Yes Mr PM, it’s ‘all about politics’
By Jeswant Kaur, FMT
Detaining activists and Parti Sosialis Malaysia members like Dr Michael D Jeyakumar under the Emergency Ordinance, that is “all about politics”. Not allowing relatives to visit the ailing doctor at the National Heart Institute is nothing but cruelty at its best.
The dust on the crackdown by the Barisan Nasional government against a rally seeking to reform the electoral system will never settle.
In exactly a week since election watchdog Bersih 2.0 held its “Walk for Democracy” last Saturday, much dirt has surfaced, all pointing in the direction of the BN leadership under Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
Not only did Najib try his very best to play out Bersih 2.0 or the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections comprising 62 non-governmental organisations, he unwittingly ended up making the biggest mistake in his mere two-years of premiership, when he pitted the police force against the rakyat.
Whilst the rally succeeded in bringing together 50,000 concerned and worried Malaysians, it also made history when 1,600 participants were arrested, the largest haul in a day in the history of this country.
As far as the premier goes, he is the least interested in what the July 9, 2011, rally has to teach.
Instead, Najib has worsened matters by spewing lies after lies, ending up only to make a fool of himself. He is doing all he can to wipe off the July 9 rude awakening.
In an interview with the CNN in London a few days back, Najib foolishly lied to the station anchor John Defteriors, saying that no undue force was used on the rally participants. As far as Najib is capable of deducing, the July 9 rally was “all about politics”.
“Because there is democracy in Malaysia. And we are committed towards electoral reform,” he unashamedly lied during the interview.
Democracy? Commitment and electoral reforms? One doubts whether Najib even understands the meaning of these words.
If there is democracy in Malaysia, then the 1,600 participants would not have been arrested. If democracy is alive here, Bersih 2.0 would not have been bullied and threatened. Yes, if democracy exists in Malaysia, the rakyat would have been able to engage in the “Walk for Democracy” peacefully, without any fear.
But none of the above happened. To Najib, democracy is a carrot he thinks he can dangle to the rakyat anytime he wants, all to fulfill his own hidden agendas.
Najib’s bag of lies
To further lie that no force was used on the participants has only confirmed Najib’s status as a leader who will go to any length to manipulate and mislead. There is ample evidence of the police brutality and yet the premier could in a poker face manner claim no undue force was exerted on the participants.
No wonder Malaysians seem to be suffering from the third class mentality, having long ago caught the “virus” from the so-called leaders whom they had entrusted with power.
Najib knows the truth behind July 9, 2011. But his conviction is simply to weak stand up for the truth. His claim that the rally which Najib labelled as a street protest was “all about politics” is one big dangerous lie.
The truth which begs defence is that it is Najib who turned the Bersih 2.0 walk into a political charade, deploying cops in thousands. The Najib administration’s threats to detain the Bersih 2.0 leaders under the draconian Internal Security Act, that was “all about politics”.
