Walking through KL yesterday I could not detect any hint that a massive rally had been held on the day before. It was business as usual. Regardless of your opinion of Bersih, you have to admit that the Malaysian demonstrators have outperformed their first world counterparts (see the recent Greece and Canada rallies and riots) when it comes to peaceful assembly.
For the government though, peaceful or not, it was still an illegal rally and they treated it as such. Teargas (which, at least in the developed world, is only used to disperse violent protestors), arrests (to the police's credit, they released most fairly quickly without charges) and massive propaganda campaigns before and after. My favourite is the advertisement on TV3 where a boy asks why all the shops are closed. The shopkeeper laments that this was due to the rally.
TV aside, a glance through Facebook and I could see some unfortunate folks who got stuck somewhere in KL. At least one was calling Ambiga and Bersih some not very nice adjectives after he got stuck in KL Sentral for several hours. Of course, one can blame Bersih for shutting down public transport and traffic. Some sharp people would point out that it was the government who shut these down, not Bersih. And even more sharper people would point out that if the EC had heeded Bersih's demands there wouldn't be a rally in the first place.
Yellow Shirts, Red Shirts
The Patriot rally was mostly a fizzle (RM50 and free t-shirts don't get you far) and its few memorable moments was a banner calling the rally "BERSHIT" (to which people responded by referring to them as "Patriotaik") and Khairy standing alone being escorted away by a policeman.
Needless to say it was the yellow shirts (actually, much less yellow shirts this time - most joined the rally in standard civilian attire probably due to fear of being targeted for arrest) that carried the day. There wasn't really any hope of making it to Stadium Merdeka and as irony would have it, since the government shut down the stadium they had no choice but to take it to the streets.
Reformasi?
Some made a big deal about the chants for "Reformasi". Is this 1999 all over again? Well, reformasi can mean many things, including reformation for the election system. Slogans aside, the "Allahu akhbar" chants could be disturbing for a few, but in a country where Islam and politics (for good or for ill) have become inseparable this is no surprise.
I have always stated that I agreed with Bersih's goal (reforming the electoral system) but not its ends (rallying to do so). Rallies work better as a means of venting frustration and as a desperate attempt for change (see the Middle East) or as a means of gaining attention to a cause where other democratic means are unavailable (one could not vote to end Black discrimination nor to gain Independence).
But no, I'm not making the "we have elections so why rally?" argument. The Constitution itself guarantees the right to peaceful assembly. Whether the Bersih (or Patriot or whoever) rallies had a point or not is irrelevant. People still are allowed to peacefully demonstrate.
But Bersih's points could be gotten across more clearly. The alternative media's arm is wide open. Publicize how corrupt the electoral system is. Make people realize what the rally really was about (or should have been - most Bersih attendees didn't really come there to express their displeasure at the electoral system but towards the present government)
"Deeply Divided"
After George W. Bush won his second term, Kerry called to congratulate him but also to remark that the country is "deeply divided". Of course, this was a rather obvious statement. The USA is and will continue to be divided at least along Democrat/Republican lines. This is not a such a bad thing but rather a hallmark of mature democracies. People have different views and as such there are different parties to represent them.
In my conversations with others I have found that there are people (surprise) who are not very sympathetic towards Pakatan Rakyat and they have some pretty good reasons. Besides PR's non-existent (or at least, poorly publicized) plan of governance should it come to power, very few people are aware of its agenda. The recent Buku Jingga was a decent effort but almost comically idealistic. Obama's hopeless vague but extremely effective "change" and "hope" slogans won him his presidency but made us realize that in the end, the real world of politics doesn't tolerate such idealisms. (Another case of irony then, as the Obama administration's most memorable achievement was not in healthcare or other reforms but in the "war on terror")
The results of our 2008 General Election should show as much. The popular vote was split nearly evenly (PR's seat gains don't nearly reflect this as much). PR supporters should realize that people still support BN (and BN supporters should realize that support for their coalition is eroding)
Yes, you can still vote. No, don't expect everyone to vote for your favorite party. This is democracy.
For the government though, peaceful or not, it was still an illegal rally and they treated it as such. Teargas (which, at least in the developed world, is only used to disperse violent protestors), arrests (to the police's credit, they released most fairly quickly without charges) and massive propaganda campaigns before and after. My favourite is the advertisement on TV3 where a boy asks why all the shops are closed. The shopkeeper laments that this was due to the rally.
TV aside, a glance through Facebook and I could see some unfortunate folks who got stuck somewhere in KL. At least one was calling Ambiga and Bersih some not very nice adjectives after he got stuck in KL Sentral for several hours. Of course, one can blame Bersih for shutting down public transport and traffic. Some sharp people would point out that it was the government who shut these down, not Bersih. And even more sharper people would point out that if the EC had heeded Bersih's demands there wouldn't be a rally in the first place.
Yellow Shirts, Red Shirts
The Patriot rally was mostly a fizzle (RM50 and free t-shirts don't get you far) and its few memorable moments was a banner calling the rally "BERSHIT" (to which people responded by referring to them as "Patriotaik") and Khairy standing alone being escorted away by a policeman.
Needless to say it was the yellow shirts (actually, much less yellow shirts this time - most joined the rally in standard civilian attire probably due to fear of being targeted for arrest) that carried the day. There wasn't really any hope of making it to Stadium Merdeka and as irony would have it, since the government shut down the stadium they had no choice but to take it to the streets.
Reformasi?
Some made a big deal about the chants for "Reformasi". Is this 1999 all over again? Well, reformasi can mean many things, including reformation for the election system. Slogans aside, the "Allahu akhbar" chants could be disturbing for a few, but in a country where Islam and politics (for good or for ill) have become inseparable this is no surprise.
I have always stated that I agreed with Bersih's goal (reforming the electoral system) but not its ends (rallying to do so). Rallies work better as a means of venting frustration and as a desperate attempt for change (see the Middle East) or as a means of gaining attention to a cause where other democratic means are unavailable (one could not vote to end Black discrimination nor to gain Independence).
But no, I'm not making the "we have elections so why rally?" argument. The Constitution itself guarantees the right to peaceful assembly. Whether the Bersih (or Patriot or whoever) rallies had a point or not is irrelevant. People still are allowed to peacefully demonstrate.
But Bersih's points could be gotten across more clearly. The alternative media's arm is wide open. Publicize how corrupt the electoral system is. Make people realize what the rally really was about (or should have been - most Bersih attendees didn't really come there to express their displeasure at the electoral system but towards the present government)
"Deeply Divided"
After George W. Bush won his second term, Kerry called to congratulate him but also to remark that the country is "deeply divided". Of course, this was a rather obvious statement. The USA is and will continue to be divided at least along Democrat/Republican lines. This is not a such a bad thing but rather a hallmark of mature democracies. People have different views and as such there are different parties to represent them.
In my conversations with others I have found that there are people (surprise) who are not very sympathetic towards Pakatan Rakyat and they have some pretty good reasons. Besides PR's non-existent (or at least, poorly publicized) plan of governance should it come to power, very few people are aware of its agenda. The recent Buku Jingga was a decent effort but almost comically idealistic. Obama's hopeless vague but extremely effective "change" and "hope" slogans won him his presidency but made us realize that in the end, the real world of politics doesn't tolerate such idealisms. (Another case of irony then, as the Obama administration's most memorable achievement was not in healthcare or other reforms but in the "war on terror")
The results of our 2008 General Election should show as much. The popular vote was split nearly evenly (PR's seat gains don't nearly reflect this as much). PR supporters should realize that people still support BN (and BN supporters should realize that support for their coalition is eroding)
Yes, you can still vote. No, don't expect everyone to vote for your favorite party. This is democracy.
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