— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 25, 2012
APRIL 25 — I had half expected that this would develop, despite the Najib administration promising that the Bersih 3.0 sit-in protest could go on.
The prime minister will not allow civil society’s push for democracy to topple his government under Barisan Nasional for the past 55 years. Frankly, since Bersih 2.0 on July 9, Najib Razak has not learnt his lesson from history that no government that continues to fight the people will last long.
Whatever happens on Saturday will cost his government a big price. Two things I wish to remind Najib Razak and his men:
— That if the government continues to fight civil society, it will no last very long
— That if the civilians are treated with brutality or arrested, or charged in court, as threatened, it will create more anger amongst the people. Each of us has a network of at least 100 people around us. People like Ambiga Sreenevasan or Pak Samad Ismail would have thousands of supporters. You touch anyone, it will have a multiplying effect that will never be matched by even the biggest tsunami!
Although I was not involved in Bersih 1.0 or Bersih 2.0, I was watching the news and making my own assessments. The time has come for me to go down to the ground with my fellow Malaysians to push for democracy. I can see that the momentum built for Bersih 3.0 is sufficient to cause a political earthquake in the 13th General Election, given that the Bersih demonstration in 2007 merely caused a political tsunami.
What I read of late has pissed me off over the way in which the Kuala Lumpur Datuk Bandar, Fuad Ismail, has conducted his duty. Sheer arrogance and a lack of sincerity is the style that we see so often in our civil servants and their political masters.
If previously it was the police that behaved thuggishly, this time I believe it will be City Hall officers behaving like they are the bosses. The Datuk Bandar should realise that although 1.9 million urban citizens may not participate in this Saturday’s Bersih 3.0, the people are watching the way things are developing.
It is time for Fuad to learn who his bosses are at the end of the day. He should also read the book on Bersih 2.0, as compiled by the Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee, to realise how fellow Malaysians have risen up as one. This is something that Najib, Muhyiddin and Hishammuddin will not be able to fight.
As the saying go, if you cannot fight, ask for a truce. But this is not the way the Najib administration appears to be responding to civilian pressure. On Saturday, it is not the terrorists who will be going down to the ground. It is the rich, the poor, the learned, the educated, the professionals, from all walks of life.
Making their decision independently, I know of at least five people who are planning to go to Dataran Merdeka. Each person is angry at the way the BN Government treated its people in the 709 Bersih demonstration. They are all professionals, and one has a good career, and at least three of them have homes in Sierra Mas and Valencia. Most of us will be going down to the ground for the first time.
My wife just told me that at her office, a big group of people have decided to also show up. From the forum organised by Tindak Malaysia on “How Clean will the 13th General Election be?” last night, I can feel the pulse and the anger of the people.
The people are simply angry at the BN administration, which has overstayed its welcome for far too long. People are angry at the way corruption has worked its way into all strata of government departments. People see how RM240 million is being given out to a family with no experience in raising cattle, only to be used to purchase luxury condominiums.
People are also angry at the way young Malaysians like Teoh Beng Hock ended up dead, at the hands of an agency that is supposed to fight high-level corruption cases like the NFC, PKFZ, Perwaja, MAS, Bank Bumiputra and so on. Instead, MACC went after the Selangor mentri besar for donating cattle to his constituents for Korban.
I am sure even within government agencies there are hundreds of thousands of fellow Malaysians who have seen through the hypocrisy of their leaders, whose promotion depended mainly on their links with their political masters. This alone is sufficient for them to lend their support to Bersih 3.0. It will come to a point in time that even the civil servants will join the rest of Malaysia to push for clean and fair elections.
This is what Najib should realise after using the hardliner’s approach on Bersih 1.0 and Bersih 2.0. The more the people of this country suffer at his hands, the faster it is that the BN Government will be toppled. None of us, who are pro-Bersih citizens, even talk about toppling the BN Government, except to push for cleaner and fairer elections.
Give us a clean and fair election, and clean up the electoral roll of some three million doubtful voters — and we, and I am sure Ambiga, Pak Samad, Maria, Chin Huat, will back off, since you refuse Dataran Merdeka, owned by Malaysians, as our assembly point.
It is the insincerity of the Najib administration that pisses me off, from the day I have been monitoring the Bersih news. Stop playing a game of tug-of-war, and admit that the electoral roll needs a lot of cleaning up. If you lose, lose with dignity.
Najib, remember, you are only an elected leader of the government! We will show you who we are — the BOSSES!
The sheer arrogant behavior of Datuk Bandar, Faud Ismail, is disgusting.
////Frankly, since Bersih 2.0 on July 9, Najib Razak has not learnt his lesson from history that no government that continues to fight the people will last long.////- Stephen Ng. Yes, but the question is: are “the people”, by majority, homogenous or united in political creed and beliefs opposed to the current government? For example, there are according to Malaysiakini’s report of Apr 25, 2012 under caption of “NGOs object to Bersih 3.0 Dataran sit-in” 24 NGOs “expressed their objection to Bersih 3.0 gathering planned for the weekend in KL. According to Aspan Alias of preceding thread there are writers and people questioning him why he joined DAP in fight against corruption as more important than Race and Religion.
Then there are people in hinterlands of East Malaysia happy to give their votes for rice cooker and other gifts by their penghulus, and for the rest even in Semenanjung, happy with a slew of cash handouts, with a solid phalanx of 1.4 million of civil service happy with their pay increase, not to mention Ah Jib Gor’s personal popularity in the social media realm. Can one dismiss that the aggregate of these “happy” people are minority, and if so where are the statistics to show that they are minority?
And even if these people happy with BN were indeed minority, so what if, as analyzed by Election watchdog Tindak Malaysia founder PY Wong, the BN won “112 out of the smallest 139 federal seats in Election 2008 giving it simple majority in Parliament with just 18 9 per cent of the popular vote”? And owing to constitutionally mandated weightage given to rural seats by drawing of electoral boundaries, 1 rural voter’s vote placing greater importance on Ketuanan is “worth an average of 6 urban voters placing greater importance on accountability & governance issues)?
///Two things I wish to remind Najib Razak and his men:
— That if the government continues to fight civil society, it will no last very long ///
Umno will collapse whatever it does or does not do. The ppl are rejecting umno; and the rejection process has begun and will continue on and on until umno is completely excreted from the system and buried.
Given the above equation and parameters, why would a ruling party that does not want to lose power – cannot afford to do so and is scared to so- and whose leader declared that Putrajaya must be defended “even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost” be bothered about “sincerity” in electoral reforms when the lack thereof favours its continued rule or be bothered at what “pisses off city folks”? Be logical, if you were on the other side, would you be bothered ?
Of course if I were an urban folk sick of corruption or a non Malay sick of racial discriminatory policies, I would say the people/voters (by which reference is majority) are allied to my thinking and will vote for regime change. It certainly is a good thought. It sustains hope. It is a belief one likes to believe. However where are the hard facts and reality that what is hoped for reflects the true situation?
What lessons do you expect Najib to learn from BERSIH 2….or any other complaints put out to him.
Come on…get real.
He supports the coming ..BERSIH 3…he has to wash layers of dirt away from his party….creating so many court cases against his top party members….including Mahathir.
Then…all will clamp down on him…to join the corrupted lot…..one for all….all for one.
aiya….mati mati Najib will not change or learn anything.
Has anyone seen a thieve or a murderer confess when the said thief is surrounding and protected by so many other thieves?
POWER CORRUPTS. ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY.
THE FEAR OF LOSING POWER CORRUPTS EVEN MORE.
We must change the tenant at Putrajaya. GE 13, the mother of all elections is coming soon. First to Bersih 3.0, then to GE 13, then to Putrajaya.
Change we must. Change we can. Change we will.
People power triumphs.
///The police may have violated provisions in the Peaceful Assembly Act 2011, which just came into force on Monday, by rejecting outright Bersih’s notification for this Saturday’s sit-in at the historic Dataran Merdeka in the capital city. ///
DAP’s Tunku Abdul Aziz must get the fact right as to who breaks the law, Bersih 3.0 or the police?
So somebody go sue them.
A particular judge might warn us ‘not to hurt the feelings of the officers’.
It has been lack of sincerity for decades.
It’s a wayang kulit always.
It’s performing to keep fooling Malaysians.
It’s a dull show after 12th GE.
Watch out….when the going is hot…it will be UMNO b hypocrites… feeling the heat.
No time to sue la….sheriff singh.
All planning to participate BERSIH 3.
Are you coming?
Sure like to meet you and invite you for a bite…before or after the event.
Lim Kit Siang still owes me a tea tarik and roti chani treat he promised…one year ago.
But he is so so very busy….after 13th GE …also can.