Month: May 2012

By Kow Gah Chie | May 2, 2012
Malaysiakini

Coming out to admit that he is one of the four Bersih 3.0 rally protesters a police car crashed into outside the Sogo shopping complex on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman last Saturday, Su Kuang Hong said he was doing so to clear the air on the matter.

He was coming forward, Su said, because of the efforts by the police to paint the crowd as an angry mob of rioters and to refute the inspector-general of police (IGP) Ismail Omar’s statement that there was no one pinned underneath the police car after the crash.

“I was hit by a Proton Waja police car,” said Su, 25, who is warded at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

He claimed he was hit at the back and the impact threw him on to the bonnet of the car, which continued to move and its sudden stop soon after sent him crashing against a wall in front of Sogo.
Continue reading “Police car crash victim speaks out”

By Eddie Tuen
The Malaysian Insider
May 02, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 —”Jangan Lawan Polis!” I screamed out at the crowd as a Chinese polis officer flanked by two outriders rode down Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in front of Sogo. The time was close to 3:45pm.

Moments before, I had watched in dismay as BERSIH rally goers threw mineral water bottles at a patrol car and then at an outrider who had driven recklessly through the crowd.

Why were they driving through the hostile crowd which had been bombed with tear gas, drenched in chemically laced water and chased all the way down from Dataran Merdeka up to Sogo at high speed? Was there anything urgent that messages could not be passed through the radio? Was there a VIP needing to be delivered to the other side of town that requires dangerously driving through a crowd? Or, was it for the video cameras? To paint a picture of a rowdy crowd bent on creating havoc?

I cannot blame some of the crowd for doing what they did. They were angry, they had been betrayed. The polis were supposed to protect us and ensure order, but we found ourselves being attacked and hunted down like wild animals.

I joined the rally on the 28th of April 2012 to support the cause for free and fair elections, as well as to protest against the setting up of the massive rare Earth plant in Kuantan. I wore both the green of Himpunan Hijau and the yellow underneath of Bersih 3.0. I removed the green and revealed the yellow when I reached the outskirts of Dataran, a green ribbon around my neck.

I am a professional, an engineer, a tax payer, a registered voter and a Malaysian citizen. I did not join the rally to ‘lawan polis’. Far from it, I expected a peaceful sit in ending with everyone standing up at 4:00pm singing to our national anthem, ‘Negaraku’. Continue reading “Jangan lawan polis!”

By Sean Chin
The Malaysian Insider
May 02, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Two friends and I arrived at Masjid Jamek around 11am on April 28.

We, like hundreds of others already there, were there for the BERSIH 3.0 gathering scheduled at 2pm around Dataran Merdeka.

The atmosphere at the time was relaxed, lively and not at all tense, even with the presence of several dozen uniformed police officers and a few police trucks.

People from all walks of life were walking about, carrying signs and wearing costumes related to the demand for free and fair elections.

McDonalds, Burger King, as well as road side vendors were doing brisk business. This proves that the resilient few did not let a peaceful protest hamper their livelihoods; they find solutions.

Around 12pm, groups of people from all directions started streaming into Jalan Tun Perak, and marched towards Jalan Raja.

There were representatives from various states, the anti-Lynas Himpunan Hijau group, and even the anti-Pengerang Deep Water Terminal project group came with their “Lobster man”. Continue reading “My experience of 428, trapped by the FRU”

“428” will go down in Malaysian history as one of the national milestones in the long and arduous struggle of Malaysians to reclaim their democratic, constitutional and human rights promised them when the country achieved Merdeka 54 years ago.

The other recent landmarks of this struggle are:

Firstly, Bersih rally on November 10, 2007 (“1011”) bringing out 40,000 Malaysians in support for electoral reforms.

Secondly, the “Political tsunami” of March 8, 2008 general elections (“308”) which cut down the mighty Barisan Nasional down to size, winning five state governments for Pakatan Rakyat and depriving BN of its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Thirdly, Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011 (“709”) with 50,000 Malaysians braving threats and intimidation, including mass arrests, city lockdown and campaign of demonization against the organizers and participants, in support for clean, free and fair elections.

Fourthly, Bersih 3.0 “sit-in” on April 28 (“428”) with the largest turn-out in the nation’s history – estimated between 200,000 to 300,000 in Kuala Lumpur – with Malaysians regardless of race, religion, political affiliation, region, age or gender uniting in a common cause for clean, free and fair elections.
Continue reading “Police rampage at Bersih 3.0 with excessive and indiscriminate use of police force would not have happened if Dzaiddin Police RC Report on world-class police service had been fully accepted and internalized in past seven years”

Malaysiakini
May 1, 2012

Putrajaya has moved to soothe relations with news organisations following the aftermath of the Bersih 3.0 rally, where the police were accused of injuring at least a dozen journalists.

It is learned that Minister in the Prime Minister Department, Koh Tsu Koon, got the ball rolling during a meeting with editors from several Chinese dailies today.

Also present at the meeting were Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s Chinese affairs assistant Wong Nai Chee and press secretary Joan Lai.

During the meeting, at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya, editors were asked to share their views on Bersih 3.0 and comment on the alleged high-handedness of the police against journalists.

Meanwhile, all major news organisations will be meeting police representatives at a meeting at Bukit Aman national police headquarters tomorrow. Continue reading “Putrajaya moves to soothe journalists”

— Malaysian in the US
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 — Bersih 3.0 has come and gone. The protests outside KL were peaceful — 11 other cities in Malaysia, 85 cities in 33 countries outside Malaysia, including hikers up Mount Everest and divers off Acheh. Numbers ranged from a handful of Malaysians in some countries like Austria and Sri Lanka, to over a thousand in cities like London and Melbourne, to ten thousand in Penang.

The negatives. Many conspiracy theories abound as to how Dataran Merdeka was breached — was it just a group of unruly protesters, were the protesters instigated by the opposition, were the protesters planted by the government, were the police ordered to allow the protesters in? Whatever the case, once that happened, the police took that as an excuse to fire tear gas and spray chemical-laced water into the crowds, even those who were peacefully dispersing.

The trains stopped running at that point, effectively barring people from joining the protest and from leaving it. Again, where did those orders come from?

There was an ugly incident with protesters attacking a police car which then ran over some people. Was it staged? It’s understood that the police car was later overturned because the crowd believed that there was a person trapped under it. That single episode, taken out of context, has been used to depict the protest as unruly.

The negatives which help Bersih’s cause. The police chased, beat up, and arrested protesters and journalists. A bit stupid, really, with media and technology the way it is today. An Australian senator was in the crowd and got tear-gassed. Local and international journalists got their cameras smashed and their memory cards confiscated. The breach of Dataran Merdeka in no way justifies the level of police brutality. The government has shown itself to be “kejam” and “zalim,” in the words of many participants of Bersih 3.0.

The positives. Up until the breach, it was very, very peaceful. The photos of the sea of people in yellow are inspiring. The crowd was intergenerational, multiracial … people in wheelchairs were even sighted. This show of solidarity gives us hope for a new future. Continue reading “Analysing Bersih 3.0”

— A Malaysian
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 — Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, the Datuk Bandar of Kuala Lumpur, failed us when he forgot that he was a public servant and instead, became a servant of the ruling party of the day.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein failed us when, even after the experience of Bersih 2.0, he oversaw, as Home Minister, the unnecessary violence wreaked on an almost wholly peaceful gathering of citizens who merely were out to state their concerns over what they see as a flawed electoral process. And to rub salt into the wound, in the aftermath, Hishammuddin sought to justify the unwarranted violence.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak failed us when as Prime Minister of all Malaysians — regardless whether they support him or not — he uttered not a squeak to ensure his flock (and as citizens, we are his flock) were facilitated in gathering peacefully to voice their concerns.

The mainstream newspapers — The Star, the New Straits Times, Berita
Harian and, but of course, Utusan Malaysia — failed us yet again when they sought to justify the wrongs and entrenched their position as propagandists rather than the chroniclers of truth that they are supposed to be.

And while the police and the ruling party may want us to believe that the organisers of Bersih 3.0 also failed us, I disagree because everything that Fuad and the authorities did to prevent their citizens from gathering at Dataran Merdeka, I believe, was a formula to encourage a few hotheads to breach the barriers and they got what they wished for — an excuse to blame the organisers. Continue reading “Many people failed Malaysia on Saturday”

— Proud daughter
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 —I know there have been so many personal accounts of experiences from people present at the recent BERSIH 3.0 rally on 28 April. I’ve read many of them. But this could probably be the only account you read from someone who didn’t go, but was present only vicariously through my father whom i would’ve counted as the last person to participate in such gatherings.

While the BERSIH 3.0 rally ended at 5.30pm on 28 April for most, it was then that it begun for me when my mom sent me a message – “Papa went for BERSIH”. I almost couldn’t believe it. My dad? The man who doesn’t like strangers and crowds? The man who doesn’t like waiting for anything? The man who doesn’t like travelling further than 5km from his home for no good reason? The man who really doesn’t like it when things are beyond his control?

Too many thoughts and questions buzzed through my mind in the first 60 seconds after I got the news. Who did he go with? How did he get there? What time did he go? In which part of the city or gathering was he in? Did anyone watch out for him? But one question that kept playing back over and over was ‘WHY did he go?’.

It was hard to get all the answers as my dad doesn’t communicate much. Continue reading “My father’s Bersih 3.0 story”

blog -Welcome to my complicated world
Monday, April 30, 2012

”For you I’ll bleed myself dry” – Yellow by Coldplay
Morning of 428. That was the song that was stuck in my head as I got
ready to attend Bersih 3.0 rally. I put on my yellow t-shirt and sang
”oh yeah, they were all yellow”.

I wasn’t there last year. When I read my friends’ accounts of Bersih
2.0 and watched the video footage, I cried. I had my reasons not to be
there and it was not because I didn’t agree with the cause. So as I
watched my friends and fellow countrymen got treated like pariah dogs
running away from dog catchers, I died a little inside. There was one
voice in particular, from the numerous videos posted, that still
haunts me till today. A young lady crying out to the police, ”Is this
what you stand for?! That you would hurt your own people?” Her voice
was used in one of the Bersih 3.0 ‘trailers’. And the anguish in her
voice echoed many of our sentiments. I on the other hand wanted to
shout back (into the monitor nonetheless) ”That is not true!” Because
if it is, my whole childhood would have been a lie. Let me explain. Continue reading “They Were All Yellow – My Bersih 3.0 Story (daughter of retired FRU officer)”

Nigel Aw | May 1, 2012
Malaysiakini

The Malaysian Bar Council in its interim report today said police brutality against protesters during Bersih 3.0 last Saturday had worsened despite several police shortcomings that were highlighted during the last Bersih rally.

“Of all the problems that were highlighted last year, as far as the use of force is concerned, this year it has magnified.

“So far as police brutality goes, we have observed more police brutality (this time), so far as indiscriminate and arbitrary use of water cannon and tear gas, our observers saw far more (instances),” said Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee.

The interim report is a preliminary compilation of reports from 78 of the council’s volunteer observers positioned at six locations on the ground during Bersih 3.0 on April 28.

Among the observations made by the Bar Council were:

•Rally was peaceful until around 3pm when police fired teargas and water cannon.

• Use of force by police without any obvious provocation or cause, was far worse, indiscriminate, disproportionate and excessive. Continue reading “Bar Council: Police brutality worsens in Bersih 3.0”

By Anisah Shukry
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Putrajaya must form an independent panel to investigate claims that police manhandled journalists covering Saturday’s Bersih rally, journalist organisations said today.

The National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) maintained that the panel should comprise a retired judge, a former Bar Council President as well as journalism experts.

“Reporters, including those from foreign press, were beaten while on duty, and this is a serious accusation.

“The panel should summon police officers involved, as well as the journalists and photographers to testify, so that the public can finally know what transpired during the Bersih 3.0 rally,” NUJ said in a statement.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) revealed in a statement that more than 12 photographers and journalists were assaulted, intimidated or detained by police while reporting the rally.

“Many were injured, with some receiving injuries serious enough to require stitches and hospitalisation,” it said.

The IFJ added they were alarmed to have witnessed police officers threatening and assaulting journalists who were “only engaged in reporting legitimate news stories”. Continue reading “Journalist groups call for impartial probe on police violence”

Malaysiakini
Apr 30, 2012

Editors and journalists from major news outlets in Malaysia have issued a joint statement, the first of its kind in the nation’s history, blasting the government’s violence against journalists covering the Bersih 3.0 rally last Saturday.

It alleged that the authorities had acted upon “orders from above” that resulted in members of the press being intimidated, harassed, assaulted and arrested while on duty.

It called on the government to take firm action against the perpetrators and to live up to its claim of democratic reforms and media freedom.

The statement, signed by various news portals’ chiefs, accompanies an online petition ‘Don’t beat up journalists’. Continue reading “Editors, journalists slam police violence against media”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has “strongly condemned” Malaysian censors, claiming their coverage of Saturday’s Bersih 3.0 protest had been clipped on local operator Astro.

“During the week of World Press Freedom Day, it would be deplorable if access to independent and impartial news was being prevented in any way.

“We would strongly condemn any blocking of the trusted news that we broadcast around the world including via distribution partners,” a BBC spokesman in a statement emailed to The Malaysian Insider.

The British public service broadcaster added that it was making “urgent enquiries” to Astro to seek its reasons for censoring its two-minute coverage of the violent protest.

“The BBC is making urgent enquiries to the Malaysian operator, Astro, to establish the facts.

“The broadcast of anti-Government protests in Malaysia was apparently edited before it was re-broadcast on Malaysian satellite television, with sequences removed from the original BBC version,” it said. Continue reading “BBC flays local censors for slashing Bersih coverage”

Jeswan Kaur | May 1, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Fooling the rakyat is a trick the BN can no longer use, no thanks to its foolishness in abusing the powers of the police.

COMMENT

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has lauded the police for doing a fine job in handling last Saturday’s Bersih 3.0 rally. What really is the premier pleased about: the manner in which the police abused the protesters or the federal government’s pathetic attempt at discrediting the rally?

Either way, the premier, who also helms Barisan Nasional, the country’s federal ruling political force, is not going to win the rakyat’s mandate; sabotaging the April 28 protest speaks of BN’s desperation in painting the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat in a bad light.

The Bersih 3.0 protest will go down in history as the day when BN played villian in bringing in “trouble-makers” to turn the protest into a chaotic affair. Let it be said that BN’s role in the April 28 incident is not going down well with the true defenders of this nation.

This time, there is no escape for both the Najib administration and the police as protesters of the rally bear witness to the police brutality that was unleashed when they were at the Masjid Jamek area.

Some of them related their ordeal to Bersih at a press conference organised a day after the protest.

Many of the protesters claimed the police carried no name tags or identification numbers on their uniforms when they launched their attacks at about 6pm. The assault lasted for three hours.

These are not wild allegations; pictures of the injuries suffered by the protesters as a result of being beaten by the police are proof that the federal government had no intention of allowing the rakyat to exercise their fundamental right to assemble and voice out their unhappiness. Continue reading “A fine job, a fine mess”

— Dahlia Martin
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

MAY 1 — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s popularity took a hit following a harsh crackdown on demonstrators at July’s 2011 Bersih rally. Looking to salvage his image as a reformer, Najib immediately set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the issue of electoral reform.

But if he was hoping this move alone would appease critics and aid his political brand, he appears to have been gravely mistaken: the bar has since been raised, and to meet it, Najib must up the reformist ante and learn to sell policies more effectively to an increasingly sceptical electorate.

Saturday saw the Malaysian Bersih movement hold its third and biggest rally yet for electoral reform: some estimates have the number of attendees at 300,000 for the Kuala Lumpur event. Bersih “solidarity rallies” also took place in eighty-five other locations across the world, adding to the momentum already mustered from the two previous rallies.

But what had for several hours been a peaceful protest quickly took a violent turn when a small group of protesters appeared to breach the barbed wire and barricades set up by police to keep the protestors out of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Independence Square (Dataran Merdeka).

Tear gas and water cannons were fired at demonstrators. Continue reading “Bersih 3.0: UMNO needs a game change”

By Pang Teck Yaw
The Malaysian Insider
May 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — My name is Pang Teck Yaw. I am a student of law. I must admit reading law has been both a joyful and heartbreaking experience. During the course of my study, I read about the concept of separation of power, judiciary independence, the supremacy of constitutional rights, but it’s heartbreaking because all these are fiction to a certain extent.

That’s why I decided to attend Bersih and the reason is to convince myself what I studied can be employed in Malaysia, that I can exercise my right as a Malaysian.

I must admit I do have fear because my exam is around the corner, and at the eve of 26 and 27 of April, policemen were spotted in my college.

To be on the safe side, I stayed overnight at Jalan Sultan with no idea what’s going to happen the next day.

Nevertheless, the experience was eye opening. 9.30 am, the streets was already crowded with people. I felt so happy and proud. Never had I seen so many Chinese at Jalan Sultan. People were having a good time, some people were playing instruments, some were making friends, I had a pleasant surprise to see so many of my schoolmates and students turn up. I am very sure, the hawkers around there were making big money. Continue reading “Testimony of Bersih 3.0”

By Marcus van Geyzel | 30 April 2012
Marcus van Geyzel records what he personally witnessed at Bersih 3.0.

There are so many stories and perspectives from Bersih 3.0 on 28 April 2012. Many first-hand accounts have already been published online, and I’m sure the coming days and weeks will see many more articles and analysis being churned out as well. I was there, and very much at the heart of the incident that has thrown up much speculation – that barrier breach. Well, I was close, but not close enough – as you will see.

As I was trying to process my thoughts and decide what to write about Bersih, Sivin Kit suggested that I just do a factual account of what I experienced that day, and leave the analysis for later. I thought that was a good idea, and am doing so with this post. There is minimal analysis here, and no “spin” – everything that is written here I witnessed and felt personally. I have written what I experienced, felt, and thought at the time, before all the spin and armchair commentators flooded my Twitter timeline with their views.

I clearly point out instances where what I’ve written is based on what I was told by others; I have kept these to a minimum.

It is long, and perhaps a bit dry, as it is a record so I will not forget what happened.
Continue reading “Bersih: The Perfect Assembly, Almost”

Malaysiakini
Apr 30, 2012

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should conduct a thorough and swift investigation on violent acts in Bersih 3.0, including those on journalists, and charge the perpetrators.

A group of six journalism associations issued a joint statement requesting this yesterday.

They are the Centre for Independent Journalism, Charter 2000 Aliran, Journalists Union of North Malaya, Penang Chinese Media Journalists and Photographers Association (Pewaju), Penang Press Club and Penang Press Employees Cooperative Society Limited.

The group condemned the arrest of two journalists and alleged police violence towards others who were covering the sit-down protest for free and fair elections. Continue reading “Arrests, violence towards journalists condemned”