It is a week since the Bersih Rally .A lot have been said and much more will be said in the months ahead . Now that the dusts have settled down what is currently being touted appear to be more balanced and more sensible .Some of the views expressed are now less emotional and more restrained and something that we can continue to build upon .
Take for instance the statement made by Rais Yatim which says that his organization is proposing to conduct a nation wide survey to determine the motives of those who took part in the Rally. I think this a fair statement and should be welcomed .
In the first place after all that has been said we still do not have a clear profile of the protesters .Who are these protesters ? Where do
they come from ?How many are urbanites and how many come from afar .? Being a multi racial country it is important that we know exactly the ethnic composition of the protesters .Equally important is a knowledge of the age groups and their political inclinations and the number of men and women in the protests . These information and many others are useful when we want to
state the success or failure of the rally .The handling of the Rally by the government is a side issue and the public debate on this issue should end quickly .
The main issue remains the debate on electoral reforms or the need for it . Our opinion on the state of the art on electoral practice in this country cannot be randomly made .The veracity of the expressions depends on which side it comes from .As we say often there are good losers and bad losers .
Another major concern is the level of commitment the protesters have when they took part in the rally.Were they united in their purpose? Or united only to see the march reach the end ?.A full commitment would be in the form of their understanding of the issues involved that necessitated in the Rally in the first place . Is it possible that the thousands were there for the fun of it ?. Is it possible that they were there to be with their friends or simply because of the excitements of the occasion or because it was always fun to demonstrate an opposition to the government of the day or for some financial gains which some had alluded? If the full commitment to the call of electoral reforms cannot be found in their hearts and mind then the Bersih rally had been nothing but a political shadow play .
The Bersih Rally is far different from the protest rallies that were seen in Egypt or Tunisia . Those protests were cries against the Government and for regime change . Bersih was not a cry for regime change .It was not intended to topple anybody in power . Najib and co can continue in office for all we care for as long as they subscribe to the true democratic principles and practice .
Najib has said that the electoral practice in this country is free and fair and had used the loss in the last General Election of the five formerly BN states as an illustration of democracy in practice. The illustration is incorrect. Election results do not necessarily reflect the standard of the art of electoral management which is the subject of our debate.
The onus is definitely on Najib to prove his claim.
Let's not be over simplistic .
On the surface, we may see Bersih 2.0 as a call for electoral reform, but it's true significance is what it stands for deep down inside.
ReplyDeleteThe rakyat is tired of all the political pandering. BN may be the ruling party, but their heads are too far in the clouds for the middle class to appreciate. the middle class are frustrated; they want things to be better, and they are educated enough to see and feel what's going on. They are exposed to much information, without any knowledge of it being true or otherwise, and the government has done nothing to convince the rakyat whether it is true or not. And the opposition grabs this opportunity to project themselves as the caring ones, ever listening, always in touch with the masses.
The Star today has a ring of truth: it's time for the government to take heed and listen to the people. The old method of "do it because I told you so" doesn't work anymore. People want to be engaged. people want to be part of their future. Don't tell us what to do, take us and make us believe.