Bersih, the humbling of government

By Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 10, 2011

JULY 10 — And then the whole country erupts into chaos. This is what I’m worried about. The government also keeps flip-flopping on whether it will allow the rally to go on or not. It needs to rule with a firmer hand!”

Now Ibrahim Ali is making sense. The whole country erupts into chaos because this country hasn’t got a firm leadership.

But how does Ibrahim Ali define firm? By applying the big stick on Ambiga? On Bersih? It seems according to Ibrahim, general of Perkasa, Malay of the Malays, the government is firm only if they lock up Ambiga (who’s trying to undermine the Malays, who is a threat to Islam etc.). The government is firm only when it does the bidding of Ibrahim Ali.

It depends who is defining what. Some people will say the government is firm if it arrests Ibrahim Ali and leaders of martial arts groups who subvert the legal apparatuses of coercion in this country- the police and the military. By not reigning in the forces of ‘our 3rd line of defence’ the government is sending messages that other groupings can elevate their questionable statuses into respectable 3rd line defence forces.

Pekida the shadowy group of Malay enforcers can, in future become one too. Toh Peh Kong group emerging from the bowels of Jinjang can become one. The Red Thali group from some estate somewhere can also become one.

Friends coming into the city called me in the wee hours of the morning lamenting of the traffic snarls. Surprisingly, they are blaming the police for causing the hardships in their daily routine. If people have not been paying attention to Bersih these past two weeks, today, they are asking one another what is Bersih?

The past two weeks, the government hasn’t developed and earned a positive characterization; it is largely vilified as incompetent and confused in its responses. Here Hishamudin made some noises- eventually outlawing Bersih. There Muhyidin was spewing statements of no consequence.

Najib is fox-trotting with whatever came to his mind at the moment; first by sounding accommodative and willing to allow Bersih to do their thing in a stadium. Then backtracking because he wasn’t aware that cousin Hisham has outlawed the NGO.

Hisham was bolder saying that despite being granted an audience with the King, the organization remains an outlawed entity. The King means nothing. Probably the King is fed-up of the whole messy and the make-it-up-as-you-go responses of the government.

The object of public concern is the conduct of the elections commission. Bersih represents the voice of the people who demand only 8 simple things from the election commission. They demand the electoral roll be cleaned, that the postal voting system be reformed, that indelible ink be used, a minimum 21 day campaign period be instated, free and fair access to media for all be provided, public institutions be strengthened, and for corruption as well as dirty politics to be stopped.

But these, say Ibrahim Ali, proxy of Umno and Malay of the Malays, are actually disguises aimed at undermining the rule of the Malays, Malay rulers and whatever is of concern to the Malays.

The first and probably the only strategy Umno and its supporters know is to cast aspersions on Bersih. Dig up any dirt you can find; destroy the credibility of the witness. Make him out as a fiend and traitor and all that. Hence Bersih is communist inspired because some photographs of Shamsiah Fakeh were found; Bersih is out to cause injury and bloodshed because some weapons (usually the stock in trade of secret societies) were found.

Maybe the Police will be kind enough to allow inspection whether some items already in their inventory, were booked out temporarily to show the public the cache of arms belonging to Bersih?

Funny thing, people should start thinking why was Ambiga (that woman who is out to cause trouble and a threat to Islam) was able to meet up the King who is the head of the Islamic religion. Who is Ibrahim Ali to tell the king who he should or should not meet? Then I remember Nazri Aziz saying of Ibrahim Ali — he is nothing, nobody listens to him.

The government’s ability in crisis management is now suspect. It put up a proxy fight through that pompous windbag from Pasir Mas and probably attempted to intimidate people through the show of force by 50,000 or whatever figures that can be conjured by one Silat Grandmaster. Didn’t this person at one time stood as candidate opposing the BN at one point?

One son of the Linchah Grandmaster is an exco member of Pemuda Umno who must have used his father’s organisation to scare the rally participants. I asked one fight trainer to the Police force what he thought about using martial arts groups for prop effects; he laughed it away by saying you think all silat opponents are lion hearted? Maybe 3 out of 10 will brave any onslaughts. You think they can withstand the forces of the moral majority? Silat proponents have conscience too.

The generals behind Mubarak and Zainal Abideen employed the might of the military forces. They can’t forever strike at their own brothers and sisters. How can you even compare 50,000 martial arts experts to the well-equipped army of Mubarak and Zainal Abideen.

Here is a lesson painfully obvious. Once people are not intimidated with the show of force, your days are numbered.

We can spin till kingdom come about the willingness of the King to meet up with Ambiga. As one buffoon of a minister said, doing the hair splitting stuff- oh, the king met Ambiga in her capacity of a person. The king does not meet Bersih. However you say it, the people will say the King recognizes Ambiga as the leader of Bersih – whether that organization has been outlawed or not. She and what she represents is of some consequence.

Bersih is recognised while Ibrahim Ali, Umno’s proxy is not. To push the incredulity of the minister’s twisted statement further — Ibrahim Ali, in person or representing a lawful society doing unlawful things isn’t recognised. The government should outlaw Perkasa.

I would like to ask Umno people, why do we support Ibrahim Ali who is not even an Umno member? He has no moral standing to speak about the Malays in a space where it is Umno who is claiming a monopoly to speak on and about Malays. If Ibrahim Ali is given that freedom, then by default Umno accepts that it’s no longer the sole and voice of choice for Malays.

What about those who insist — never mind, things will get back to normal for Umno. We will let those who have no inkling about what’s developing in the minds of the people, continue to think that by some miraculous act, Umno will regain the ground that it lost, without doing anything substantial about it. What they have done is to psyche themselves into delusion.

This mistake is probably due to misreading history. In the history of revolutions and changes on the social and political scene, the catalytic forces of change always start in the towns and cities. Change is always started by progressive elements which are usually associated with towns and cities.

Hence the consoling and self-patting assertions that, oh, this Bersih agenda will not be of any consequence because it doesn’t affect the majority in the countryside, will be proven to be fallacious. Unfortunately this kind of torpid thinking seems to dominate Umno’s outlook.

Who keeps flip-flopping Ibrahim? I thought this was the moniker used to describe Pak Lah, our previous PM. He was OUR previous PM right — the one most Umno people prostrate before and who was once carried on the shoulders of his staunch supporters when he won the Vice President’s post at a time when Dr Mahathir wanted him booted out?

But then I realised that Ibrahim Ali is taking about our current PM. This was what Ibrahim Ali said. Now, this is the man who Umno counts upon to help out when it feels hapless. This is a serious thing, for it suggests Umno hasn’t got leadership. When the PM reaches out to martial groups, imploring them to defend the nation from enemies from within, it shows that not only Umno hasn’t got leadership but it hasn’t got responsible leadership.

This will serve to prove that all those talk about 1 Malaysia are all rhetoric. When the country is in trouble is should turn to the sanctity of the law of the land not to people like Ibrahim Ali or some martial arts group. Ibrahim Ali says it as much- the leader of this country is flip-flopping. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).