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Bernama
By Alan Ting
KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) -- The April 28 BERSIH rally has undoubtedly, put
the country in a bad light in the eyes of the world, going by images of violence
shown through the various international media.
The opposition pact PKR-DAP-PAS is certainly to be blamed for hijacking the
rally by deliberately breaching the police barrier at the Dataran Merdeka. On
its part, the opposition is blaming the police for its action in dispersing the
crowd.
As pointed out by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, the opposition pact
used the Bersih rally to threaten, condemn and smear the image of the ruling
party, and spread lots of lies, including claiming that the list of voters was
tainted.
Many have blamed the organisers for their short-sightedness in not knowing that
such a rally could easily be hijacked by parties with varied interests,
including opposition parties.
"BERSIH, in terms of organisation skills, does not have any. It depends on
political parties such as those from the opposition pact. That's why, the
opposition took advantage of the situation to smear Malaysia's image," said MCA
Central Committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker when contacted by Bernama. He said,
what happened had raised many questions on the real objective behind BERSIH
organising such a rally, including its intention to remove the government
through street protests.
"The organisers gave a guarantee that the rally would be peaceful but what
happened proved otherwise, when protesters turned violent against the police
through acts like turning over and damaging the police car, which was bought
using public money, and hitting police personnel on duty," he said.
Senior lawyer and former Bar Council member Roger Tan said the Bersih organisers
should be independent and not allow its cause to be taken over or hijacked by
any political party, unless it was already planned to be so.
"You must not only be independent but also seen as independent. You cannot allow
your cause to be taken over by political parties. Once that happens, you lose
all arguments and must accept responsibility," he told Bernama in an interview.
Tan also noted that similar rallies were held at various places throughout the
country on the same day, and all turned out to be peaceful.
"But the trigger point was when the barriers to Dataran Merdeka were forcibly
removed by the crowd. It was bad when for the first time in Malaysia, pictures
and visuals of protesters beating up policemen (in uniform) were flashed all
over the world.
"It shows that our people are generally not mature enough to exercise their
rights peacefully," he said.
Tan said the organisers would have a hard time to convince the people that the
rally was for the improvement of Malaysia's electoral system when some
protesters openly shouted, "Reformasi", a slogan associated with the street
protests when PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as deputy
prime minister.
"I still remember when we started this walk for justice in 2007... (organised)
by the Bar Council. The event was almost hijacked by DAP but we told them off,
that it was the Bar Council event and the Bar Council must handle it," he added.
Therefore, Tan said, when organising an event or rally such as the one on April
28, the organiser must be mindful of the presence of the 'agent provocateur' who
could make the event turn ugly.
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