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The fact that all the guards turned around simultaneously and ran quickly away from the barricades indicates that they had been briefed beforehand, otherwise they would have been puzzled and it would have taken them quite a while to comprehend the sudden command in such a noisy atmosphere where the human voice could hardly be heard.
By Kim Quek
There have been many comments that the breach of barricade to Dataran Merdeka which marks the beginning of violence in the otherwise peaceful Bersih 3.0 rally was a plot to justify subsequent police brutality. But where is the hard evidence? Some based their opinion on the absence of police guarding the barricade, and some say the police were running away at the time of breach of barricade.
I happened to stumble on the following video clip, which in my view, will provide the answer:
At 3:00 minute of the video, titled Bersih 3.0 428_Part 5 Masjid Jamek, a 3-row thick police guards were seen standing behind the plastic and steel barricade, face to face against an agitating crowd obviously more than keen to get into the square.
Then suddenly, all the guarding policemen turned around and ran quickly away from the barricade towards where the water cannon trucks and riot squad were positioned some distance away along the road. That sudden withdrawal of policemen was apparently taken by the spirited crowd as a signal that they could move in.
Within seconds of the policemen leaving the barricade when they were probably about 30 meters away from the fence, the first removal and toppling of the barricade was seen and heard. Following that breach, which took place simultaneously at several locations along the fencing line, a sea of people rushed into the hitherto prohibited stretch of Jalan Raja – only to be attacked with water cannon and tear gas by the waiting police force. The rest is history, as this opening shot ushered in the most savage police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators Malaysians have ever seen.
What observations can we draw from these brief seconds of drama before the police onslaught?
The police had been zealously guarding the Dataran Merdeka compound with layers of barricades including razor sharp barbed wire since pre-dawn, indicating their determination to defend the prohibited ground at all costs. Then why the sudden pull back of guards when they were most needed to fend off an emotionally charged crowd eager to move into the square?
The fact that all the guards turned around simultaneously and ran quickly away from the barricades indicates that they had been briefed beforehand, otherwise they would have been puzzled and it would have taken them quite a while to comprehend the sudden command in such a noisy atmosphere where the human voice could hardly be heard.
Who could have made such a monumental decision as the abandoning of the defence of the Dataran ground if not the highest authority?
And why did the police pull back if not for the purpose of inducing the crowd into the snaring police force?
And there are enough snapshots from video clips showing mysterious personnel in black jacket removing the steel barricade and waving the crowd to move over to deduce that the simultaneous acts of police withdrawal and barricade removal were pre-planned to induce the demonstrators into the lair.
To the conspirators, wouldn’t the breach of barricade be the perfect legal justification for a police onslaught?
And wouldn’t police violence beget violence, which would give the ruling power a heyday in showcasing the so-called ‘riotous conduct’ of demonstrators, which the mainstream media promptly did?
And wouldn’t the physical pain suffered by many among the hundreds of thousands of participants be a powerful deterrent against future demonstration?
These surmises are not far-fetched but perhaps right on the dot, judging from the denial syndrome suffered by top police officers and top Umno ministers including Prime Minister. They not only pretend ignorance of widespread unlawful police violence but squarely pin the chaos on leaders of Bersih and opposition parties.
However, Umno hardliners have made one fatal mistake. They forget that this is no more the age when Mahathir reigned supreme. This is the age of Internet and i-phones when almost everyone can capture sound and vision anytime anywhere and disseminate them instantly across the planet. There is no way Umno can hide the brutalities inflicted on its own people. In fact, thousands of messages and videos have been circulating non-stop in the Internet and i-phones showing how ordinary Malaysians have suffered in the hands of the country’s cruel rulers since the day of infamy on April 28.
The day of reckoning for Umno will come, sooner than they think.
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