I can confidently say that the ruling politicians are shivering in their pants, says DAP MP Charles Santiago.
By Charles Santiago
It has been a rather disturbing week. It has also been a circus choreographed by the ruling Umno/BN government and acted out by the police.
Weeding through rambling comments made by Umno leaders, reports about activists and opposition politicians summoned to give statements at police stations and the arrests made by the police ahead of the July 9 Bersih rally, I can confidently say that the ruling politicians are shivering in their pants.
As I write this, the total number of people arrested to thwart the rally has exceeded 80. My colleague Senator Ramakrishnan Suppiah was detained for asking people to join the rally at a DAP dinner on Monday.
Bersih chief S Ambiga and national laureate A Samad Said were also questioned. The renowned poet was interrogated for his poem on the rally, which the police claimed to be seditious.
More people are expected to be arrested in the next two weeks. And the harassment is nothing but pure bully-boy tactic to prevent the tens of thousands of Malaysians from gathering to call for electoral reforms.
Many of those arrested are being investigated for "waging war against the King". These charges are baseless and a mere witch-hunt to stop the rally at all cost.
Bersih is not about the organizers. It is also not about the opposition leaders or prominent civil society representatives. It is a movement by the people to re-claim their right to a clean electoral process.
The government simply does not get this.
Waging war against the King?
When I meet people and find myself discussing about the arrests and warnings issued to stop the rally, their sentiments echo the fact that the government is rattled about peoples' power or the political awakening of a society which has largely been under the grips of the ruling government for more than five decades.
I also sense their anger against a government which would do anything to stay in power. And clearly at the expense of the rakyat.
Bersih is a coalition of 62 non-governmental organizations which zeroes in on meaningful electoral reforms. It has lobbied the Election Commission to reform postal voting, clean-up the electoral role, use indelible ink, allow all parties access to the media and introduce a minimum 21-day campaign period.
The Election Commission has not just shown strong resistance for any reforms but media reports indicate that they have closed the doors to Bersih permanently.
The planned rally is a peaceful gathering by Malaysians to show their dissatisfaction at the current electoral system and demand for changes to nip the abuses such as vote rigging, vote buying, phantom voting and gerrymandering which have been common features all these years.
A memorandum would be sent to the King to ask him to intervene and make the implementation of these reforms possible. How would this amount to "waging war against the King"?
The circus clowns
In the circus I have witnessed over the last week, some politicians have proved themselves to be clowns.
Information, Communication and Culture minister, Rais Yatim, has shot off his mouth saying that PSM were "desperate parties" who were using an "evil and illegal" ideology to gain support for the rally.
He had also said that "spreading communism is against the law". The learned minister could not differentiate socialism from communism.
Ibrahim Ali keeps insisting that Bersih is a covert effort to instigate the Malays to clash against each other. Again these are baseless allegations used to create confusion and fear among the public.
Freedom of assembly, expression and speech are key indices of democracy. They form the backbone of democratic nations. In Malaysia, we see the exact opposite.
Arrests to stop the rally, cloaked warnings and veiled threats are blatant examples of restrictive democracy. Fashioning the rally as an attempt to topple the government is the mark of a dictatorship.
As such, I call on the police to immediately release all the 81 people who have been arrested and stop further arrests.
Stand up to unite
Let's not be cowed into submission by dictators. Let's take to the streets on July 9 to demand for our right to free and fair elections. As I say this, I am reminded of the German theologian Martin Niemoller.
The text of Niemoller's statement is usually presented as follows:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Malaysians need to stand up united to fight against an electoral system which is riddled by abuses to serve the interest of the ruling elite. We cannot allow the high handedness of the government or police to silence us.
Otherwise, when they come for you, there will be no one left to speak out…
Charles Santiago is DAP's MP for Klang
இவ்வாரம் மிகவும் கவலைக்கிடமான வாரமாக தோன்றுகிறது. எத்திசை பார்த்தாலும் மக்களை போலீஸ் கைது செய்துக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றனர் என கிள்ளான் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் சார்ல்ஸ் சந்தியாகோ கூறினார்.
தொழிலாளர்களின் குறைந்த பட்ச சம்பளத்தை நிர்ணயிப்பதற்காக தேசிய சம்பள ஆலோசனை மன்றம் ஒன்றை உருவாக்கியுள்ளனர். அம்மன்றத்தில் எடுக்கப்படும் முடிவுகள் பிரதமர் துறைக்கு கொண்டு செல்லப்படும். ஆயினும் இறுதி முடிவு பிரதமர் துறையில் எடுக்கும் முடிவே ஆகும் என விளக்கிய கிள்ளான் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் சார்ல்ஸ் சந்தியாகோ, அதற்கு அந்த மன்றம் இல்லாமல் இருப்பதே மேல் என்றார்.
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan