Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Is the EC and independent body?
- Rally & aftermath
- Is Malaysia in Crisis?
- Malaysia: End mass repression of pro-reform activists
- BERSIH 2.0 Australia
| Is the EC and independent body? Posted: 01 Jul 2011 01:19 PM PDT
By Teresa Kok The Election Commission's Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar's vilification of Bersih 2.0 as a stooge for Pakatan Rakyat makes it clear to all Malaysians that the EC itself is not an independent body and cannot be counted on to uphold the rakyat's civil right to clean and fair elections. Wan Ahmad's call for Bersih to distance itself from Pakatan Rakyat is mischievous, misleading and unfair because Bersih made a conscious and public decision to drop all political parties from its membership to avoid such undue accusations after the first Bersih rally in 2007. Bersih is now a coalition consisting of 60+ civil society organizations and no political parties. Furthermore, Bersih has consistently tried to engage with all political parties in Malaysia, including Barisan Nasional (BN), to gather support for its eight demands for electoral reform, only to be consistently ignored, rebuffed or dismissed by BN leaders. Bersih's eight demands for electoral reform are fair, reasonable and essential in healthy democracies around the world. The eight demands are: 1. Clean the electoral roll 2. Reform postal ballot 3. Use of indelible ink 4. Minimum 21 days campaign period 5. Free and fair access to media 6. Strengthen public institutions 7. Stop corruption 8. Stop dirty politics If the EC and the government would only adopt these eight demands, the elected government of the day would have even greater legitimacy in its right to rule. Only an already corrupt and sullied government which robs power through dirty elections, with the support of a partisan EC that enables and turns a blind eye to dirty elections, would oppose these eight demands and demonise the civil society movement that advocates them. I remind Wan Ahmad that at the Public Forum with the EC organized by the Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and held at MBPJ on 22 February 2011, and attended by about 200 members of the public, Wan Ahmad himself went on record saying that the EC does not have the power to execute any of the electoral reforms proposed by Bersih due to the EC's legal limitations and that according to the law, the EC is only empowered "to conduct and administer elections". Wan Ahmad even said, "I wish you would go to the Prime Minister and the Attorney General with your reform proposals because the EC can't do anything." Thus, Wan Ahmad should be grateful that Bersih has the courage and integrity to push for the electoral reforms that the EC is powerless to provide, and lend his full support to the Bersih public rally on July 9. As Deputy Chairman of the EC, Wan Ahmad should recognise that the adoption of Bersih's eight demands for electoral reform will only help the EC be truly independent of the executive, more powerful and become a world-class institution worthy of respect. Moreover, it is his intense opposition towards Bersih that makes him and the EC look like the enemy of clean and fair elections and puppets of BN, more than ever before.
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| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:07 PM PDT
As with my previous experience during the Hindraf Rally, here are a few tips and information on how the GOM will handle the Rally, the participants and Public Relations as well as conclude it. By -Vetrivel- These are the events surrounding Bersih and the Aftermath that we expect will happen. As with my previous experience during the Hindraf Rally, here are a few tips and information on how the GOM will handle the Rally, the participants and Public Relations as well as conclude it. Buses were stopped by the numbers all over Malaysia. Any bus moving out from South or North were held at checkpoints by police from various states and taken away for questioning. Even those who were heading for weddings and receptions were not spared. People were checked randomly and even police checked handphone messages and sms-es as well as baggages, booth checks and in some cases harrassed people into admitting they are attending the Rally. News papers/media go to extremes to vilify anything to do with the Rally. The police will appear like clowns as they start randomly arresting people and give the most ridiculous reasons. This time they have already started the circus with trumped up charges which will not stick. (Remember the Terrorist link to Hindraf who were supposedly part of LTTE in Sri Lanka?) Massive Roadblocks not only to KL but to the entire Malaysia as well. All highway entry points around the Klang Valley will be monitored, KTM stations, LRT stations (maybe even shut down). Minimum 3 Blocks for a 45 km distance (example KESAS- One block per Tol). Frighten, create fear and chaos, use all means nessecery till the day of event. On the day of event (which happened on Nov 25th 2007) 2. The group that decided to go and wait in Batu Caves (as a sanctuary waiting for dawn) were the most unfortunate. They were locked inside the gates and sprayed with Chemical water. Over 2000 of them were stuck inside and even after the Rally they were not released out of the temple till nightfall! 3. Divide and Rule: Police swarming all over the city to block groups gathering and become larger. This will be used again. Those who tried to reach KLCC were blocked over at Jalan Ampang and never could join the Main Rally. There are 2 versions of the Rally - One on the other side of the city (Jln Ampang/ Jln Tun Razak/ Gombak/ Sentul/ Jalan pudu/ Jalan Cheras) and the other which was at KLCC and the area surrounding it. The cops and Rela managed to break the crowd into even smaller groups and attacked them easily. The cases of being arrested were from the Jalan Ampang side (which was the smaller group) and easier to handle. The KLCC side had hardly any arrests due to the sheer size of the crowd. The bigger crowds around KLCC area were broken up by chemical water and the best weapon was teargas. Hundreds of people were sprayed with teargas which made them run helter-skelter and easily broke them up. 4. Not to forget, helicopters were flying extremely low to intimidate as well as give information to the cops/Rela on the best locations to attack and disperse the crowd. 5. Provoke 1st blood. The Rally was extremely peaceful and people sat down below KLCC by the thousands and patiently listened to speeches when the sudden shower of teargas fell onto a peaceful crowd. Menacing batons, AK47s and marching police armed to create violence among a crowd with old people, ladies as well as handicapped people. Did they care? 6. Time and again the organizers controlled the crowd and got them back into submitting peacefully to walk and give the memorandum. But every time they gathered the people, they became easy targets for water canons and teargas. Teargas stings like crazy. It choked the people like inhaling fireworks and causes nausea, difficluty to breathe as well as lots of tears and phlegm to be coughed out. Those sitting were stampeded upon and became easy targets again. 7. How or why any police got hurt as claimed? Nobody knows but be prepared for gory pictures of policemen being hit by stones or any retaliation by the Rakyat to adorn the News as causing grievances to people. 8. No damage at all. But be prepared for Newsflashes claiming Millions were lost to damage and even more due to loss of business. Get ready for images of massive damage for govt to claim: "I told you so." 9. Eventually, it may take hours for the Rally to be over. But expect Mass arrests. Do not retaliate. Surrender peacefully. They are looking for people who fight back. They want to provoke and will provoke. 10. Take photos - These are evidence. We had Lau Weng San (now assemblyman of Kg.Tunku) who did maverick work and did good journalism and had excellent proof of Police brutality. 11. International News and Journalists will cover this event. Nevertheless, GOM will give a PR publicity stunt to say everything is A-OK. 12. Special Branch infiltration. There will be many Special Branch officers who will be part of the rally and may even get arrested and go to jail. Thats their job, to gather information and infiltrate. Be prepared for these people. They may be of any race. Hindraf claims one such person even became one of the main leaders who headed the group and was ready for even ISA. Aftermath Expect GOM to claim victory because Expect massive arrests and expect people to be charged unscrupulously. Expect ISA. Expect Demonisation of rakyat and legitimatise reasons to charge them. Expect the Unexpected. |
| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:03 PM PDT
The Malaysian government has so far merely reacted with the arrogance of expensive advertising campaigns to sing praises of Malaysia's well-being accompanied by silence and non-response to uncomfortable calls coupled with the suppression of democratic rights and the harassment and victimization of activists. By batsman It would appear that any sane person knowledgeable with the situations in the Arab and Mediterranean countries and that of Malaysia cannot but conclude that the Malaysian situation is far better off in terms of perceived peace and stability than the countries of the Jasmine Revolution or the Greek riots. Yet all does not seem to be well in Malaysia. The Malaysian Reform Movement is daily exposing the waste, corruption and abuse of the elites in power. Highly educated and knowledgeable economists warn of the dangerous levels of debt that the country is racking up and civil society is questioning the reliability of the figures that the government offers as economic health indicators. The Malaysian government has so far merely reacted with the arrogance of expensive advertising campaigns to sing praises of Malaysia's well-being accompanied by silence and non-response to uncomfortable calls coupled with the suppression of democratic rights and the harassment and victimization of activists. Can the efforts of the Malaysian government contain the stirrings of unrest in Malaysia? Should such unrest be contained in the first place as unrest often foreshadows the change that is already in the air? Does Malaysia have to wait until the situation deteriorates to the level of violence in the Arab countries or Greece before it condescends to change? Is change such a fearful thing? Malaysia's reluctance to change is based on the supposed social contract agreed upon by its founding forefathers. This "social contract" is deemed to be the bedrock of the Malaysian nation now and forever. It would be a great insult to Malaysia's forefathers if any change is tried or attempted. Such being the case, even calls for the reform of the electoral system is deemed an unacceptable change that must be suppressed with cruelty and violence. Such calls are deemed threats to national security. Have Malaysia's forefathers delivered her into a time capsule, unable to change with the times and unable to compete with more dynamic and aggressive neighbours? Have Malaysia's forefather trapped her into the vicissitudes and dangers of relying on her ruling elite's interpretation of what change means? What is this foundational bedrock that Malaysia is eternally bound to? When the British colonial masters ruled Malaya, they practiced "divide and rule" as one of their tactics and strategies of colonial administration. The Malays were contained in a time capsule as poverty ridden padi planters and fishermen. In addition to communities of Chinese and Indians who were already resident even before the British appeared, large waves of indentured labour from India and China were imported to work the mines and rubber estates as well as build and maintain the superstructure and infrastructure of a modern and profitable colony. Each community was arraigned against the other such that British colonial rule and administration became easy and required least effort at suppression of revolts. In spite of this the communities maintain very good relations with each other perhaps knowing that they were being cynically used by the British. When the British passed on power to UMNO and granted Malaya independence, Dato' Onn realized that for Malaya to become a true nation, all its races had to transcend race and religion to become united as one nation. Unfortunately this founding forefather of Malaya could not implement his vision and hope for the country. He was forced out of UMNO. Malaya became a country based on each race fending for itself. Worse still, the British policy of "divide and rule" was adopted to rule the country. The races were split farther and farther apart until race relations became poisoned and toxic. With this move, Malaya could no longer become a true nation. It was condemned for all time to be a rump nation, a dreg of colonial rule with toxic race relations and people hostile, suspicious and envious of each other. Suppression became the only possible policy of administration to hold all these disparate forces together. Is this what comprises the bedrock of the Malaysian nation? With this, I would like to quote a rather long passage from Don Martindale in his book "Institutions, Organizations and Mass Societies" (University of Minnesota ). It touches on change, what the bases of communities are and how change usually occurs. "If the evidence surrounding the emergence of the ancient Oriental city and the new types of economies on which it was based suggests a sudden and convulsive act, it is only what one would expect from the standpoint of the social-behavioristic theory of community formation. A community arises from the operation of the principles of stabilization, consistency and completeness. The resulting more or less integrated way of life forms an interrelated whole, in which behavior in any one area of life is held in place by behaviors in surrounding areas which have come to be bound in consistent ways. Any given area of social life could , potentially, begin at any time to sustain innovating processes; but when it did, the stabilized customs of other areas would act as a brake. Hence, the period during which new communities are forming is usually a time of major troubles when many vital areas of a community are in simultaneous transition. Again and again, when the foundations of new communities are examined, they are seen to have been laid in times of crisis: wars, conquests, and defeats, major natural catastrophes, and internal revolutions." To me change can be good or it can be bad. If we are to become a new community of true Malaysians instead of being split into quarrelling communities of various races, if Malaysia is to become a truly united and peaceful nation instead of a chimera of ugly races stitched together by suppression and violence, we have to embrace change when it is due, not resist it fanatically until all hell breaks lose So… is Malaysia in crisis or is it just the birth pangs of true nationhood? |
| Malaysia: End mass repression of pro-reform activists Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:02 AM PDT
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Malaysian authorities are arbitrarily arresting and detaining scores of peaceful electoral reform protesters in the worse repression of free speech and freedom of assembly in recent years, Amnesty International said today. Among those currently detained are 30 peaceful activists from the Socialist Party who were denied review of their detention today under accusations of "waging war against the king". |
| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:27 AM PDT
FELLOW MALAYSIANS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN BRINGING IN CHANGE ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN!! Let's join us to support BERSIH. For democratic, for clean & fair elections, for a better Malaysia. Canberra's Update: |
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