Month: May 2012

2 May 2012 | Let’s Get Together | Posted by Ong Kar Jin
Loyar Burok

This is one of the definitions given by Urban Dictionary (yes I know, what a load of nonsense, but bear with me):

Police [ puh-less], noun The guys you run away from.

e.g. SHIT, IT’S THE POLICE, RUN!

Usually Urban Dictionary doesn’t quite give the most accurate of definitions, but this one seemed pretty damn accurate on Saturday. Well, most of you would have had your own experiences, but I needed to vent my frustration ( since I don’t have anybody to beat up), so here I am writing an article which probably only three people will read (one of them a cyber police officer, perhaps).

I’d just like to clarify some things before I move on. Firstly, I am in no way against the police themselves as a force, but rather am opposed to their conduct. In fact, I owe a lot to them, and have friends who have policemen as dads. Secondly, this article is based on my experiences, so please don’t tell me I’m spewing nonsense (I’m talking to YOU, cyber police officer lurking in a dark room).

Okay, moving on.

Police organisation

It was about 1.30 p.m. at Masjid Negara. The solat had begun, and people were starting to pour into the mosque. There was a huge crowd of police (most of whom looked very young) on my side of the road – about five hundred of them – and you could that some wanted to follow the crowd into the mosque (for prayer or for the shade, I don’t know). They had been standing there for about half an hour by now, and some began to sit down. A Bersih supporter joked they were staging their own Duduk Bantah, haha! Continue reading “Police violence – a damper?”

by Richard Loh

We came in peace and will leave in peace but alas many were not allowed to do so. You can make your own conclusion whether my blog title “We allow peaceful assembly but won’t tolerate when it gets too peaceful with 200K crowd” is true or otherwise after reading my article!

We have heard many asking, including a senior journalist why Bersih not taking up the offer of Merdeka Stadium. These people must be naive to believe what the government said after having experienced the flip flop offer on Bersih 2.0.

The main objective of the government is to prevent any Bersih rally from happening and should it happened some sort of provocations need to be initiated to cause chaos. You can bet that if Bersih 3.0 initially was to plan the rally at Stadium Merdeka, this venue will be rejected. Any initial venue proposal by Bersih 3.0 will be rejected to create confusion and frustration, hence Bersih 3.0 is smart this time round not to play their game.

Knowing that they cannot stop the rally, their next modus operandi is to create and cause as much inconvenience not only to those who are attending but other visitors coming in to Kuala Lumpur as well, to make them angry and hate any rally that is going on.I attended two anti ISA and two Bersih rallies and all the time they were very peaceful until the FRU started firing tear gas and water canon onto the peaceful crowd. Bersih3.0 is no different from where I was walking around, PEACEFUL. Continue reading “428 Bersih 3.0: We allow peaceful assembly but won’t tolerate when it gets too peaceful with 200K crowd”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — The New Straits Times (NST) has admitted to falsely reporting that Australian Senator Nicholas Xenophon had criticised Islam in 2009, saying today it regrets the mistake and will take steps to make amends.

In a three-paragraph statement to The Malaysian Insider, the Umno-owned daily said that Xenophon, a known associate of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had not called Islam a “criminal organisation” as reported in its article yesterday but had instead used the label to criticise “Scientology”.

The remarks issued by Xenophon were purportedly made during the latter’s adjournment speech in Australia’s Parliament in 2009.

NST also pledged to publish an “appropriate statement” on the issue in both its print and online editions, adding its regret to any distress the incident may have caused the independent Australian Senator.

The NST’s response, in verbatim, is as follows:

“We refer to the news regarding Mr Nicholas Xenophon’s complaint in respect of the article entitled ‘Observer Under Scrutiny’ with a sub-title ‘Impartiality Questioned: Anti-Islam Australian Lawmaker Comes Under Fire’, which appeared in the May 2, 2012 edition of the New Straits Times published by us.

“We regret that the article attributes certain statements to Xenophon, particularly the use of the word ‘Islam’ which he did not make in a parliamentary speech in November 2009. We are taking steps to make amends including publishing an appropriate statement in our newspaper and its online version to address the issue.

“We truly and sincerely regret that Xenophon has suffered any distress and embarrassment arising from the article and we honestly believe that that steps we are taking to make amends will resolve the matter.” Continue reading “NST admits and regrets ‘anti-Islam’ report against Oz Senator”

By Jean Yeoh
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Participating in the 428 Bersih Duduk Bantah is considered an adventure of a life time for me and LKG, she 68 and I 67, because we had to be prepared to dodge, run, and might get injured if tear gas and water cannons were used. However, as four years went by, being awaken by the 2008 tsunami, both of us were very well informed by the alternative media of the excessive blundering of our country’s wealth, we decided to participate in Bersih 3.0 to demand for clean and fair elections so that those who are really working for the welfare of our country will be elected into government.

I am luckier than LKG, because I had the blessing of my sons and daughters-in-law to attend the event as senior citizen. I told them since they could not participate, let me represent the family. I was very confident that I could come home safe and sound. LKG, being physically less fit thus fearing objection, did not have the courage to tell her family that she was attending Berish 3, had to lie that she was going out for lunch with some friends.

On the eve of our great adventure, I prepared a poster to state precisely my reason for participating in Bersih 3.0 — A Better Malaysia For Our Next Generation, Khas Untuk Cucu Jay Fu, Jojo Fu and Kylie Fu.

My daughter-in-law Ailene, being unable to participate herself, though very much eager to do so, excitingly prepared me well to go to WAR — trying to get a Bersih 3.0 T shirt for me, but in vain (out of stock), ear plugs (rumoured that police might use anti riot sound devices), towels, mask, salt water, yellow raincoat, sun block, list of legal advisers’ contact numbers in case of arrest, etc. Continue reading “Adventure of a lifetime”

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today suggested that Malaysia will have a lower ranking in the World Press Freedom Index as a result of violence against reporters in Penang’s anti-Lynas protest and the Bersih rally for electoral reforms.

“There is no doubt that press freedom in our country is deteriorating and getting more restricted,” said Lim, referring to last Saturday’s Bersih sit-in protest where the police allegedly beat up reporters and destroyed their equipment.

“The fact that the police did indeed beat up members of the media is irrefutable,” he said.

“Worse, BBC and Al-Jazeera’s news coverage was censored by Astro for breaching local content regulations. To date, neither the Home Ministry nor Astro has clarified what the local content regulations were,” said the Bagan MP.

The two international news providers had complained that Astro had edited their coverage of the Bersih rally. Continue reading “Free press rank will drop after police assault on reporters, says DAP”

— George Lee
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2012

MAY 3 — Ever since the inception of the online alternative media where overseas Malaysians are given opportunities to articulate their views, we have never come close to any break to put words into action until the Bersih movement was launched. We have been called “turncoats” many times over because we choose to live outside Malaysia. However, many of us took these unwarranted comments in our stride. In our hearts, we know that we can still contribute to the betterment of Malaysia in many channels as we never cut ties with our homeland completely. Most importantly, our love for Malaysia grows ever strongly as living apart makes our hearts grow fonder. Hence, when the Bersih movement came to town, we did not hesitate to be part of the flock as we knew this was a time for us to contribute to this cause in a non-partisan manner.

Standing amongst your countrymen at Federation Square singing “Negaraku” was so poignant and gratifying but the feelings were soon eclipsed by enormous worry for those assembled in another “Square” back home. It is so ironic to think that both “Squares” have similar historical milieu but have contrasting destinies when it comes to peaceful assembly. When the Global Bersih co-ordinator asked us to pray in silence for those attending a similar assembly at the forbidden “Square” back home, our hearts sunk to an unprecedented low when we think about our love ones who would come face to face with the Federal Reserve Unit and its free firing weapons. Continue reading “Bersih from Down Under”

By Patrick Lee | May 3, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been found to be one of the worst countries in Asia when it comes to press freedom.

According to the US-based human rights think-tank Freedom House’s “Freedom of the Press 2012” report, Malaysia’s was ranked 31st out of 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific region where media freedom was concerned.

With a score of 63, this put it just above countries like Singapore (32nd), Brunei (35th) and Vietnam (36th), marking it with the “Not Free” status.

Countries with higher scores are less free, and considered authoritarian, while countries with lower scores are seen as more free.

Malaysia was even ranked lower than its troubled neighbours in Asean, such as Indonesia (22nd), the Philippines (21st) and Thailand (28th).

From a worldwide perspective, Malaysia was ranked at 144th out of a list of 196 countries, sharing its position with Cambodia, Jordan, Madagascar and Pakistan.
Continue reading “US report: Press in M’sia ‘not free’”

Malaysia marks World Press Freedom Day today under the shadow of “A Day of Shame” last Saturday (Bersih 3.0 on April 28, 2012) for media freedom, police professionalism and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s political transformation.

Never before in Malaysian history have so many media reporters and photographers been the target of such ruthless, brutal and systematic police attacks while covering the Bersih 3.0 “sit-in” for free, fair and clean elections, making a total mockery of the recent amendment to the Printing Presses and Publications Act allegedly to allow for greater media freedom in the country.

It is an indictment of all the “transformation” programmes and promises of the past three years that media freedom in Malaysia had never felt more endangered to the extent that media representatives and their supporters are marking the World Press Freedom Day by donning black with a yellow ribbon!

This is why I am wearing black with a yellow ribbon today.

When apologizing yesterday to the Malay Mail photographer Arif Kartono, who was attacked by seven to eight policemen who kicked him in the face, legs and stomped on his back and his camera damaged during the assault despite clearly identifying himself with his media tag, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said:
Continue reading ““A Day of Shame” for Media Freedom, Police Professionalism and Najib’s Political Transformation”

By Ravindran Paramsothy
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — I had such an eventful day on April 28! My day started at 9am when my group of friends arrived at my house. The Bersih group comprised four women and I (which begs the question, what happened to all the guys). We decided to drive to Kampung Attap and park at Geeta’s office but there was a roadblock on Jalan Bangsar/Travers. We had no choice but to drive towards Jalan Tun Razak. We decided since my friend Jayanthi was a member of the Royal Selangor Club that we just try our luck and proceed to it. Ahhh! There was another roadblock leading to Jalan Parlimen. The girls although in bright yellow T-shirt convinced the policeman to let us thru and we decided not to push our luck and parked our car at the Lake Club. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the Royal Selangor Club which had a very strong police presence. Since we were hungry we thought we could have nasi lemak at the club but were politely turned away by the police because of the colour of our attire, apparently yellow is no longer in fashion.

There was already a huge crowd in front of Dataran Merdeka which sadly had a ring of barbed wire around it! Made our way slowly to Central Market and waited for Ambiga to come. The crowd was made up of my fellow Malaysians — huge crowds of Malays, Chinese and Indians and you realise Barisan’s 1 Malaysia was only a slogan and here in Bersih was the true Malaysia that I have forgotten! Our ethnic differences did not matter, but the cause did. How we were tricked by Umno, the MCA and MIC who basically kept dividing us to retain their voting base. According to Malaysiakini we were more than 100,000-strong and Bersih said it was 150,000, it felt like it! We were jammed like sardines as we made our walk, the crowd was so thick that the people in front would inform you of a platform in front because you could not see it! To next day the usual Barisan-controlled media would state 5,000 had turned up! Continue reading “Worth every moment”

By JE Niuh | May 02, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Where do I start? How about when I saw the protesters surge towards me as the tear gas canisters fell! It was a sight to see: a sea of humanity coming towards you as you’re pinned against a lamp post and a drinks van in front of CIMB Bank about 50m from the barricade. I did not join in the mêlée and was able to usher the masses past me and remind them to stay calm and move away from the area in an orderly fashion.

Exactly when the s*** hit the fan, I do not know. But what riled me up was how a supposed peaceful mass gathering with a noble cause quickly turned ugly and violent. I guess it was wishful thinking of me thinking that this act of civil disobedience would end up uneventfully! I should have known that some anarchists amongst us would not let this pass without a physical fight with the authorities. After all that was and always will be their raison d’etre —to create chaos when there is none! But there I still was. In the sweltering midday heat with thousands others because we wanted to be there, to send out a clear and unambiguous signal to the powers that be that we will no longer be cowed and controlled and play by “their” rules.

And that is the fundamentality of what we as citizens of this country and perhaps humanity crave for. Our freedom to be where we want to be, when we want it to be, without restrictions being placed on us. This self awareness, self awakening is what we need to encourage ourselves and others who are perhaps still “slumbering” amidst the mismanagement of this great country of ours by the government of the day. We must realise that we are the ones who put the government in power and we have the right and ability to remove them through a clean and fair electoral process, if they misbehave. Unfortunately this process is currently in disrepute, hence the purpose of this latest round of mass protest.
Continue reading “Viva Malaysia!”

By Muaz Omar | May 03, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

May 3 — American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

How apt the quote is. We have just experienced how the people have spoken to regain their freedom, demanding a return of their right to free and fair elections.

We live in interesting times. Malaysia is in transition, with most hoping that decades of injustice will be undone.

The oppressed is not simply of one particular race. It is a vast segment of ordinary Malaysians from all walks of life.

Many blame this on the almost undisrupted domination of Umno for the past 55 years. They say this has resulted in regression of the nation’s social and political facade.
Continue reading “Claiming back our freedom”

By Praba Ganesan | May 03, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MAY 3 — The biggest protest in living memory for Malaysians.

An impressive chunk of Malaysia rallied all over the country and in foreign cities to express their political convictions. No analysis from one person is going to change the new national reality: The people are here, and they’ve got something to say.

Except for one deputy minister, also an Umno supreme council member, the government of the day is not listening to the underlying message. They’ve opted to highlight all the weaknesses in the chain and ignore the rest.

This is why the crowd will swell in the next edition.

Those who rule can’t just say the time of government knows best is over, they have to start acting like the time of government knows best is over.
Continue reading “Bersih 3.0: Here they come, the beautiful ones”

By StanCH Lee

When a cause is righteous, there is no need to pay for people to show up.
You do not have to bring entertainment. You do not need a million dollar stage.
You don’t need the glitz nor the glamour.
No need for shock and awe publicity that costs tens of millions.
No need for “you help me I help you”.
Heck, you do not even need to put food in front of them.

Just stand on the right side of history and everyone will want to be there.
They will weather the storm. They will brave the water cannons.They will walk through the gauntlet of police and FRU brutality.
They will stare into the face of state intimidation. Beat them, they will come right up again. Kick them and they will hunker down even more. Gas them and they will be even more fired up. They will come. In the hundreds. In the thousands.
From near and from far.The young. And the old. They will bring their friends. They will bring their children.
They will even bring their pets.
Continue reading “When people fill the streets”

— Ksatriya
The Malaysian Insider
May 02, 2012

MAY 2 — It is so tempting, isn’t it?

To throw up our hands and declare that this will never work. To say that’s it and throw in the towel. To lose faith completely in our fellow Malaysians and retreat into a corner, declaring that ideals can never trump human flaws.

The myth of the peaceful protest, busted?

I spent the last two days being in and out of depression. It descended on me the minute I heard of violence perpetrated by protestors at Bersih 3.0. Suddenly, my belief in the cause and the Malaysian people seemed to crumble. After all our noble intentions, are we nothing more than a mob? Yesterday, some first-hand accounts began to appear. Some of the political leaders had incited the crowd to breach the cordon, they said. The crowd surged forth. The police had no choice but to defend themselves with wave after wave of tear gas. They had to mop up the streets of violent and unruly protestors. Things were broken, cars were overturned. The myth of the peaceful protest was finally busted.

Or was it?

I hardly slept last night. I was in front of the computer until the early hours of the morning, poring over news reports, videos, pictures. Trying to make sense of the events that had dealt such a powerful blow to my faith. Then it dawned on me. Continue reading “Should we still believe in peaceful protests?”

— Maj (Rtd) Lee Kong Kok
The Malaysian Insider
May 02, 2012

MAY 2 — I was prompted to write this article after being on the ground and reading the many reports of how a carnival-like rally turned so ugly.

I’m a retired Army officer having served 27 years. A day before Bersih 3.0, I e-mailed my ‘squad mates’ that I would be participating in the rally and cheekily ended by saying I planned to see first-hand POPO (Public Order and Preservation Ordnance) in action. The Army has an obligation to assist the Police under POPO should they ask the Army to step in. Hence, during my time, we spend a great deal of time practising POPO drills and I was deployed on two occasions on such duties.

I can re-collect vividly some of the key principles of POPO (I may have missed out a few):

1. Minimum Force. Simply put, you don’t use a sledgehammer to kill a fly;

2. Warnings. Give ample three warnings to the crowd to disperse otherwise force will be taken;

3. Identify the ringleaders. We go after the ringleaders to restore public order;

4. Dispersal avenue. Ensure the incident location has avenues for the protesters to disperse; Continue reading “Bersih 3.0: Public order and preservation”

(A personal account of husband and wife in their 70’s and 80’s participating in Bersih 3.0 and were tear gassed by the police)

Good, Bad and Ugly of Bersih 3

Tired, sleepy and aching all over, but have to write this down to get it out of the mind and system before I can sleep. So here is my account of Bersih 3 written at 11pm on 28 April 2012.

As law-abiding and not terribly brave senior citizens, we had opted out of Bersih 2 when it was banned, pronounced illegal, KL on lockdown etc. This time, like so many others, we decided we had to show our support for clean and fair elections. Needless to say we did not expect trouble, but prepared for it nevertheless – salt, wet towel etc in a backpack. We were confident the crowd would be disciplined and the police restrained after the debacle of Bersih 2.

At 10.30 am my husband and I caught the LRT to Pasar Seni. Packed train and the crowd chatty and friendly. From Pasar Seni at about 11am we strolled past the Central Market then along the embankment and down Tun Perak. Crowds gathering everywhere, standing around or sitting on kerbs along the road. We made our way through a very dense crowd near the corner of Tun Perak and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to find a place where we could sit that was raised a little above ground. [At 70 and husband almost 80, if we had tried to sit on the road or kerb we would have had great difficulty getting up again!].

Anyway, we found the ideal place. Three steps, then the pool of water below the water feature against a wall. Mostly occupied, but people made room for us. Standing on the second step we could see quite a bit. Could also sit on that step. One row of people behind us on the third step. It was cool and under shade. The perfect spot. Continue reading “When 70 & 80 year old people march…”

By Harris Nasril
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 — Where shall I start? From the beginning? The ending? The conclusion? Everyone has their side of the story and mine is just a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Maybe in the end, the jigsaw puzzle will be solved by somebody. Clean and neat.

I received a call from my brother, Ikbal at 5.30 am.

“I think we should move now. People are gathering. I heard it is more than ten thousand people now in Dataran!” he said.

“Fetch me at 6am. I need to take a bath and pray my Subuh first,” I replied.

I had not even finished a cup Milo for breakfast, when my brother arrived. I told him, I need to pray first, and I told him to wait for me.

“No time! You can pray at Kelana Jaya LRT station. I heard they will close down the LRT station!”.

We then reached Kelana Jaya LRT station around 6.45am. After Ikbal parked his car, we saw one young Chinese guy wearing the Bersih yellow T-Shirt. ” Look at that Chinese guy. He is not afraid ofwearing yellow. Why we are?” I asked my brothers.

“Hahaha, that is because he is not ‘penakut’ like us!” my brothers replied.

We then took the escalator and were very much surprised to see so many peoples in yellow shirts in the LRT station! ” Continue reading “A Bersih story”

By Sheila Santharamohana
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 — Last year at Bersih 2.0, I walked with friends for free and fair elections. This year, truthfully, I walked because I had had enough. The perpetual litany of lies, scandals and deceit by the present government which had become more conniving, arrogant and imperious was just too much to bear. Have they even tried to reform or do they take Malaysians for fools?

All my life, I was told to lead an honest, law-abiding and productive existence because this was how I contributed to society and my family. But this time, post Bersih 2.0 leading up to 3.0, I knew that it was no longer about just free and fair elections but more, even more than the 8 demands. So I joined in when the chants became political. So what? Sue me for being disillusioned.

As we drove into town the night before, I was tense. Last year, after being crushed in front of Maybank and cornered in Tung Shin, I came prepared for war. We took a convoluted route towards town because I was convinced the police would have locked the city down. The smooth traffic and apparent lack of police presence was unnerving but reassuring. Continue reading “Seeing red after the smoke clears”

By Koh Jun Lin | May 2, 2012
Malaysiakini

The police brutally beat up Bersih 3.0 rally protesters last Saturday after hearing rumours that one of their colleagues had been killed by the rally participants.

“The policeman beat me endlessly and said, ‘Oh, so you are the gangsters… because of you one of my friends has died,'” rally participant and police abuse victim Mohd Syafiq Shamsudin said in an interview at the Malaysiakini office on Monday.

Syafiq (left) said he and a friend, Munir Maktar, were among many yellow-clad protesters crowding the Bandaraya LRT station at 7pm last Saturday, waiting to go home.

Although they had purchased their tickets and were queueing to enter the platform, police suddenly came and pulled them away.

“Some managed to enter the platform and into the LRT coaches. Some couldn’t get into the station and they were all taken away. The police did not dare to enter the LRT station. Those sitting outside were blocked and pulled away, while those taking pictures had their cameras confiscated,” he said.
Continue reading “‘Police became brutal after hearing rumours’”

By Clarice CP
The Malaysian Insider
May 02, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — I have a confession to make. I wasn’t sure whether I should attend Bersih 3.0 Rally until the day itself. My stand for a clean election has never changed but I kept changing my mind over attending the rally itself due to work and safety concerns. A friend upon knowing that said, the country’s doom is approaching and you are still worried about work? Of course, he put it in a cruder manner. Well, I thought, when theTitanic was sinking the musicians kept playing and that was actually one of the very few scenes in the film that moved me. But it’s too early to give up on our country, I told myself. I am not a supporter of any political party, organisation or individual. But I am a big fan of fairness and justice.

So I went with friends. We boarded a train and as soon as we disembarked at Pasar Seni we could already see the mass crowds. We joined them and sat on the ground under the hot sun. Later we started walking and when we reached somewhere in front of Reggae Mansion we could walk no further. We sat on the road chanting, singing, playing with balloons, snapping pictures. It was so peaceful and the atmosphere was indeed joyful. Ironic it may sound but perhaps it was because we were all enjoying the freedom of assembly and liberty that was not tasted for long.

In fact, I have never felt so safe and secured while walking around in KL. It was probably because I knew I was with the people who share the same belief as mine: We are against violence. We hold firm to the idea of democracy and view elections as the vital and sole legitimate way for the population to make decisions on public offices. Thus we demand clean elections so as to ensure the true will of the people to be accurately reflected. Fair rules and unbiased umpires will benefit all game players, as simple as this. Play fairly, that’s the rule we were told since we were kids. Continue reading “Taking sides”