In the National Interest

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On May 5, 2012

The ball is now on Bersih’s steering committee’s court on what to do next. This is uncharted territory in Malaysia’s political history. It is not that important to rate Bersih a success or a failure. Who did what, where and when? We all know what the police and the government inquiries will end up. There is no independent arbitrator on this matter either. Suhakam will come out with their own findings, everyone will conclude that there will be no action taken against the police; action will be taken against the demonstrators. We have been on that road before. We might as well move on.

Kuo Yong Kooi

Everyone that attended the Bersih 3.0 rally were there for national interest. The police will have their versions of what is in their national interest, Anwar and Azmin will have their versions, so does everyone else who demonstrated under the banner of Bersih. Unfortunately, there is no independent arbitrator to define what is in the national interest at the moment on this particular issue. That was the main reason why Bersih managed to galvanize such huge support in their simple cry for “free and fair” elections.

We are where we are now because at some historical moment long ago a smart Prime Minister called Dr Mahathir went on a wholesale change in planting his “yes” men to be all the top administrators of the public institutions. The rest is history, all the heads of government departments just carry out marching orders from him. Pointing fingers at particular individuals that breach the barricades or the police that went on a rampage at this point in time will only harbor more hatred amongst each other and pump tension to a new level.

We are stuck now because we do not have an independent arbitrator on this matter. Everyone would hope that Najib can act responsibly on our behalf for the national interest to sack the EC and sincerely go through the process of meeting the demands of Bersih. Unfortunately, looking at the stronghand tactics that were employed by the Police and the FRU during the Bersih 3.0 rally showed that he is willing to defend PutraJaya till the last drop of UMNO’s blood.

What have we learned from Bersih 3.0?

The UMNO mainstream media has successfully used the barricades incident to divide Bersih into two camps; those who support the barricade incident and those who did not. At the press conference by PKR, the leaders have clearly indicated that barricades opened at other locations of Dataran Merdeka before the Anwar/Azmin barricade incident. But that does not matter because the strategy of discrediting PKR was considered a success by UMNO. It overshadowed the police brutality. It in fact justified it. In the eyes of the kampung folks who watched it on the mainstream media and Astro, that might translate to more votes to BN in the next general election.

The numbers that turn out alone will give confidence to the Bersih steering committee on their next course of action, it can only garner more support in the future. I have faith that the Bersih steering committee will consider all avenues before we get to the Tharir square kind of scenario.

This is where the power of the new media can help change the course of history. I would like to invite fellow Malaysians to brainstorm the kind of possible non-violent action that we can do to avoid fatalities and have a peaceful change.

Give suggestions like you are in the Bersih Steering committee meeting. I would like to start with my two cents’ worth of suggestions.

(1) Never hold any more Bersih rallies in a Stadium. If Bersih 3.0 was held at Stadium Merdeka as what the authorities suggested, there would be a massive stampede when the police fires tear gas and water cannons.

(2) Can someone suggest to the Agung to do something about this? I am not a constitutional law expert.

(3) Play ball at the BN’s court with their set of rules instead. Have Bersih 4.0 in all the crucial rural constituencies. A field day, ie workshops, dikir barat, wayang kulit, community theater or information field day at these crucial constituencies. A simultaneous day of action “Bersih 4.0 Balik Kampung Day” at all these rural areas.

(4) If the Najib administration still refuses to budge before Bersih 4.0 is to be held, then it is to the national interest for Bersih to make a stand on which side they would choose in the election if and when the election is called. Bersih can make it clear that it is in the national interest that we seek a change in the Putrajaya administration for the process of democratization of the nation. If the opposition does get in to form the next government, Bersih will make sure that all the top administrative positions in the public institutions be independent and able to spearhead the nation to a full flesh democracy.