that opposition candidates would always be able to win seats in every general election.

In 2008, he noted, PR’s DAP, PAS and PKR had even successfully swept five states and cost BN its customary two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

“The government nearly lost. Now, if the government is fiddling around and being unfair, then I think the government will win 90 per cent or even 100 per cent,” he said.

Dr Mahathir, who was the country’s longest-serving prime minister, also raised the likelihood that PR would succeed in gaining electoral support through the Bersih rally, saying that many were also against the idea of holding a street demonstration.

“It may do well but, as I said, people have different minds. There will be some people very angry who will probably, because of the current arrests and action taken, be disenchanted with the BN (Barisan Nasional). But there will be other people who will also be disenchanted with this group (Bersih),” he said.

He cautioned all parties against a possible clash between the races during the protest, saying that it would disturb the peace in the country.

“I hope that it is not a clash between the Malays and the non-Malays — the Malays with the government and the non-Malays with Bersih. And also, it should not be Muslim against non-Muslim. That is the danger in Malaysia... you play that game, you will divide people. You divide people and then there will be no peace in the country,” he said.

On Umno Youth’s decision to hold a similar protest next week, Dr Mahathir said all parties should be accorded the same right.

He also raised the spectre of the Ops Lalang 1987 Internal Security Act (ISA) crackdown, pointing out that because the government had not allowed the opposition to hold a rally it also had to ban Umno Youth from staging a similar gathering of over 500,000 people.

“As a result, we had to arrest some people and put them under ISA. But we did not have clashes and I still won the election with two-thirds majority,” he said, smiling.

Dr Mahathir has been highly criticised by the opposition for his role in the infamous crackdown which saw the detention of over 100 people, including prominent politicians from the opposition and the revoking of licences from four publications.