UNPLEASANT BN SPIN: Blackshirt thing is classic Anwar

AT the polling station that I went to there were a couple of Mat Salleh-looking women who voted ahead of me. They left with their stained fingers and no one, not even the group sitting under the tree looking for illegal voters, bothered to give them a second look, much less confront them.

For these vigilantes, self-appointed guardians of our democratic sanctity, were looking for Bangladeshis whom they believed to be phantom voters (some 40,000 to 50,000 of them) flown in specially to tip the balance of the elections in favour of Barisan Nasional (BN).

I find it rather disconcerting reports of Malaysians stopping fellow citizens because they don't look right, or Malaysian enough. How does, in this salad bowl of a nation, a Malaysian look like? And why were Caucasians, who were likely to be more out of place in our society than those with sub-continent roots, allowed to venture unhindered at polling stations?

Incidentally, most Malaysians, given enough hard labour, sun, poorer living conditions, different fashion sensibilities and haircut, could easily pass off as the man from India serving us at the mamak; the Bangladeshi construction worker building the MRT; the Myanmar fishmongers at the Selayang wholesale market; the Nepalese security guards; Indonesian house helpers; or the Chinese reflexologists of Bukit Bintang.

Clearly, the whole episode suggested, among others, how inherently racist were some of those who claim be abhor racism.

The Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led campaign to protest the results of the election chose black as their colour of choice in reference to alleged blackouts during the counting of votes which, incidentally, by all official accounts, including that of the DAP, did not happen but have somehow persisted.

Nevertheless, it is a fitting colour as some of them did behave like Mussolini's fascist vigilante group, the Blackshirts of 1920s Italy, threatening, intimidating and employing violence against opponents. This past election, we had reports of would-be voters harassed and some forcibly detained, vehicles attacked and weapons brandished by vigilante groups.

Personally, I am appalled at the silence from their leaders, some self-appointed libertarian and rights protection groups, after stoking anger and encouraging them to suspect fellow citizens and taking the law in their own hands. I am nevertheless pleased that those arrested would face the due process of the law for their alleged criminal acts because of the nastiness and ugliness that resulted.

I also propose that the Election Commission, which has been the subject of strategic, persistent and calculated character assassination, fight back. The EC should ask everyone who claimed the election was conducted in a fraudulent manner or rigged to furnish evidence -- be they inaccurate electoral rolls, phantom voters, double voting, blackouts, etc.

If they cannot, the EC should take them to court, for they are not only spreading hearsay, or worse, concocting lies, but their very acts are holding the democratic process at ransom. Free speech is no excuse for spreading lies and untruths.

These allegations and the people who made them are easy to find, their tracks and trails are everywhere in social media.

If only Anwar could see what we (everyone except his diehard supporters) could see -- that his argument of rigged elections is as threadbare as his numerous conspiracy theories -- he would have stopped his nationwide tours.

This whole blackshirt campaign also proves how disingenuous some politicians are, ready to accept the results of Selangor, Kelantan and Penang, as well as countless other state and parliamentary seats won by them, but not those that they lost. They must assume that many of us probably just got off the plane with the 40,000 phantom Bangladeshi voters.

Nevertheless, the blackshirts thing is classic Anwar -- agitate the disenchanted, take to the streets, mug it for the cameras, especially those of foreign news outlets, and provoke the authorities to react. One could almost set one's clock to the seemingly predictable route of his modus operandi -- his thrusts and parries predictable.

Days before polling, he claimed to have evidence of vote-buying by BN and would be unveiling them soon, but of course it never came. Just like the dozens of boxes of evidence of corruption by the BN government or the cyanide injected into his blood. I am not suggesting Anwar lied, but he has a known problem of backing up many of his claims.

I do believe other political leaders must now come up and champion the truth, no matter which side of the aisle they are from. Those calling themselves to be the true democrats and promoters of justice, those who claim to be competent and promoting accountability and transparency, to live up to those ideals and speak the truth.

Were there blackouts or foreigners voting? If there were, we must deal with them using the laws of the land, and those responsible should be punished for attempting to subvert our democracy.

If there were none, should not all those leaders with conscience step up and say so and not allow untruths and lies to be perpetuated. They don't even have to betray their politics.

It is a disservice to their supporters and the country to suppress the truth and hope to benefit from the anger of a misinformed and population. It is also called hypocrisy.