Was Bersih 3.0 So Bersih After All?

Okay peeps. Bersih 3.0 is over. You’ve seen the videos. You’ve seen the pictures. You’ve seen the damage. Both sides have claimed victory and blamed the other side. The expected finger pointing and blame laying is in full swing currently.

If you were one of those who marched for Bersih and for Dumbiga don’t you feel cheated? Don’t you feel that the part you wanted to play for your country’s future, your sacrifice to face possible bodily harm was instead cheaply purchased for the propagation of the opposition’s agenda?

If any rational Malaysian needs further proof that the opposition had unfairly hijacked Bersih 3.0, the provocative action of breaching Dataran Merdeka was it. It is in effect the final nail in the coffin for the independence and civil-society orientation of Bersih 3.0.

To be fair to Dumbiga, she did clearly urge the crowd to disperse before the tear gas and water cannons were fired because she felt that the objectives of the rally were achieved.

But one group who were there for other reasons clearly did not listen. The agent provocateurs instead listened to Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali who allegedly pushed them hard to break down the barriers the police had constructed.

The police did not put up roadblocks into KL the night before like they did during Bersih 2.0, and allowed protestors to walk through KL in the right spirit which was almost carnival like. Azmin’s alleged urging of breaking down barriers that a Court Judge had effectively ordered the police to erect was the catalyst they had been waiting for to ensure that adequate provocation was carried out. Azmin has since denied that he did any such thing.

In hindsight, weren’t DAP Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz’s concerns right?

Well enough of my “I told you so” lecture. Instead, I’ll let Mohd Johan Nasir speak for me. Those of you who know Johan know that he’s a smart and savvy guy. Never loses his cool.

He’s also in his young 30’s and is a very successful multipreneur, the exact demographic that makes up the bulk of Bersih supporters. The difference is Johan uses his brain. I have obtained his permission to quote from his facebook page:

I question.. What's the point? All that hassle to send a message to the govt & PM "as if" they really will listen? As if they don't already know? Claim "I was there" to be part of the whole drama to "make a difference"? Like reeeaally? Suffer the crowds, heat, inconvenience of closed LRT stations, then complain of police unfairness and violence with tear gas and water cannons when there are people in the crowd who really just want to cause trouble and by those who don't really understand what Bersih is even about. Sure we all want what Bersih wants and i believe change will eventually happen. Claim it is your civil rights etc.. but here's the logic. Politics is politics. Politicians see huge crowds all the time, for party gatherings, protest, election campaigns, etc. They're not even flinching. Everyone want's this and that. People get paid off to create propaganda, even at RMX00 per person for Bersih. It's the Flashmob effect. You pay off enough people to make enough noise, eventually the bystander crowds join in. Then the social media and foreign news lap it all up. It's all orchestrated propaganda. Yellow T-shirt sellers, tear gas mask vendors, drink sellers are the only ones who benefits. Whoopee.. Wow! Real smart.. Claps hands sarcastically.

One government change to another really doesn't solve all the rakyat's problems and neither does it guarantee the cleanliness of elections anywhere. There will always be powers that be that pulls the strings eventually on a long term after the short term crowd dies down. Really the world has bigger problems

That i agree with.. but that only works in an ideal world. If there's anything that history has taught us, it's that this story is like a never ending reboot with just different pawns playing the bad guy over and over and over again. I believe the population mindset and people is what makes a country great or doomed. Changing the politicians won't solve this issue for Malaysia, clean elections or not.

Where haven't i heard that before.. and then the so called "wise public people" elects another politician, regardless of party, promising this and that, and then realizes that the "system" doesn't really make that "change" possible because of "bureaucracy" and is busy dealing with 1001 cries of this and that problem, then the "wise public people" gets unhappy again.. we all wear Yellow again to remind the politician.. "lu lansi, gua bunohan luu laa" .. we go voting.. and the majority "non-wise public people" who makes up the votes puts another "innocent angelic politician" in power and the cycle begins over and over and over again until well.. earth explodes with pink unicorns and candy and we all live happily ever after. The end.

Exactly.. I worry for Malaysia's economy and financial stability if DSAI ever came into power.. His political track record is crap. He messed up as Education and Finance Ministers posts last time with silly detrimental policies. We all want clean elections. Fair demand. I want clean capable politicians. Can?

Like i said before, i agree with most the points of what Bersih wants, it is what everyone wants anyway and should be a standard practice by all countries. Clean elections etc. Yes as a rakyat, the sentiments are very loud and clear already and we all have our grievances with our elected leaders. To me, the gathering doesn't already proof a point that has already been said before.

Unfortunately, there are some with other political and emotionally biased agenda's which spoils it for everyone else by merging two separate matters. Go out and vote, choose wisely, let the results change the fate of our country and hopefully for everyone that was there, everything that we want, becomes a reality. I'm not so optimistic of that either.

I think Kenny assumes and thinks we live in an ignorant bubble & enjoying the benefits of the 'system', and that we are on an intellect high ground who can't tell the difference about why people are so passionate about Bersih or that we are super happy with the present government etc etc.. Lolz!

There are those who take sides and will never see eye to eye because they believe in something with conviction (sometimes very admirable in the right situation, there are many examples) and then there are those who are willing to educate themselves enough to know both sides of the story and sees the bigger picture with a better perspective.

Tomorrow, something else will happen in the world. The next day, something else. Eventually, you realize it's just constant noise and it really doesn't matter because there's no way to please everyone. BN or PKR, they will all buy Hermes handbags eventually.

If what Johan has to say about Bersih 3.0 piques your interest, go read his facebook page.

Bersih 3.0 For Dummies

 

In the greater interest of democracy, both the Government and Bersih 3.0 organizers have to strike a compromise on where to hold the sit-in protest.

I’m certain the student activists who had been camping at Dataran Merdeka did not know that their occupation was illegal under DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) by-laws.

The 10-year-old by-law cites a long list of restrictions, like the offense under by-Law 4(a), for example, which reads: “No person shall, unless approved by the Commissioner in writing, eat any food, drink or smoke any cigarette, cigar or any tobacco in Dataran Merdeka.”

There are 18 other offenses under the same law, including plucking leaves, branches, flowers or seeds of any plant, spitting, urinating or defecating and erecting tents and lying down to sleep in the square without the permission of the Commissioner.

By-Law 6 states that it is an offense to remain in Dataran Merdeka between 1am and 6am.

What should interest us is under by-Law 8 - assemblies, demonstrations, meetings or gatherings or any other activity are prohibited unless exempted with a permit issued by the Commissioner.

Those breaching the rules can be charged and on conviction, be liable to a fine of RM2,000, be jailed for a year or both.

But apparently we have come to a stage where people just don’t give a shit about laws when it comes to taking political sides. Yes, even those who profess the law as their profession and at one time headed the Bar Council.

DBKL has rejected Bersih 3.0’s request to hold its sit-in protest at Dataran Merdeka this Saturday 28th April. The square has since been cordoned off to prevent any kind of demonstration.

The managements of both Bukit Jalil National Stadium and Stadium Merdeka have offered these as venues but the Bersih 3.0 steering committee have been adamant that their protest would go on as planned at Dataran Merdeka.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein tweeted “The issue here is not the sit-in protest but the location. We have no problem if they have it at Stadium Merdeka, Bukit Jalil, Cheras or Titiwangsa.

So what is it that has put civility and common sense on the back burner as the Bersih 3.0 committee charges ahead hell bent on a collision course with the authorities?  

Apparently all that matters is hatred for the other side which justifies everything. Or does Ambiga have an agenda of her own? I’m not ruling out political ambitions.

So, what can we expect on Saturday?

Those who are on neither side of the fence can only hope that good sense will prevail, and both the Government and Bersih 3.0 organizers will come to a compromise in the greater interest of Malaysian democracy.

We will all end up losing if this is just about a show of power by both sides.

Surely, politics cannot be about “they are always wrong and we are always right” or “we are good and they are evil’. Sadly our public discourses, especially in cyberspace and on social networking sites has really come down to this state.

The rants are akin to what is diagnosed as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), a mental condition characterized by a pattern of angry, antagonistic, hostile, negative, irritable, and/or vindictive behavior.

ODD, a relatively new clinical classification, involves an ongoing pattern of defiant and hostile conduct toward parents or other authority figures.

Children and adolescents with ODD often have frequent temper tantrums, blame others for their misbehavior, argue all the time, refuse to comply with rules and requests, defy adults and are easily annoyed by others.

But of course, those afflicted with such a condition think that they are perfect and beyond reproach. Which is kinda sad for the herd being manipulated, and the mindless monkey see monkey doers.

Indonesia issues fresh tsunami warning after 8.2 aftershock

Update

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially issued a tsunami watch for the entire Indian Ocean, but the watch has been cancelled.

  

[Updated at 9:04 a.m. ET] The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has cancelled its tsunami watch in the Indian Ocean.

"Sea level readings now indicate that the threat had diminished or is over for most areas," the center said.

Indonesia has issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.

The first 8.6-magnitude quake off Aceh province, hours earlier, spawned a wave around 80 centimeters high but caused no serious damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the strong tremor that followed was centred 16 kilometers beneath the ocean around 615 kilometers from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. It includes Sumatra island and the Mentawai islands.

Hours earlier, a massive earthquake off Indonesia’s western coast triggered a tsunami watch for countries across the Indian Ocean today, clogging streets with traffic as residents fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.

Two hours after the quake hit, however, there was no sign of the feared wave. Damage also appeared to be minimal.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude quake was centered 33 kilometers beneath the ocean floor around 434 kilometers from Aceh province.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.

Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra’s fault lines, says the tremor was a strike-slip quake, not a thrust quake. In a strike slip quake, the earth moves horizontally rather than vertically and doesn’t displace large volumes of water.

“When I first saw this was an 8.7 near Sumatra, I was fearing the worst,” he said, noting one of the initial reported magnitudes for the quake. “But as soon as I discovered what type of earthquake it was, then I felt a lot better.”

The tremor was felt here in Malaysia, where it caused high-rise buildings to shake for several minutes, and in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.

There was chaos in the streets of Aceh, where memories of a 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province alone, are still raw.

Patients poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut.

Hours after the tremor, people were still standing outside their homes and offices, afraid to go back inside.

There were several strong aftershocks.

Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Center issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country’s west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.

India’s Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for parts of the eastern Andaman and Nicobar islands. In Tamil Nadu in southern India, police cordoned off the beach and used loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.

Satheesh Shenoi, director of the Indian National Center for Ocean information Services, said the chance of a tsunami was diminishing.

“There are no indications of tsunami wave; the instruments are not showing any sea level change,” he said.

The quake was felt in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where many people in the city’s commercial Motijheel district left their offices and homes in panic and ran into the streets. No damage or causalities were reported.

In Male, the capital of the Maldives, buildings were evacuated.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, most of them in Aceh

Bersih 3.0 Potential Particiants Should Seriously Read This

It would seem that they never learn. It would seem that Malaysians are doomed to the “Monkey see, monkey do” herd mentality. Its cool to bash the ruling government, isn’t it?. See how brave I am. I have a yellow bersih picbadge on my facebook and twitter. I am not afraid. Heck, I’m a Hero amongst my friends.

How else can you explain Bersih 3.0? 

Make no mistake. In reality, Bersih's leadership along with Anwar and their host of foreign sponsors are attempting to galvanize the very real grievances of the ordinary Malaysian and exploit    them to propel themselves into power.

While many may be tempted to suggest that "clean and fair elections" truly are Bersih's goal, and that US funding via NED's NDI and billionaire bankster George Soros' Open Society are entirely innocuous, a thorough examination of these organizations, how they operate, and their admitted agenda reveals the proverbial cliff Bersih is leading its deaf, dumb and blind followers and the nation of Malaysia over.

Three years after the political tsunami of 2008, Ambiga took to the streets despite being asked not to by HRH Tuanku Mizan. As a well versed lawyer, she appeared to back down after the audience with HRH Tuanku, and when Khalid Ibrahim offered Melawati Stadium, it appeared that KL would be free from the street demonstration.

However as we all know, this was not to be. Ambiga went ahead with the gathering in central KL. Why? Only she knew at that time, but things became clearer for the thinking man during her post bersih 2.0 press conference when we saw who she was seated with.

If you are sincerely fighting for the the noble cause of “Free and fair elections” then you should plant yourself squarely in the middle. You should not take sides. You should be apolitical in your quest for the rakyat.

So if you have half a brain, and you actually read this post in its entirety, you will seriously rethink the 'Free and fair elections' bullshit too.

Still not convinced? Were you not shocked by the naked political ambition of Ambiga smiling along with her Pakatan buddies on billboards all over Selangor? True, the billboards were hastily ordered to be brought down after the Pakatan dudes realized what they had done, but the fact still speaks volumes, doesn’t it?   

The BN gomen has said that the Bersih 3.0 rally planned for April 28th can go ahead as long as it did not contravene the law, including the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. The B 3.0 organisers, calling for immediate electoral reforms ad nauseum, have named Dataran Merdeka as their venue of choice.

It would appear that the gomen and Police have matured via their experience in handling the recent Anwar verdict at the Jalan Duta court complex so well, and do not consider B 3.0 a security issue, but have called the organisers to talk to the police to determine a suitable venue for their gathering. They have also advised the participants that they can assemble, but they cannot disrupt public order.

So give credit where credit is due - the gomen has wised up and done their part this time. YOU the possible participant should engage the Election Commission and get answers to all questions posed by Bersih 2.0 in their meeting held with the EC last November. All the information is available on the EC's website. Go read it and educate yourself.

Now start questioning what Bersih 3.0 is hiding from you, the herd that believed that you actually walked for 'Free and Fair Elections' in B 1.0 and B 2.0.

Spend a few minutes of your precious time, and be surprised to find out which yellow brick road Bersih 3.0 wants to bring Malaysia down to.

click to enlarge lah

Malaysians now face a crossroad and must decide for themselves if they will clean up their government themselves through pragmatism, truly independent grassroots activism, and technical solutions to solve the problems they face as a sovereign nation, or if they will follow a feckless, self-defeating political agenda manipulated and led by foreign interests, dividing and destabilizing their nation so that foreign powers can sweep into power their stooges and once again direct Malaysia's destiny for them, to the ruin of all Malaysians.

Still have time on your hands? Go read this:

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/07/malaysias-bersih-facade-of-clean.html

Image credits:

monkey image stolen from www.budakhutan.com
NDI programs image swiped from Land Destroyer
billboard image pinched from Rockybru