Will today’s 505 rally be the bloodiest?
FMT LETTER: From Stephen Ng, via e-mail
Judging from the trend and the way things have been going these past two weeks, it appears to me that the Blackout 505 rally will be one of the biggest in the country since Bersih 3.0 on July 28, 2012.
This also may be one of the bloodiest if things go the way I predict it. Now that the general election is over, a few lives may be sacrificed on the ground, with the objective of quashing the voices of dissent and to create fear so that future rallies will not grow even bigger in numbers.
It may take the form of an amok, or something of that nature. During the acquittal of Anwar Ibrahim, they have already experimented with home-made bombs which until today, investigation has never revealed who were the culprits behind the blast.
The blame game would begin. It would of course be pointing towards the Opposition, as this rally is seen as a PKR-led protest, involving not only Pakatan supporters but also those who had gone for Bersih events in the past.
A repeat of Operation Lallang may then happen, to cripple Pakatan Rakyat, as Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak tries to solidify his position within Umno Baru. Either way, it is not going to strengthen him in his position.
Zahid Ahmad Hamidi, as the new Home Minister, has not realised that he is being used as a pawn. Najib has moved his cousin, Hishamuddin Hussein to a new ministry, until such time when he has fully used Zahid to quash the Opposition. To further strengthen his position, Najib would place his cousin back into the powerful position as his Home Minister.
The new Inspector-General of Police, with his new zeal, would not hesitate to use whatever means to do his job, but if he chooses this path, he will walk down into history as someone considered most unpopular as a man in the blue. I hope the IGP would be a lot wiser than this – not to be used by politicians in their quest for more power.
In Malaysia, it is now a war between the people and the elite few. You will either remain neutral or you will be quashed at the end of the day, when the people gain the upper hand. This is something I believe former IGP, Musa Hassan has seen.
The Government, under Umno Baru and Barisan Nasional, has never learnt to be wiser in the way it deals with the rakyat. To go to war with the rakyat will mark the end of a quickly collapsing regime. The more you lash out at the people especially in a harsh manner like what Ahmad Zahidi had done in the past one month, the worse things will get.
If Blackout 505 turns out to be a bloody event by any means, and even if one life is being sacrificed before the end of the day, I dare not imagine how another Bersih 4.0 event would turn out.
Mahathir the cause of Umno’s weak position
The rakyat’s disappointments with the Mahathir’s regime have reached an all-time high during the late 1990s, but now, it has reached an even higher temperature. If Dr Mahathir Mohamad had not stepped down, the rakyat – especially the Malays at that point in time – would have given the senile old man the biggest blow by kicking him out of the government. In short, he would have tasted what he did to Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early seventies.
The 1999 general election results have clearly shown that Umno Baru was in fact at the lowest point of its history, and if not for MCA, Gerakan and MIC’s help, Barisan Nasional would have been wiped off during the tenth general election.
Now, the two biggest ingrates, Mahathir and Utusan Malaysia are again asking, “Apa Cina mau lagi?” This is exactly the reason why the Chinese have opted to vote for PAS than for MCA or Gerakan in GE13, because a vote for MCA or Gerakan would have been a vote for Umno and a regime that has outlived its hospitality as the ruling political party in this country.
The biggest mistake that former premier, Abdullah Badawi and now, Najib, have made is by keeping quiet over the voices of extremism within Umno. Abdullah Badawi with the Ahmad Ismail’s ‘pendatang’ remarks, and now, Najib with Ibrahim Ali, Zulkifli Noordi and Mohd Noor Yaakob.
This is why, despite being given a bigger mandate to rule the country, Barisan Nasional under Abdullah Badawi had failed to maintain its2004 mandate in a subsequent general election in 2008. Najib is no better, with a worse result in the recent general election. Instead of capturing back Selangor, Umno has lost another two state seats, and in total Barisan Nasional had lost seven parliament seats to Pakatan Rakyat in 2013.
If not for the gerrymandering and the malapportionment of the constituencies, BN would have to pack its bag and vacate Putrajaya for a new government to take over under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim.
The solution
With the evidences and the number of police reports lodged against the Election Commission’s duo, Abdul Aziz and Wan Omar, it appears to me that Blackout 505 will continue on. If today’s rally becomes a bloody event, there will be more of such rallies called, and each time it is called, it will be even bigger and more ad hoc.
No one will believe that Anwar would harm his own supporters, but all fingers will be pointed towards the Barisan Nasional Government without a doubt no matter how you argue until the cow comes home. Losing one supporter for Anwar means losing one precious vote, and not only one vote, but the votes of people around him; therefore, Anwar has no reason to create any harm to the rally goers. The people know that Anwar would not be that stupid as to see even a single person being killed, as it would then mar his Blackout 505.
The indelible ink is one of the biggest lies that no one can dispute today, not to mention that EC’s Abdul Aziz claiming that the Ministry of Health had instructed the EC not to use anything more than one percent silver nitrate. This has made Abdul Aziz himself, and probably the entire EC council, to be guilty of criminal breach of trust since some RM6 million of people’s fund has been used to purchase an ink that can be easily removed.
Both the chief and his deputy have not been able to deny the fact that the ink was in fact a way to hoodwink the nation, and it was, in many people’s opinion, done to deceive the people, while opening a door for double voting to take place undetected.
How is it that Barisan Nasional can continue to rule the country when it no longer enjoys the mandate of the people? Not dismissing the possibility of a ‘hop over’, what BN has become today, is nothing but a minority government as the May 5 polling results show.
The solution to Blackout 505 rally today is for the EC duo to immediately step down at the 11th hour, or for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to step in and sack the duo and the entire council members at the 11th hour to prevent a major showdown by the rakyat today.
The sacking of the duo should also immediately be followed by an urgent meeting to discuss the revamp of the new Election Commission.This would leave Blackout 505 with no reason for the rally, but I doubt that BN leaders have the guts to call the shot, not forgetting that the entire polling system has been designed to keep BN in power for so long. This is the first time that the rakyat has seen, that with even 47 percent popularity vote, it is possible for Umno and BN to retain power in Putrajaya.
In fact, based on a chart drawn up by a Mr CN Ng, BN can and will always still remain in Putrajaya by a simple majority (or 112 seats),even with a 19 percent popularity vote. The figure is obtained from a chart that showed the number of constituents in every parliamentary seat across the nation. The rural seats are eventually what it takes for BN to remain in power.
