Print media attacks Bersih, praises cops

Barisan Nasional’s print media claimed today that the police succeeded in foiling Bersih yesterday. — file pic

 

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Barisan Nasional’s print media moved quickly today to contain the damage from yesterday’s Bersih rally, claiming that the police succeeded in foiling the electoral reform movement which it accused of disturbing the peace and heightening tensions.

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia front-paged the 1,401 arrests, which included Bersih chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang under the headline “Police efforts succeed.”

“Preventive measures by the police succeeded in foiling the illegal Bersih gathering from meeting at Stadium Merdeka.

“The troublemakers finally dispersed at 5pm, but police continued to be stationed at certain locations and roadblocks were maintained to ensure peace was returned,” the Malay daily wrote in its Mingguan Malaysia Sunday edition.

Both Berita Harian and New Straits Times (NST), controlled by Umno under the Media Prima group, slammed the electoral reform movement for bringing chaos to the city.

“Supporters of the illegal Bersih 2.0 gathering emerged from all directions in the capital yesterday from unknown hiding places, causing the situation to become tense,” Berita Harian reported.

The NST’s Sunday edition front-paged a picture of a protestor in the act of throwing an object with the headline “Peaceful?”

Its op-ed pages also accused the coalition of 62 NGOs of “wrecking the weekend” and of being a political rally with nothing to do with electoral reform.

MCA’s The Star also lamented that “if every complaint made one or the other party take to the streets, bringing a city to a standstill, people would not be getting much work done” in an editorial today.

Bersih had claimed a turnout of 50,000 for their street demonstration which went ahead without police permission.

The coalition of 62 NGOs decided to take to the streets despite previously accepting Najib’s offer to move the street rally to a stadium after the government refused to allow the gathering to take place in Stadium Merdeka.

With the whole of Kuala Lumpur locked down for nearly 24 hours, the government has sought to blame the demonstrators for the disturbance and ensuing economic impact.

However, the majority of urbanites on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, have laid the blame on heavy-handed police action, who set up roadblocks, shut down rail stations, and fired tear gas and water cannons in efforts to quell the gathering.