The Yellow Wave: How Come Opposition-Led?

(Picture from Elizabeth Wong: Rakyat pantang dicabar!. That's 40,000 participants)

On 10th November 2007, 40,000 protesters marched the streets of Kuala Lumpur, braved the rainstorm, conquered their fears and headed towards Istana Negara to submit a Memorandum for a Clean and Fair Election to Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan, the Monarch of Malaysia.

Malaysian Unplug Uncensored had the full text of electoral reform requests from BERSIH Memorandum presented to His Royal Highness. Indeed all the points stated in the article are with good intentions and for the best of the nation.

According to the online paper, The Star, the nation's "Beloved Prime Minister" Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said "Saturday’s street protest in Kuala Lumpur was an attempt to drag the royalty into opposition politics". On top of that, he added that the memorandum being handed over to an Istana Negara official was a move by the opposition to “trap” the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Shocking statements. It is indeed a sad affair that our "Beloved Prime Minister" Pak Lah cannot look beyond the division of politics for the benefit of the nation. If the Rakyat can see the bigger picture, why can't the Administration? BERSIH is actually a coalition of 60 plus Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and a small insignificant number of political parties, of which coincidentally consists of the Opposition. Only 5 to be exact.

UMNO should have tagged along for Clean Election demand


(Picture from Elizabeth Wong: Rakyat pantang dicabar!. That's 40,000 participants)

The demands for a clean election would not look like opposition-led as our "Beloved Prime Minister" claimed (although not a fact) if his ruling party, currently the most powerful in Malaysia by the name of UMNO and its sub-components in Barisan Nasional vow to tag along with BERSIH.

If UMNO or Barisan Nasional (hereafter called BN) under the leadership of our Beloved Pak Lah were to participate, things would definitely had turned out differently. The headlines in papers such as The Star and New Sunday Times could be "UMNO supports BERSIH demands for clean election". Sounds nice. How positive it would have been for BN.

Regrettably, a massive party like UMNO decided not to support BERSIH. In fact, Pak Lah proved his critics wrong (on saying he is sleeping all the time) by giving a strong and confident declaration "Saya pantang dicabar" (I do not like to be challenged). This statement proved himself a powerful person and not weak as some thought. According to Malaysiakini on its 6th November 2007 article, Khairy wants Bersih rally organisers arrested.

It is certainly ironic for the Beloved Son-In-Law of the Beloved Prime Minister to make such a public statement because he is neither a Minister or a Member of Parliament. In a bizarre way, true to his predictions, arrests were indeed made on BERSIH Participants a.k.a Citizens concerned with Malaysia. There are some allegations in the internet that certain journalists are being beaten, tear gas being fired and chemical-laced water cannons being sprayed.

It is unclear (to me) on the reasons UMNO and BN are giving such a resistance to the Peaceful BERSIH Rally demands that are beneficial for the nation as a whole. It is open to readers to guess the possible answers. After all, UMNO and BN have ruled Malaysia since Independence / Merdeka, suffering only from a crisis in 1969. To top it off, there are even calls within the party for another additional 50 years of UMNO, BN rule.

Of course, UMNO, BN ruled by winning in the current election system. 40,000 displeased citizens regardless of political affiliations, groups and parties had taken the difficulty of walking in wet clothes to submit a memorandum to reform the election system in which UMNO and BN have been using and winning all these years.

Why did UMNO not join BERSIH in the rally but resent it so much? (P.S. I must admit I am a pretty stupid person for asking this question)

Citizens do not want His Royal Highness Agong to be 'trapped' with Potential Unclean Elections



(Picture from Kickdefella: Daulat Tuanku!)

Pak Lah stated that there are parties that intend to 'trap' (such negative word) Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and attempt to drag His Majesty into opposition politics. The previous section stated that UMNO should have joined the rally so that it does not become opposition politics. It is still unclear (to me) on why UMNO did not join in.

On the other hand, there is absolutely a main reason that Non-Partisan Citizens a.k.a. BERSIH rally participants from all over Malaysia support the submission of the memorandum. That is because they do not want Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to be 'trapped' by "divide and conquer" politics and "unclean elections". After all the citizens are His Majesty's subjects and His Royal Highness is bound by certain governance on making sure the Parliament is formed legally through Genuine Democracy. After all, this Parliament would represent him in governing his subjects. Unclean and Unfair Elections are equivalent to Sham / False Democracy.

The peaceful BERSIH rally is to campaign for Genuine Democracy.

If there is intention of anyone to say that the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong is not supposed to be in politics, the perception would be totally wrong. After all, Malaysia is a country of Constitutional Monarchy. The word "Monarch" symbolises none other than Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. The Constitution provided certain power for His Royal Highness to react against those who creates Sham Democracy.

The citizens want Genuine Democracy too. That is what the walk is all about. Do you get the point, Pak Lah?

Malaysian Unplug Uncensored posted the article : " What's Next After the Nov 10 People's Rally ? " after the submission of the memorandum for electoral reform.

I am still in a daze, wondering why UMNO or BN would not participate in this event. If it's good for democracy and citizens, why not? I must be a stupid person myself for not being able to figure it out.

Nuff said. :-)

Other posts on BERSIH rally:
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 1
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 2
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 3
The Yellow Wave: How Come Opposition-Led?