Bersih was formed 15 years ago, not 10 years ago
That was when Anwar formed Bersih 2.0 and asked Ambiga Sreenevasan to lead it, to give an impression he is still very much a reformist at heart and was still true to the reform cause. In short, Anwar hijacked Bersih and just changed the name to Bersih 2.0. Tak malu punya orang!
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The Umno-linked Free Malaysia Today has now been reduced to reporting fake news (SEE THE NEWS REPORT BELOW).
“10 years after Bersih 2.0, we can still march, Malaysians told,” said FMT’s headlines. Then they talk about the Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2011.
Actually, a group of us (DAP’s Ronnie Liu and Umno’s Ron included) formed Bersih in 2006 and the march to Istana Negara to hand over a petition to His Majesty the Agong calling for electoral reforms was held on 5th November 2007 (SEE PICTURE ABOVE).
At that time, Anwar Ibrahim did not support Bersih, as he saw it as a rival to his ‘Reformasi’ movement, which for all intents and purposes had ‘died’ in 2004 not long after he was released from jail in September 2004.
According to the reformasi activists, Anwar intentionally killed the Reformasi movement because he was scared that senjata akan makan tuan. Hence, after the demise of the Reformasi movement, we formed Bersih in 2006.
In 2010, in a meeting in London, we warned Anwar that he had betrayed the movement and that he should not assume he will automatically get our support. We will support him if he is true to the cause, but if he betrays the cause, we will turn on him and become his worst enemy.
That was when Anwar formed Bersih 2.0 and asked Ambiga Sreenevasan to lead it, to give an impression he is still very much a reformist at heart and was still true to the reform cause. In short, Anwar hijacked Bersih and just changed the name to Bersih 2.0. Tak malu punya orang!
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10 years after Bersih 2.0, we can still march, Malaysians told
(FMT) – Ten years on from the Bersih 2.0 rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur in 2011, Malaysians have been urged not to hesitate to take to the streets peacefully to display their dissatisfaction over any situation.
Former Bersih 2.0 chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan said Malaysians should never forget that peaceful assembly was their constitutional right, especially since they had few other ways to display dissatisfaction against the government between general elections.
The former Bar Council president said movements like Bersih 2.0 must never give up as the pandemic – and the infamous Sheraton move – had shown that the wrong people were leading the country.
Pointing out that the police’s treatment of protestors had improved after the second and third Bersih rallies, she said the sudden arrest of then chairman Maria Chin Abdullah under Sosma proved that there was a constant need to “fight the system”.
Current chairman Thomas Fann said protests were never off the table even now as it was the people’s constitutional right to express themselves peacefully, calling it “democracy in action”.
However, he said the Covid-19 pandemic was a major consideration, especially with cases continuing to surge. The right timing was also important for a protest.
In recounting the iconic protest for clean and fair elections which saw an estimated 50,000 people gather and more than 1,000 reportedly arrested, Ambiga said she had never expected such a big turnout for the rally.
She quipped that she had to thank the government for the strong response and intimidation against the organisers, saying it actually helped the protest gather more traction.
“It made people wonder why they were so against clean and fair elections. There must be something wrong with the elections, that’s why they’re coming down so hard on us,” she said.
Another former chairman, Zaid Kamaruddin, said one factor that made Bersih 2.0 gather so much steam to unite a big part of the nation was that its goals were logical and “supportable” by the people.
He added that the same united stand for clean and fair elections might not be achieved in other issues which would see conflicting views.
