Bersih 2.0 Outcome

Malaysians at KLCC

Now that the dust is settling, it is evident that there are many significant lessons and outcomes from the brave Malaysians standing up for a justice against oppression by their own Government and Police.

Here is a dozen.

1. Malaysians have shown that they are mature and will stand up for justice. This is true people power yet Malaysians are peaceful people. Regardless how the Police tried to lock down the city and barricade Merdeka Stadium, there were over 100,000 assembling all over the vicinity of Merdeka Stadium to get pass the Police and all their tear gas and water canons. And peacefully too. Noticeable amidst them was 76 year old national laureate A Samad Said.

2. Najib who last minute decided not to leave town after being severely criticized for wanting to abandon the country at such an hour. Najib who reneged on his stadium offer. Najib who ignored the King to discuss with Bersih. Najib who totally played deaf and dumb to the 100,000 crowd in KL and pretending they were a small group of dissent. Najib who has lost all credibility as a statesman of Malaysia allowing the Home Ministry to severely oppress the people. Najib who remote controlled the Police. Najib who may be having his last term as PM after today.

3. Hishammuddin and the Police oppressive actions that borders on madness have left a bitter taste in the mouths of all Malaysians. Peaceful gatherings, wearing yellow and walking in peace have met with violent beatings, illogical arrests, tear gas shootings and water canons laced with chemicals. The People will remember that they now have a power weapon to fight back. Their bold people power stand with their VOTES in the next General Election.

4. Technology like sms, the internet news, blogs and twitter have brought significant information that the people will believe to be true over the Government controlled media. Twitter was used widely in the Arab Spring upheaval. Twitter was used extensively today to track what was happening, where to move, who got arrested as well as pictures of the moment. Malaysians are all tech savvy and the use of such technology allowed such massive coordination of 100,000 crowd all over KL to march towards Merdeka Stadium. Check out #bersihstories to read how Malaysians supported each other regardless of ethic groups. Truly 1Malaysia!

5. Peaceful rally is what Bersih 2.0 was all about to highlight 8 points for an Electoral Reform. Instead of taking the claims head on, the Government decided to demonize Bersih, declared illegal including the collor yellow, made numerous arrests with the city locked down together with FRU actions, attempting to use a wild reasoning as if KL was going to be under attack of a foreign force. Bersih 2.0 remained peaceful. Only the Police and FRU were the aggressors.

6. The King demonstrated that he is above politics much to the dismay of Umno. He gave a rare instruction apparently approved by the PM which somehow showed his Kingship caring for the People and truly independent. Najib eventually ignored the King’s advice to work things out with Bersih when he realized that the King met with Bersih thus giving them credibility. Daulat Tuanku! Najib ignores the King’s advice, Ibrahim Ali criticize the King for meeting Bersih. Eventually, the King ignored him and not grant him an audience. The message is clear!

7. Perkasa is a washout. After criticizing the King and received no repercussions, Ibrahim Ali ordered his group to gather at Titiwangsa today at 12pm while he stays home. There were no members from Perkasa even at 2pm. Big mouth Ali has no followers. Bersih had 100,000 Malaysians walking for the future of the country.

8. Umno Youth ‘Patriot’ group led by Khairy gathered at Bukit Bintang. It too fizzled out after the 500 clashed with the FRU and KJ was arrested. At least he had courage but for the wrong thing.

9. Bersih 2.0 committee led by Ambiga stood out as heros for they had nothing to gain but stood up with brave Malaysians for justice in the face of ugly threats and oppressions. These are exemplary Malaysians. Malaysians salute you. BN condems you.

10. Pakatan Rakyat leaders like Anwar, Hadi Awang, Mat Sabu, Lim Kit Siang, Nurul Izzah, Tian Chua, and many more stood up to face possible arrests for walking with Malaysians. Even with the court injunction which is so bizzare, they stood with equal boldness with the rest of Malaysians unlike Ibrahim Ali who is only all mouth. Even KJ had the courage. This will give them full identity with the people whio wants justice and a clean and fair election. PR believes they can now win the next election, thanks to how 9 July has panned out.

11. BN will suffer severe backlash in the next election for sure. The way Umno influenced the maddening reaction to Bersih 2.0 also allowed Umno internal dissent to hit out at Najib. Notice how quiet the other component parties were. They dare not oppose Umno or say anything that might jeopardize BN giving a wrong impression.

12. The writing is on the wall. The people wins. The BN Government loses. The actual effects can only be seen at GE13. The sledgehammer approach to Bersih 2.0 which was declared peaceful did not find acceptance with Malaysians. Instead nobody can believe the madness that the Government conducted themselves as if there was going to be an overthowing of Government today.

There is only one redemption for Najib and BN. Listen to the People. Serve them clean and fair. Malaysia wants a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Mr Prime Minister, can you do that?

Bersih 9 July: Over and Message is Loud and Clear

At Puduraya

The crowd dispersed and some seen shaking hands with the police. Malaysians are truly mature and the peaceful rally was truly peaceful and the police and FRU were the ones oppressive with shooting tear gas directly at the public, including man handling both man and woman they harassed and arrested.

The police action arrested a reportedly over 1,000 people including MPs. As predicted, Ambiga was arrested with some other Bersih committee members. Khalid Samad was injured by a tear gas shot directly at him.

Updated 7pm: Ambiga was released.

Reports and pictures of Anwar hurt and in the hospital would have given him tremendous boost in his image. His younger daughter was arrested.

Hadi Awang and Mat Sabu along with Maria Chin Abdullah and Tian Chua amongst others were arrested. Apparently, Mat Sabu was riding pillion and was allegedly knocked down by a police car and hurt his knee badly.

Regardless of a “headless” rally that built up with tens of thousands from various locations in the city, they managed to march up to the Merdeka Stadium and at 4pm the crowd dispersed peacefully.

A. Samad Said, 76 year old national laurate, finished with the gallant but mature crowd and commented “I’ve never seen all races in Malaysia so united for one cause before.” And this cause is apolitical. The people has been tolerating a high handed and oppressive pre-emptive actions bordering on madness and ridiculous and braved all the government deterents to gather even such large numbers. One report has put it at 100,000 in various parts of KL. Najib called the crowd a small number of people whilst the IGP claims he counted 6,000.

It is now generally agreed by observers including some Umno leaders that the brazzen mishandling of the Bersih 2.0 rally will see serious repercussions at the next General Election for sure. Some even believe that BN who lost the plot today will lose the GE13.

A number of international locations including Melbourne, Sydney, London, HK, Taipei, Osaka and Singapore held peaceful demonstrations in support of Bersih 2.0. We are witnessing a new dawn of people power and a maturity that the BN Government had so poorly underestimated. See the pictures of the Global Bersih rallies here.

The world can now see how the Malaysian Government has embarassed the country in the oppressive manhandling of Bersih 2.0 acting with madness and making up fantastic excuses to justify their actions. Najib now has his work cut up, and maybe cut off soon enough as he struggles to do the impossible to redeem himself and keep other internal oppressors off his back.

Bravo! Malaysians have and will continue to bravely stand up for injustice and a clean and fair election!

The Brave Malaysians

Bersih 9 July Morning: Government Insanity Prevails

The Police madness that has put the entire Klang Valley under siege has tipped the anger of all Malaysians. Whatever their reasons, only they can see the logic in their otherwise warpped mind.

in their attempt to prevent people not to go to KL and to stop the rally, they have succeeded in

• stopping tourists to come to Malaysia
• getting the worst press in international media
• showing the insanity of the BN government to oppress the nation
• causing massive illegal rallies across major roads going into KL
• showcasing the nobility of Bersih 2.0 and the Rakyat
• and you can figure out the next dozen or so repercussions.

At this stage, any number of people walking to the Merdeka Stadium will have proven an additional point – the people’s peaceful resolve cannot be stopped even in the face of Police and Government insincerity, double talk and warpped logic.

In trying to stop what they call an illegal rally, they have started numerous illegal rallies on the road. And if they think these motorists are going to be so happy with the Police and the BN Government for doing this, they are so wrong.

Loss of Business
By locking down KL, the Police has caused massive hardship to KL business for the past few days. Where are those who claimed that Bersih 2.0 Walk for Democracy is bad for business? Long before the walk, the Government and the Police are killing the KL business and it will go into the hundreds of million if not billion Ringgit loss! Thanks to a pro-stop business police and government who have gone mad over a yet to happen peaceful event. At this stage, Bersih 2.0 is absolutely peaceful – it has not even happened yet but the government and police reaction is like there are terrorists about to take over the city!

Who is Disloyal to King and Country?
The peaceful Malaysians have been pushed beyond tipping point and have now clearly seen the political selfishness even to ignore and go against the King’s advice. So who is disloyal to King and Country? You have the answer.

Bersih 2.0 has been given a new determination now that the PM is insincere, Home Minister is mad and illogical, DPM who is blind to fairness and the IGP who is too eager to serve his political master rather than the master of the country – we Malaysians!

No matter how it turns out today, almost all observers believe that the undecided voters, young voters, slow to action voters, BN voters who are doubting the coalition, are all going to vote the opposition to vent their anger and give the Opposition a chance to turn the country aroundand make it better.