A month down the road and there is still much work to do in the wake of the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections. The rally was marked by an unprecedented lock-down on Kuala Lumpur, following a massive campaign by the government to demonize Bersih and its call to clean up the electoral system.
Amidst the police threats and veiled insinuations there would be violent rioting and mass imprisonment, citizens still took to the streets to rally for their rights. This was not a march to topple the Barisan Nasional government as declared by Prime Minister Najib Razak, this was a rally to take back what rightfully belonged to Malaysians – the right to vote in elections that would not be tainted, skewed nor manipulated by the ruling BN coalition and the partisan Election Commission.
In the month that has passed, the Prime Minister and the EC have continued to contest the claims made by Bersih. Elections have always been fair, said Najib. Fair, in his eyes, to the extent that in 2008 BN lost 5 states to Pakatan Rakyat. Unfair, in the eyes of Pakatan, that they won only 5 out 13 and not more despite claiming 47 per cent of total votes.
The fact is the numbers are revealing and BN cannot deny Pakatan’s claims of gross gerrymandering. The overwhelming voter swing to Pakatan was too much ffor an unprepared BN to contain. And this is why, the BN is determined to put as much distance between itself and Pakatan. To do this, it needs to wage the dirtiest election of all time, and no wonder then, it inexplicably harsh treatment of Bersih.
Indeed, the outlawing of the Bersih movement is akin to telling Malaysians that they will be regarded as illegal if they objected to the status quo or like Bersih, demanded reforms. To many pundits, the truth is, Pakatan would have won more states if it had been a truly fair and free contest.
Time to get going, Ambiga and team
As for Bersih itself, a month on, the most significant thing it has done is to galvanize Malaysians for change. This is its greatest legacy. But it now needs to move on phase II, and not just keep waiting for the BN or the EC to respond. If there isn’t a phase II or Bersih 3.0 yet, then it should be planning one immediately. Ambiga Sreenevasan, the Bersih chief, must get moving and not keep resting on her laurels. The days of the glory interviews with foreign press and the adulatory hero-worship sessions with the local media must end for now. It is time to work again. Otherwise, July 9 would have been in vain.
How many people really expect the EC to ever carry through the 8 reforms proposed by Bersih? Very, very few. The EC is too muddled up with the ruling government to ever effect change that can benefit the people and not just their political masters. So far, we have only seen a knee-jerk response from the EC. Instead of cleaning up electoral rolls, they insisted they had a better ‘solution’ – the biometric voter verification system. This has prompted even more concerns of electronic fraud as the EC has refused any audit of the system and database.
Also, how very convenient to introduce a biometric system to identify voters when Malaysia is currently going on the biggest exercise ever to register and tag illegal workers via biometrics. How convenient that all systems within the government databases can be connected together – the National Registration Department, Immigration Department and Election Commission. These departments can now pass data to one another and what transpires amongst themselves will be kept secret from any independent auditor. Strange that BN can dream up this move when Bersih happened because of massive public dissatisfaction with the voting system. Instead of correcting the wrongs, the EC has chosen to bury itself even more by promoting a new system that can drag voters deeper into a web of trickery and fraud.
A giant has awakened
It is unlikely that Malaysians will be taken for a ride by the shadowplay of a government desperate to cling on to power by hook or by crook. Citizens have taken it upon themselves to cross-check voter registration against the voter electoral rolls and present their findings for public scrutiny. The results of these citizen-initiated investigations are glaring.
Some examples include instant modification of PR status to full citizenship within four hours, ‘phantom’ voters registered by the dozens to rickety wooden homes, a citizen by the name of “Kg Baru” was registered to vote, identity card numbers that do not correspond to their owners, dual identity card holders, allegations of massive fraud in postal votes, and the list goes on. And this is only one month after Bersih, will we see more evidence of fraud and mischief in all the departments entrusted to ‘safe-guard’ our constitutional right to vote in a government of our choice?
Bersih has awoken a sleeping giant, which it must continue to inspire. It must encourage more Malaysians to stake their claim on their nation. In a single day, Bersih has shaken the political landscape of Malaysia. For too long we have allowed politicians to dictate the workings of our everyday lives, telling us what to do, what to say and even what to think. Because of Bersih, Malaysians have seen with own eyes how leaders as high as PM Najib himself lie in public and renege on his words. l
So far, there has been no official apology for the police brutality meted out to the citizens that took to the streets. There were no comforting words from the government to the family of ex-soldier Baharuddin Ahmad, who died a victim of alleged police beatings and suffocation due to the tear gas fired indiscriminately at the crowds.
What Malaysians got instead were jokes and jibes from Najib and his Cabinet at the tear gas attacks on Anwar Ibrahim, which his aides say were barely veiled attempts to murder him. His bodyguard Fayyadh Afiq Albakqry took a tear canister in the face, requiring five titanium plates to be inserted into his left cheek. There were also lies from the Health Minister, who refused to admit that tear gas and acid-water had been fired into the grounds of the Tung Shin Hospital. The minister, Liow Tiong Lai, was silenced only after scores of eyewitness accounts and a barrage of citizen-videos on YouTube were thrown back at him.
Don’t let the giant fall alseep again
A month down the road, and there is much still for Bersih to do. The six PSM leaders may have been released from Emergency Ordinance detention but the government has not made any concrete concessions at all. Only the vague promise to extend the campaign period above the minimum 7 days period and even so, the EC warns that this is not confirmed yet and voters should not expect the 21-days period asked for by Bersih.
No, this is certainly not the time for Bersih, Ambiga, Maria, Chin Huat and team to rest on their laurels. Instead, it is time for them to turbo-charge for the next push. The NGOs, activists and the opposition must remember July 9th. They must be grateful to the ordinary people who trusted them and came from all over the country to answer their call to stand up against a totalitarian government.
Do not let them down. Time is also running out. Make haste and do not let Malaysia down.
– Malaysia Chronicle
