Wan Saiful Wan Jan has an interesting story about people's reactions to the arrests of protestors at Friday's Workers Day rally in Kuala Lumpur, and whether the police crackdown will scare the public from taking to the streets again.
“I was at an event with pro-establishment figures, VIPs with Tan Sris and Datuks in their names,” said Wan Saiful, who heads the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs, or Ideas.
“And they were upset at the police for arresting people in the GST rally.”
He said this showed that Malaysians, even those who have traditionally scorned peaceful assemblies, now tend to view them as a legitimate activity and a basic right.
Other analysts argued that because the rally was also against a deeply unpopular tax, the act of protesting it would be seen as legitimate and the issue could still drive people to take to the streets.
The core issue, said Penang Institute’s Dr Wong Chin Huat, is legitimacy, and the public are questioning whether the police had a legitimate reason to arrest protestors as the rally was peaceful.
At the same time, the rally’s unifying issue – to oppose the GST – is seen as a legitimate concern given the widespread anger towards inflation that is being caused by the GST.
“I doubt that anyone can say 'those who peacefully protest the GST should be prosecuted' without feeling guilty,” said Wong, who heads the institute’s political and social analysis section.
Some 10,000 people thronged the streets of the capital on May 1, marching from different points before ending the protest at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
Street protests, once frowned upon and considered illegal, are now being increasingly accepted as a legitimate act, say some analysts in the aftermath of the May 1 rally against GST in Kuala Lumpur.
The rally was largely peaceful and incident-free, although there a group of youths dressed in black with their faces covered were seen letting off smoke bombs, setting fire to rubbish and spray-painting graffiti on signboards and metal hoardings.
Police detained 29 youths under Section 143 of the Penal Code and Section 4 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances Act for a "smoke bomb" released near Central Market. Six of them who are minors were released after a night in detention, while the rest are being remanded three days.
Police also made a few high-profile arrests, including well-known lawyer and award-winning activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan. Also arrested were DAP's Seremban MP, Anthony Loke, Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary-general S. Arutchelvan and PAS's Kuala Krai MP, Dr Hatta Ramli, who spent overnight at the police station, before all were released yesterday.
Wong argued that despite the actions of the masked youths who the authorities now highlight to depict the rally as chaotic, its image will not be tarnished.
He said the public would be able to make the distinction between the main message of the protest and a few minor incidents.
“People can distinguish between Ambiga and the actions of a few youths. Overall, the rally was peaceful.
“I don’t think the crackdown will affect the people’s sentiment. In fact I think it will make people more angry.”
Observers have said that yesterday’s rally surpassed expectations even though it did not attract the one million people it had targeted.
Although the rally will unlikely change Putrajaya’s decision on GST, anger over rising inflation could snowball and threaten the ruling Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
“(The crackdown) won’t scare people,” said Wan Saiful (pic, left) of Ideas.
“People are becoming more committed to the idea that they have to protest.”
Ibrahim Suffian of pollster Merdeka Center argued that how the rally was portrayed in different media would further deepen the political divide in the country.
Half of the voting public are already pro-opposition, and the other half pro-government, each have their own media sources, said Ibrahim.
He did not think the rally and police crackdown would lead to an increase of support for either side because people already have entrenched views.
“People tend to congregate and share news with others who already see things the same way they do.
“The pro-government side will believe in their own media that the rally was unruly and the pro-opposition side will believe that it was peaceful. So what happened won’t really change minds.”
What occurred in the rally, however, would still not dampen its main message, said Ibrahim, and that is the GST's impact on society.
“The consumption tax is an important issue and anger towards it will be amplified as we see more financial scandals. And more people could get organised around the idea of opposing it.” – TMI
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