Urban Malaysian Chinese drive home a message through rally

QUICK TAKE: The recently concluded Bersih 4 rally highlighted several points worthy of attention.

Firstly, the majority of participants at the rally were urban Chinese.

Used to be known as non-confrontational, these Chinese, many of them from the middle class group, obviously took courage from previous Bersih rallies to participate in this peaceful rally.

Tackling one’s problem via street rallies have definitely not been a Chinese way of finding solutions with negotiations via political parties always being the traditional practice in the past.

Unlike the previous first and second rallies which were led by Malays, the lack of Malays in Bersih 4 is obviously due to Umno and PAS staying away from the rally.

Tan Ah Chai, chief executive officer of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, told Sin Chew Daily that Bersih 4 revealed a gap between the Chinese and Malay communities in terms of their concern over the country’s future.

“The Malay community is confused. They are unhappy with the current situation too. However, Umno is facing internal problems, PAS is split and PKR has its own set of issues. Mobilising Malays would still need to be relied on by political parties and not non-governmental organisations.”

For the Chinese community however, the opposite is true with the Chinese slowly weaning off their dependency on political parties.

Bersih 4 participants took the initiative to attend the rally.

The younger generation of Chinese is no longer content to be bystanders where major major national issues are concerned.

Political analyst Prof Ho Khai Leong told Sin Chew Daily that through the Bersih 4 rally, one could observe the increasing awareness among the Chinese of political and NGO movements.

The Chinese have overcome their conservatism, political indifference and fear of possible clashes at the rally.

Another highlight of the rally would be its “hijack” by politicians from the opposition.

The opposition leaders from DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat were the ones leading the crowd in the rally.

By right, Bersih should be above politics.

Bersih’s goals are free and fair elections; clean governance; right to dissent; strengthening the parliamentary democracy; and saving the economy.

Can change take place without the participation of Malays?

The answer is obvious.

This would be a sign for the opposition to forge its path to Putrajaya without Malay support.

The surprise visit by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad carries weight but numbers are needed in a democracy.

Another heavyweight who turned up at a rally overseas was former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik who was the leader of the number one Malaysian Chinese political party from 1986 to 2003.

Donning a yellow T-shirt, Ling was in present at the rally in Perth.

His wife Ena Ling confirmed Ling’s presence in Perth while she admitted to Nanyang Siang Pau that she was at the KL rally.

The current MCA will probably need to work harder to claim themselves to be representatives of the Malaysian Chinese community.

While the editorial of Sin Chew Daily calls for the government to initiate reform, Nanyang Siang Pau’s editorial stresses the importance of strengthening “fence sitters”.

Taking the cue from the presence of Mahathir, who would never have allowed such a rally to have taken place during his tenure, no stand seems to be an eternal stand of politicians.

Similarly, voters should also adopt such a stand in their approach as fence sitters without having to take sides.

That is to say, that their loyalty is only for those who work in the best interests of the nation.

By exercising their power as fence sitters, it keeps tabs on those in office.

They may be given the boot for any power abuse, thus keeping them on their toes at all time.

The bigger the number of fence sitters, the more powerful they can be in swinging votes based on issues and personalities of the elected representatives and not because of the party they stand for.

As it is now, rotten apples and gems exist in both political divides.