A Detached view on Bersih 3.0

I am pleased to share with readers, the thoughts of a frequent visitor to my blog site who writes under the pen-name One Malaysian.  I find his thoughts on Bersih 3.0 very resounding as they come from the heart. You will find answers too to the nitpickers who zoomed in on incidental aspects of the big picture to discredit what Bersih 3.0 symbolizes. What does it symbolize? The courage of the people refusing to be cowed and browbeaten into accepting the evil machinations of an unpopular regime. Sakmongkol. 

I reproduced here, the thoughts of One Malaysian , verbatim. Bless him.

Being away from the country when it all happened allowed me to see the event with the same disinterest as a judge sees a case unfolding before him. I wasn’t caught up in the intimacy of the moment; I did not feel the tensions, the emotions. But I saw it through the independent eyes of the BBC and Al Jazeera, reporting without the ASTRO censorship.

For 3 days I didn’t even open my email, so I didn’t see the many first-hand accounts by participants, and the many pictures that I subsequently received. I had to think if the crowd was 50,000 as reported by the Police or 250,000 as claimed by Ambiga. But having examined the photos, I think the number is closer to the Ambiga number. And this was collaborated by first-hand accounts by people whom I know and trust.

My thoughts are these.

First, we must pay a tremendous tribute to the people of Malaysia for showing courage to want to win their freedom in a peaceful way. Yes, there were a few isolated incidents. We need not worry who caused them. But it is enough that they were very small, and compared to the significance of the occasion, those few isolated incidences are nothing.

Bersih 3.0 was basically a spontaneous out-pouring of the frustrations of Malaysians. Ambiga and her brave gang had initiated the idea, and that really was all to it. The 250,000 Malaysians were not paid by anyone to participate. They knew there could be Police violence. They braved it to participate. They came from all walks of life, young and old, and included people who live in the upper reaches of society, people who are normally indifferent to this sort of events. But they all came, and they sat there. This fact should tell Najib something. It should also tell us to take the Merdeka 69% approval rating of Najib with a big serving of salt. If that number were true Bersih 3.0 would have been a damp squib.

Second, it is obvious that the government, and in particular people like Najib, Hishamuddin and the Police, have totally misread the public. They have believed their own lies. They did not believe that there could have been 250,000 people that the races could unite, that money could not buy loyalty. Now they know. But more importantly, the people now realize they have the power to change the government.

Third, Najib must be a fool to think that the so-called reforms that he had initiated are an adequate answer to the wishes and aspirations of the people. They were not. He has to go back to the drawing board. No, I really don’t think he has the time.

Fourth, I wonder if Najib and Hishamuddin had ever thought the “what if” questions? What if they had allowed the people to assemble at Dataran Merdeka (perhaps we should henceforth call it Dataran Rakyat)? What if they had minimal Police presence and without those FRU men with chemical water trucks and tear gas guns? What if there were no barricades at all? 250,000 people would have assembled peacefully, trampled on some grass and made cricket unplayable for a couple of weeks, but it would have taken the wind out of Bersih’s sails. He would have demonstrated that he really had meant to bring about changes, and he proved it. He would have been the liberation hero. He would have been the renaissance PM.

No, he screwed up. He wasn’t up to it. He didn’t believe in the things he said he would do. He had no brains, no guts and no good intentions. He was just a showman. A simple lady without huge PR machinery, a Police force and government backing, showed him up for what he really is – a weak man unfit to be our PM.