Bersih Rally: An Imperative Gambit to Capture Seven More States
By Haris Dol, Malaysian Digest
Tension has been on the up and up in the last week three weeks leading to the Bersih 2.0 rally that’s planned for July 9.
Police have already embarked on a nationwide witch hunt on the ‘evil’ Bersih promoters with six PSM members (including Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar) rearrested under the Emergency Ordinance while six DAP members (including Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa) have been arrested under the Societies Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act and Sedition Act.
Police had also issued a warning that more arrests will be underway and they already said they will use all the resources at their disposal to stop the march. But regardless of such severe actions and warnings from the authorities, by the look of it the Bersih organizer S Ambiga and the supporters of the rally (mainly the opposition) are going ahead with their plan for this Saturday.
Why is the Opposition in particular going ahead with the rally despite the dangers they’ve put themselves and the public in for promoting and carrying out the planned outing? Is there a political agenda behind Bersih 2.0 as the government and pro-government groups claimed?
Kit Siang Can’t Wait
DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang have been one of the most vocal among the adamant voices in support of the second Bersih rally. He’s been notorious for being outspoken and no doubt it’s a healthy thing especially when you have a good argument and the criticisms are constructive. But once in a while one must also know when to shut up.
I usually would agree with Kit Siang on many issues and I find his critical analysis on issues benefits everyone who has interest in knowing what the government is doing and suggestions on what it should be doing instead. Everything was going fine until he took a Mickey out of Najib Razak’s proclamation in his (Najib’s) speech during World Youth Day where the prime minister told the crowd: “if in Egypt one million youths gathered in Tahrir Square to change that country’s leadership… in Malaysia, one million youths gathered to defend Putrajaya” (apparently, the turnout for World Youth Day was only 8,000). In response to this, Kit Siang said: “Are Najib and Umno/BN leaders prepared when Tahrir Square comes to Malaysia?” This was followed by: “I have confidence that there will be one million youths in Malaysia to defend Putrajaya ala Tahrir Square – not to defend Najib, Umno and Barisan Nasional but freedom, democracy and political change in Malaysia by democratic and constitutional means.”
The above statement by Kit Siang was released on June 6 – almost two weeks shy of the Bersih 2.0 launch on June 19. He never mentioned Bersih in that particular statement but, whether he intended it or not, people would already relate his ‘Tahrir Square’ remark to the upcoming ‘Bersih 2.0’ rally. That’s not the kind of publicity Bersih needs as the situation in Egypt is obviously not the same as it is in this country.
Pakatan Aims to Capture Seven More States
Less than two weeks after he made the ‘Tahrir Square’ statement, Kit Siang gave a speech at the Teluk Intan DAP Anniversary Dinner at a school hall in Teluk Intan. In his speech, he pointed out that Pakatan Rakyat has three targets for the next general elections, viz:
• “To retain the four Pakatan Rakyat states of Penang, Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan;”
• “To win back Perak state government which was illegally, unconstitutionally and undemocratically robbed from the people and the Pakatan Rakyat; and”
• “To form the state government in the six states of Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu and Perlis.”
Those are very ambitious goals if you ask me but the way things have been going I say it’s not that impossible.
“Umno and BN will be fighting a ‘life-and-death’ battle in the 13th General Election, not just about whether they can regain two-thirds parliamentary majority lost in 2008, but whether they could be returned to power or would have to occupy the Opposition benches for the first time in their experience,” said Kit Siang in his speech.
“However, Najib and his election strategists should realize that if the BN government decides to resort to high-handed, repressive and undemocratic measures to use the police to crack down on the peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally for free, fair and clean general elections, they may be creating the very conditions which would ensure a 5 percent (vote) swing against Umno and BN in the next general election – setting the stage for a change of federal power in Putrajaya for the first time in the nation’s history,” he added.
