Malays should know who Ambiga is, say analysts

Analysts say the Bersih 2.0 chairman has a history of provoking Muslims.

KUALA LUMPUR: Analysts are asking Malays to know who it is that is asking them to take part in the Bersih rally on July 9.

They said that S Ambiga, the former Bar Council president planning to lead the demonstration, has a history of provoking Muslims.

They noted that she defended apostate Lina Joy, and as Bar Council president, accepted a memorandum on the formation of an inter-faith commission, which made 14 demands that in effect questioned the position of Islam as the official religion and contradicted the constitution.

Despite objections from Muslims, she held a forum on an article in the constitution concerning syariah law.

Now, she is planning a demonstration in defiance of the law which she expects the Malays to join in droves, the analysts said.

Analyst Prof Dr Ramlah Adam of Universiti Teknologi Mara wonders how Malays can want to have anything to do with someone who is so openly against their interests.

“As a lawyer, Ambiga knows better than most that an assembly without a police permit is illegal. I don’t understand why she is planning to go ahead with it despite protests from various groups,” Ramlah said.
Other observers question the independence and motive of Ambiga, who is chairman of the Coalition for Free and Fair elections (Bersih 2.0).

If elections in the country were not free, they said, how could the opposition have won five states in the last polls?

In any case, Ambiga could express any dissatisfaction that she might have with the Election Commission (EC) through the media instead of having an illegal assembly that could lead to clashes, they said.

Political observer Prof Zainal Kling of the Sultan Idris Teaching University said the leaders of the planned assembly were fighting the cause of political parties which were themselves not clean.

“They should demonstrate as a political party rather than a non-governmental organisation. Then people will know what their real objectives are,” he said.

Zainal said their objectives had something to do with “the chaos in the opposition, in PKR which is not clean, in DAP which is autocratic and PAS which has abandoned its original struggle”.

He said the planned assembly was to hide the dirtiness of opposition parties trying to give Malaysia a bad image.

Zainal said the opposition parties were trying to create the kind of chaos they see in several countries which they hope to exploit to gain power.