Bersih godsent for self-appointed warrior

Lest we all forget the Election Commission is anwerable to the Agong, and Bersih 2.0 is about a need for electoral reforms, not about the Umno-led BN government.

COMMENT

Many people are turning yellow-bellied over the color of yellow. The people thinking of participating in the Bersih rally on Saturday are going to do so in yellow t-shirts.

We have to ask, why do some people get overly disturbed by people donning yellow colour and banding themselves as rally participants?

When I was studying at University Malaya, there were many occasions when politicians were invited to participate in forums.

In one such forum on the dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA), an Umno minister then said: “only those violating the mischiefs protected by the ISA should be afraid of them. Those not, should not be afraid.”
The same simplistic answer can now be applied on those scared of the colour yellow.

The yellow T-shirts are striking fear in the hearts of those who conduct themselves unfairly in securing power.

That is the inevitable deduction.

Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali is responding mindlessly, justifying his conduct as an answer to his interpretation of Bersih 2.0 as being a movement to unseat the government and attacking the position of Malays.

So he steps in as the self-appointed warrior defending the position of Malays.

Bersih was a godsent, re-invigorating Ibrahim Ali from an otherwise political stupor. He now has an issue and Ibrahim Ali lives.

‘Aphrodisiac for Mahathir’

But why is Ibrahim defending the Umno-led government? Ibrahim is not even an Umno member.
Two, has Umno not got enough warrior politicians to defend it in its hour of need?

The other reason for attacking Bersih as a movement to endanger Malays and Malay interests is too far-fetched to be dignified by answering it.

Bersih 2.0 chairman S Ambiga and her team must be absent minded or must have suffered a bout of spontaneous amnesia to not be aware that governments can be unseated only though democratic means, that is by way of free and fair elections.

Therefore to seriously suggest that Bersih is a copycat version of the mass movements in Tunisa and Egypt is not acceptable.

Our response becomes more bizarre when the discovery of the portrait of Shamsiah Fakeh among Bersih rally paraphernalia is taken as proof that Bersih is communist inspired!

And now the investigation into the finances of Bersih shall be used as proof that Bersih is a Trojan horse for foreign subversion.

That would probably provide an aphrodisiac for the recuperating former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is a well-known opponent of any form of colonialism.

People may get inspired by those movements but were probably only without seriously entertaining the idea of unseating a government by such means.

Public opinion will certainly go against Bersih if that is the case. But the aims of Bersih are not that.

‘Right to express’

By asking the Election Commission (EC) to conduct itself properly shows that Bersih accepts that the means to unseat a government is through the voting system.

But the voting system is in need of better supervision and that’s where the demands on the election commission come to the fore.

This aim should be supported. Some people will show their support by participating in the rally. Some will not do so. It’s a matter of choice.

The right to express their wishes must be upheld by the government.

If Perkasa and other groups supportive of the sitting government are allowed to gather and demonstrate, that right must also be given to others.

If the Bersih planned rally is wrong in law, then the same judgment applies to the rallies carried out by supporters of the sitting government.

Our laws are clear. If people break the law, irrespective of who they are, they must be brought to before the forces of the law.

The problem here is that the EC is seen as a pliant tool for one side of the contestants.


Collective action

People accept the principle of elections as a means to establish governments. But they also want that means to be above board.

They accept they are powerless unless they act collectively and speak as a voice. The powerless are striking back demanding that competition to get power to form governments be carried out fairly and in even handed manners.

The body that oversees and ensures elections are conducted fairly and transparently is the Election Commission.

We mustn’t lose sight of the object of the current disputes now.

Bersih’s objective is to call upon the EC to conduct itself as it’s chartered to do.

This isn’t a rally threatening the sovereignty of the Agong or to strike fear at Malays.

The rally will be participated by a large number of Malays too, effectively dismissing the claim that this rally is aimed at hurting the Malaysian Malays in any way.

‘EC mustn’t be evasive’

The EC is an independent commission. It’s not just another government department answerable to the Chief Secretary or even to the PM.

It’s the custodian of fair and transparent conduct of elections and it must guard this role jealously.
Jealously from the meddling and intervention of interested parties.

It must also rid itself of any perceptions of being a submissive tool for those holding power at the moment.

Its responses to criticisms therefore mustn’t be evasive.

It has to avail itself to the latest methods and technology that upgrade the participation of people in an electoral process.

If the use of indelible ink is good for participatory democracy it must adopt the method as a natural development without having to be at pains defending its non-usage.

If making voting compulsory and its cost effective doing so, then it must do so.

People are now diverting their attention to debating whether the planned assembly of people in the Bersih rally should be allowed or otherwise.

The real issue has and is always the conduct of the EC.

The colour yellow is now becoming a symbol for the oppressed and disillusioned, to overthrow a corrupt regime.

In some places it has been the colour that unifies the resolve of people to overthrow an inefficient and uncaring government.

Thailand is a recent example, then there is the Philippines’ Cory Aquino who started her yellow people’s movement that saw the overthrow of the Marcos government.

The watching majority must be dismayed at the response of our police.

The police with all the sophisticated instruments of crowd control and other suppressive means appear to have admitted that they are powerless to control the crowds.

What have they spent public money for then? The idea of a police is to keep the peace.

In keeping the peace, it must conduct its business in a professional manner and be fair minded.
If Bersih is not allowed to hold rallies, then other parties must also be disallowed.

In Penang, the police have given permit for some people to hold a rally. In Rembau, some people consisting of ex-policemen were given permit. Ibrahim was even given a permit to denounce a rally that has not taken place.

EC answers to Agong

Is Ibrahim a clairvoyant extraordinaire; can he see the future?

In ancient times, people like Ibrahim got burnt at the stakes. Shall we roast Ibrahim then?
Let’s not forget the object of the issue.

It’s the EC, not the Umno-led Barisan Nasional government. The EC answers to the Agong and therefore should not be seen as working for an interested party.

What’s the problem with clearing the electoral registers off dead people?

How can it monitor and apply strict rules to election spending? Election funding etc?

These are important issues to those looking at elections as a means to exercise their democratic rights to elect a government of their choice.

This isn’t an issue whether public demonstrations or going on a march as practices that are good only elsewhere but not suitable in Malaysia.

The need to express publicly the collective wants and demands is part and parcel a democracy.
It’s so written in our laws that people can assemble peacefully to air their grievances and expression.

The writer is a FMT columnist and a former Umno state assemblyman