Bersih 4 had ‘minimal’ impact without PAS, deputy president says
(Malay Mail Online) – The weekend’s Bersih 4 rally had minimal impact without the inclusion of Malay participants unlike the previous Bersih rallies, PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said today.
He said the lack of Malay participation was because PAS had chosen to not attend the two-day rally.
“PAS has attended every Bersih demonstration at full force, even the last anti-GST rally. Only this time, PAS did not mobilise its members to Bersih 4 and because of that, its impact was minimal.
“In fact, through various media reports it is understood that PAS’ absence was felt compared to the previous Bersih rally. This altogether proves that PAS, as the largest opposition party, is a major factor in this country’s mainstream politics,” he said in a statement today.
Tuan Ibrahim added that while PAS did support Bersih 2.0’s call for electoral reform, it made the right decision by boycotting the rally following the “uncomfortable” incident of demonstrators allegedly stepping on pictures of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
“Despite that, I am disappointed with the negative perception and defamation that was intentionally created against PAS, especially against PAS president, until such a rude and over-the-top incident occurred such as stepping on the picture of PAS president, intentionally to create hatred towards PAS’ party and president.
“Such insulting incidents, although isolated by agent provocateurs, would most definitely have created an uncomfortable situation. This proves that PAS’ decision was right not to mobilise its members,” he said.
He also noted that Bersih 4’s biggest achievement was showing that a peaceful protest could take place in Malaysia, but also questioned deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for not taking stern action against protesters after banning the iconic yellow t-shirts.
“The biggest impact of Bersih 4 is the start of an era of acceptance towards peaceful demonstrations as part of our country’s democratic practice.
“It is just strange that deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi behaved softly after he gave a strong warning to take action against the Bersih 4 T-shirt,” he said, claiming that Zahid could be preparing to take over from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The Bersih 2.0 steering committee sought to distance itself from several individuals who had stepped on images of Najib and Hadi, said to have taken place during the recent Bersih 4 rally over the weekend, adding that the action was not part of its programme to demand institutional reforms from the government or to pressure for Najib’s resignation.
Bersih 4 took place over the weekend as a 34-hour rally which ended on Sunday midnight, ushering in National Day 2015.
The demonstration calling for electoral and institutional reforms as well as Najib’s resignation saw protesters sleep on the streets on the fringes of Dataran Merdeka.
Attendees have been estimated to be up to 500,000 by the organisers, while the Home Ministry had refuted the figure, saying only 50,000 had showed up for the rally.
