Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2011 12:06 PM PDT By Wong Chun Wai, The Star IT'S becoming tiring for many Malaysians. We are talking about our politicians and supporters regardless of their political affiliations. Take, for example, the organisers of Bersih 2.0. They need to realise that not all Malaysians are their fans. Not all share their beliefs and decision to stage a rally in Kuala Lumpur. Their supporters have the right to argue and convince others that it is their constitutional right to protest but, again, do not expect everyone to share their enthusiasm. When jazz singer Datuk Sheila Majid tweeted: "I am disappointed with all political parties, NGOs and Bersih. There are better ways to approach," she immediately received a nasty rebuke from a PKR activist who shot her down, saying he used to respect her. She probably lost a fan because of her tweet. There are enough people who would like to tell them that their protest was illegal and that they should know this is basic law. Protesters should know better that when you attend a demonstration, it is not going to be a picnic. One should expect to be arrested and hauled into a Black Maria, so let's not kid ourselves into believing that the cops would give them a red carpet welcome. Certainly, only a politically naive person, or someone in self-denial, would believe that Datuk S. Ambiga was acting on her own. Yes, of course, it was not politically motivated. The opposition politicians just happened to be there. Yes, they just bumped into each other at KL Hilton. In the case of the government, many are also shaking their heads at the authorities' sledgehammer treatment of Bersih 2.0. Just weeks ago, not many Malaysians knew who Ambiga was. Thanks to the over-excitement of the authorities, she has become an icon overnight. And don't blame Malaysians for being cynical over the claims that communist elements were involved in the rally. More so when those dreamer socialists were said to have T-shirts bearing the names of dead Commie leaders. Suddenly, Che Guevera, whom many teenagers at Pertama Complex had all this while thought was Bob Marley, was declared dangerous and subversive. Then there was the obsession with the colour yellow. By the way, there were enough Malaysians who actually believed the Digi Man was arrested by the police, although the e-mailed picture was doctored. But it was a funny spoof, and I wish there were enough Malaysians with a sense of humour to laugh at the fat yellow man. Arresting people who wear yellow T-shirts with the word "Bersih" is not going to help the government win votes. Something is wrong with us if we believe revolutions can be launched by wearing yellow T-shirts with the word "Bersih". One need not be a rocket scientist to know the political backlash of such an action, even though there may be good security measures. And the police, trying too hard to be friendly, put on its Facebook pictures of those detained being served with a buffet meal. There were round tables covered with tablecloth. Not bad at all, man! No wonder there are many people who think a protest in KL is really a stroll on a weekend. And then there was Perkasa's Datuk Ibrahim Ali. The man is really comical. After driving enough people into a frenzy with his racist tirade, he decided to stay home. At one point, he claimed he could mobilise 15,000 people. As a face-saving gesture, he declared he would take "a stroll" at Tasik Titiwangsa. It must have been a pretty long stroll. He was probably walking around in circles. And we can assume everyone would declare themselves winners. Bersih 2.0 will say that they managed to stage a protest despite the police locking down the city. The authorities, too, will say that they won this round by claiming that the Bersih 2.0 crowd wasn't as massive as they had expected. Ibrahim Ali could also declare himself a winner as he could have successfully earned a place in the Malaysian Book of Records for taking the most number of strolls at Tasik Titiwangsa. Umno Youth's Patriots can also claim to be winners despite walking barely 200m before being tear-gassed and arrested. There was another record – Anwar could still post a tweet at 4.40pm that says "undergoing CT scan for injury. Wishing #Bersih all the best." How he could take his mobile phone into a CT scan machine is a wonder. The Opposition leader had purportedly fallen during the protest. Either Malaysians must be very bad in Maths or they are very good at exaggerating. The police said there were only 5,000 protesters whereas Datuk A. Samad Said said 50,000 while the pro-opposition Malaysia Chronicle news portal claimed 100,000 people. The silat exponents turned out to be a lot of hot air in the end. The biggest losers were the public who got stuck in horrendous traffic jams. Businesses can count their losses, vendors could not distribute their newspapers, commuters found at least eight LRT stations shut, the city's cabbies had to stay at home and, worse, terrified city dwellers had to stock up on food unnecessarily. And taxpayers must certainly be wondering why their money is being spent on bringing so many cops into the city – and serving a buffet meal to law-breakers at Pulapol – when they should be busy catching criminals. It must be brought to mind that not everyone who supports Bersih 2.0 are pro-opposition. Many middle class urban voters are unhappy about many issues and it won't hurt the government to listen to them. Don't give up on them so they won't give up on the government. Some concerns are legitimate ones that need fixing. Likewise, Pakatan Rakyat should not misread today's rally as an endorsement of the Opposition. |
| Major Defeat For Barisan Nasional’s War For The Hearts And Minds of Malaysians Posted: 09 Jul 2011 11:16 AM PDT
By Matthias Chang Barisan Nasional's War of Intimidation has backfired. Malaysians no longer fear the sight of armed security forces, the threat of racial riots and or the Communist bogey. Pictures of the peaceful determination and resolve of the Bersih demonstrators say it all. Objective Malaysians (the silent majority) cannot but be impressed with the maturity and faith of those who were willing to face arrest and police intimidation to uphold their principles. Yes, Malaysia is not Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen etc. but there is a common thread – the people's frustrations (real or otherwise) and the need for expressing their discontent cannot be suppressed. The arrogance of power is no match for grass-root activism. It is indeed ironic that the "1Malaysia" slogan of the Prime Minister (a united multi- racial Malaysia) was reflected more in the ranks of the Bersih 2.0 campaign on 9th July 2011 than in the ranks of political opportunist and upstart Khairy Jamaluddin's miniscule band of "Red Shirts" provocateurs. Perkasa as predicted had no mass following and was totally absent in spite of its provocative bravado. After the fiasco on 9th July 2011, may I suggest to the Prime Minister and theentire Barisan Nasional leadership that their first priority is to dump these political wannabes who are totally devoid of any knowledge and experience of the political realities on the ground. The "political competition" of the Opposition has become more relevant than ever and has captured and occupied more effectively – physically and mentally both the uncontested and contested "political market place". The BN government has spent RM billions, but has yet to show concrete results "on the ground, at the grass-roots level". If these assholes cannot even handle a simple issue of a public demonstration, and the Prime Minister and the entire BN leadership still insist on relying on this bunch of immature political wannabes, then there is but one conclusion – Barisan Nasional will suffer a major setback in the coming General Election. And if the election is held this year, I am willing to put my reputation on the line as a former political secretary to the fourth Prime Minister, that Barisan Nasional will never be able to reclaim the 2/3rd majority in Parliament as well as the four state governments controlled by the Opposition coalition. All these so-called advisers and political pundits can do a better service to the nation if they just spend 24/7 for an entire month, watching the Chinese historical epic "The Three Kingdoms" on sale in any DVD shop in Malaysia. They may just be able to learn some basic lessons on Political Strategy 101. My second advice to the Prime Minister is to send his cousin, the Home Minister to be psycho-analysed for "Enlarged Ego Syndrome" (EES) and to revamp the entire senior management of the national security apparatus of the Polis Diraja Malaysia (the Royal Malaysian Police Force). These UMNO leaders are intellectually bankrupt and politically outdated. What lessons can we draw from today's event? To draw any conclusions and learn from the experience, we have to address the following questions: Firstly, why did the so-called Blue Ocean Strategy experts fail to anticipate a repeat of Bersih 2007 and take pre-emptive measures? Secondly, why did the national security apparatus fail to anticipate Bersih 2.0? When were the Prime Minister and the cabinet briefed on the Bersih 2.0 demonstration? Thirdly, why did the Barisan Nasional government allow the Perkasa provocateurs to hijack the stage to mount their ill-conceived fascist-like reaction to Bersih, followed by the immature UMNO Youth's belated bravado? Fourthly, why did the Prime Minister, after agreeing to allow Bersih to congregate in a stadium, not follow through with that magnanimous decision by directing the police to grant the relevant permits, but flip-flopped and allowed the security apparatus to take complete charge? Fifthly, what made the Barisan Nasional propaganda machinery think that by locking down the entire city since Friday evening, there will be a blowback – anger and opposition by the grass-roots – against the organisers of the Bersih 2.0 demonstration, and not against Barisan Nasional for their high-handed action? Sixthly, was there any evaluation that by taking the sledge-hammer approach to Bersih 2.0 demonstration for "fair and clean elections", the Barisan Nasional government will be able to retain its supporters and gain new adherents or on the contrary piss off its very own supporters and alienate further the 40% undecided voters? Finally, what were the identified strategic objectives to be gained by adopting the sledge-hammer approach and how would they enhance the results in favour of the Barisan Nasional government in the coming General Election? I am curious to know from the Blue Ocean Strategists, the Political Secretaries, the Special Officers and the highly paid consultants what Strategic Briefs/Memoranda that they have submitted to the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional leadership. The rakyat has the right to know as well. It is arrogance, height of irresponsibility and a dereliction of duty if no detail briefs were prepared and submitted for consideration. It is my estimation that it will take a minimum of ten months at the minimum to repair the damage done to the image of the Barisan Nasional in general and the prime minister in particular, provided there is a coherent strategy to address and resolve the issues that are close to the hearts and minds of the grass-roots and the sophisticated urban middle-class voters (young and old). The administrative machinery is a giant bureaucracy – a super oil tanker. From top down, over 95 percent of the manpower is project-orientated, in plain BN language, money-orientated – "what's in it for me" mentality. Everyone is eyeing the multi- billion dollar cake, the multi-billion dollar patronage gravy train.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan