Bersih 2007 did not cause any chaos

By batsman

In 2007, the peaceful rally organized by Bersih 1.0 did not cause any chaos even when the police provoked demonstrators with unnecessary force. Malaysia stood stable and firm but Malaysians took note.

In 2008, the General Elections saw a surprised and completely unprepared opposition win 5 states. So what were the consequences of the Bersih 1.0 2007 peaceful rally?

Obviously it caused the Elections Commission to be more circumspect and more cautious in terms of watching out for dirty tricks during the 2008 General Elections. This care was enough to allow the rakyat to choose the opposition in 5 states. Malaysians stood firm and decided. Their decision was given enough scope by an EC forewarned against dirty tricks to manifest itself in the opposition winning 5 states.

Subsequently, it looked as if dirty tricks made a comeback. Perak was lost when 3 state assemblymen turned frogs. The old Prime Minister who was seen as sleeping on the job of keeping UMNO in power, had been kicked out and a new one anxious to prove himself had taken over through the back door (without being voted in by the electorate). Were dirty tricks revived at the same time? Who knows? The issue is still argued over extremely contentiously by Malaysians, but Malaysia did not descend into chaos.

Forewarned against a perceived revival of dirty tricks, the opposition was on guard during the by-elections. Roughly, the 1st 8 by-elections were won by the opposition. Could this have given rise to a sense of complacency among the opposition? Roughly the next 8 by-elections were won by the ruling coalition amidst screams of dirty tricks amongst the opposition as well as Mafrel, an NGO on the watch against dirty elections.

So it looked like another Bersih rally was needed again. This time Bersih 2.0 stripped itself of party political involvement in its management. Bersih 2.0 was determined to be neutral and struggle purely for electoral reforms in a neutral manner not favouring any political parties and even inviting BN parties including UMNO to join in its struggle.

Unfortunately this time round, the suppression and victimization was fierce in spite of Bersih 2.0’s determination to be neutral. All sorts of accusations were leveled against Bersih 2.0, from being manipulated by the opposition and used as a tool of the opposition to being infiltrated by communists. Now the bogey of involvement by world military powers has been raised. It sounds as if NATO will be used to bomb Malaysia if the peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally descends into chaos. Is our unelected PM trying to portray himself as a Gadafi or a Asad?

All this is absolutely ridiculous. Bersih 2007 was peaceful and did not cause any chaos. There is no reason for a peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9th to cause any chaos either. The hysteria being whipped up by the ruling political parties looks like a desperate attempt to cover up dirty tricks in the electoral system in order to maintain their power. Such hysterical fear can only be explained by the fact that Bersih 2.0’s claims that the electoral system is riddled with fraud and badly compromised is absolutely true and incontrovertible. The hysterical and brutal reaction of the ruling parties is proof in itself.