Many people asked me if I was going to the streets on July 9. I made a conscious decision not to participate in the Bersih 2.0 peaceful march for personal reasons --- probably due to my upbringing or religious convictions.
Nonetheless, I was equally concerned about the development in my country. I counted myself to be “in spirit” with the Bersih 2.0 people who made a stand for Clean and Fair Election. Despite the attempts to demonise Bersih’s noble objectives, nothing stood out more than the eight demands spelt out by its president, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The people of Malaysia demand for a clean and fair election. This, unfortunately, the Election Commission and Najib’s administration have stubbornly stood their ground, assuming that for every one person who participated in the rally, another 100 or 1000 people were against it.
As far as I know, Ambiga was picked to receive the International Women of Courage in 2009. Here was a woman of great admiration, who stood for what she believes in. Malaysia has never before seen a woman of her stature who would defend her rights as a voter in this country. She has risen above the “pariah” community, which the Malay literature Intelok had portrayed to the detriments of race relations in this country.
Compare this to Datuk Ibrahim Ali, president of the right-wing and pro-Umno NGO, Perkasa. He was filled with hot air, but the balloon finally burst at the eleventh hour. Instead of showing up in Kuala Lumpur, he was holed up in his home, giving the excuse that he was one of the 91 persons banned from entering into the city. As if his wife had never advised him against being a fool himself, for once, he had to heed the advice of his better half.
Many of us who were watching the “matches” knew that both Perkasa and Umno Youth made their noises mainly to intimidate and to scare the people from the Bersih 2.0 rally. The Najib administration failed to put a stop to some of these elements, including Umno’s Utusan Malaysia, which were trying to play up racial and religious tension, hoping to use this to demonise the Bersih 2.0 rally.
I am glad that many Malaysians stood up for their rights to a clean and fair election. I estimate it to be anything between 20,000 to 50,000 people. The official figure of between 5,000 and 6,000 quoted by the authorities rings hollow, judging from the sea of people in the photographs and videos.
Contrary to news reports about Molotov and parangs linked to Bersih 2.0, I believe none of the people who were arrested had any form of armed resistance. The evidence from the amount of video and photographs published on the Internet showed what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration by civilians.
The appearance of 65-year-old Auntie Anne Ooi is a testimony of what all Malaysians, young and old, can do when faced with a government that continues to use brutality against civilians. Some of the policemen whom I know personally said that they have no choice but to act against the non-violent civilians. With the exception of some in the police force, as far as I can see it, the blame has to fall on the political masters of the day.
I have time and again reminded Najib’s administration through numerous channels of communication that “a government that continues to fight the civilians will not last very long.” The tipping point will come and any ruling party that wants to win the hearts of the people again sometime in the future will ensure a smooth transition of power instead of creating more political havoc – something that we are witnessing these days.
The domino effect seen, since the People’s Power in the Philippines, Indonesia, and recently in Thailand, will not be easily overcome with force. No amount of harassment by the Special Branch or the police will stop the people from becoming more resolved to see a change of government. There are many lessons to be learnt from the sage of old, the late Mahatma Gandhi. Thousands of Indians were arrested, but with each arrest, the multiplying effect is simply too big for the colonial government to cope at the end of the day.
Najib should realise that it is not as if he were to shed blood that he and his men could remain in power. The people can choose to kick you out of Putrajaya tomorrow. They can put another person in power. This is true democracy, Malaysian-style or otherwise. This is something that our political leaders, including the prime minister himself, have failed to understand despite Malaysia being a democratic nation. Dirty politics have been played over and over again, since March 2008 – and I cannot help it but to say, Enough is enough!
One good example is the recent shameless expose of a man having sex with a lady is a good example. In a country where religious sentiments are high, the expose has rocked the nation. Any right thinking person in this country would not buy the Datuk T’s lies which were aimed at forcing Anwar Ibrahim and his wife to step down. No one would be as foolish as these three to think that they could not have called the whole contingent of police, FRU and Jakim personnel to capture Anwar Ibrahim red-handed in the hotel room – so what’s the point of using a black-and-white video clip in the first place!
If these three stooges think they can fool the people of Malaysia using so-called foreign “experts” from Dartmouth College, I even took the trouble to write an email to both Professor Farid Hany ('farid@cs.dartmouth.edu') and the president (via email to 'President's.Office@Dartmouth.edu') of that tiny college in the US. It is only fair that Professor Hany should furnish the report or dispute the news report, since his credibility and that of his college was at stake, if he had not made the claims that the person in the video was 99.99% Anwar Ibrahim. Repeated emails were not responded to!
I believe many Malaysians agree with me. What we have seen so far is bad enough to make us say, “Enough lah!” The ball is in the court of the people in power, on how they want to win back the people, but CHANGE appears to be the order of the day after 54 years the country has come under the rule of Barisan Nasional.
Barisan Nasional, at its peak during the hey days of Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman, was a beautiful coalition of political parties, comprising people from all walks of life. Religion and race did not differentiate one Malaysian from another. I remember my late father telling us that in Pahang, he was enjoying his breakfast with other Malay colleagues when there were riots of May 13 in Kuala Lumpur.
Umno had started breaking up in 1987 during the former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed who, despite nearly losing to his Team B rival, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, continued to build his foundation with Team A people. Most of the people in Team B had left Umno to join Semangat 46 and subsequently PAS. The country’s Malay party was ruled with an iron fist by one man, whose descent is unquestionably from Kerala, India, who despite promising not to meddle with the politics of the day, had continued to whack former prime minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. This was my turning point when I saw how wicked a man could be even into his old age. At that juncture, I said to myself, “Enough is enough!”
Bersih 2.0 was the climax of my disappointment with the present administration. They can use all the force, laws or detention orders against the civilians, but when the silent majority pushes forward, they better opt for a smooth transition of power – that is, if they want to win the people’s hearts once again!
Now, that July 9 is over, as I look back, perhaps, the reason why I chose not to participate in the Bersih 2.0 rally is because I wanted to prove to the authorities that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, or even into the millions of Malaysians, are with Bersih 2.0. They may not be wearing the Bersih t-shirts, but their hearts have turned yellow. They are wearing the Yellow t-shirt in their hearts – something that no government will be able to fight against.
Cheers
Stephen Ng
My favourite colour is Yellow
