The Wall Street Journal says the silent majority has been awakened and will speak up against the Najib administration.
In today’s edition of the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), it said because of the harsh response to the rally, the silent majority has been awakened and will speak up.
The newspaper called it “Crackdown 2.0″ and pointed out that the clampdown had only strengthened the opposition Pakatan Rakyat and also noted that it will also trigger a voter backlash against the ruling front.
“On Sunday, Mr Najib called on the ‘silent majority’ of Malaysians, who he claims opposed Bersih, to speak up. If he continues to create an environment of fear and repression, he may find this silent majority speaking up soon, but against him,” the newspaper said.
Najib had described the rally as a failure and said the small numbers that turned up for the protest showed the majority did not support Bersih’s cause. He called them the “silent majority”.
Riot police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water at what Bersih leaders claimed to be 50,000 supporters and arrested close to 1,700 people including the group’s top leaders and prominent opposition lawmakers.
Crackdown backfired
Describing the crackdown as “little surprise given the government’s actions before the rally”, the WSJ said the Najib administration’s effort to “intimidate the organisers” only backfired and failed to deter protesters from coming.
The WSJ said the rally was testament to Malaysians’ want for “a more competitive political system than what they have” but the newspaper believe “Prime Minister Najib Razak isn’t prepared to give it to them” judging from how the rally was managed.
Bersih, a coalition for electoral reform consisting of 62 NGOs, defied police instructions and took the protest to the streets after Najib refused to allow the gathering to take place in the historic Stadium Merdeka where Malaya declared its independence in 1957.
The premier’s refusal came just after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in an unprecedented event, called on his administration to meet Bersih and discuss the issue of free and fair elections amid heightened tension in the build up to the rally.
Various quarters including international observers saw the Najib administration’s hardball response to Bersih a blatant disrespect to the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin’s wish although the government attempted hard to paint Bersih and the opposition as “traitors who have defied the King’s good will gesture”.
The WSJ believed government’s attempt to blame Bersih for the chaos that erupted on Saturday would only spark future protests due to simmering public anger rising from inflationary pressure and slow reforms.
The newspaper concluded that “Saturday’s turnout is a sign that Malaysians also understand the link between true democracy and good government”.
No comments:
Post a Comment