It looks like Umno is finalizing its trap to nail Opposition Leader
Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy Azmin Ali for the enormously successful
Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections.
PKR Rasah division leader Thanggam Raju, who is now in the police lockup
at the Balai Polis Jinjang, is due to be remanded. No details are
available yet.
Thanggam is the 'Indian man' that Umno bloggers have accused of opening
the barricade gates after receiving instructions from Azmin and Anwar.
"They are linking him with the breaking of the barricade and using him to get to Azmin," PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.
"Thanggam's arrest is a propaganda move by the BN to portray Pakatan
Rakyat as the agressors at the Bersih 3.0 rally. I expect they may be
more such unlawful propaganda arrests.
But why haven't the police been made accountable and punished?
If
true, then this is the umpteenth time Prime Minister Najib Razak and
his administration have resorted to unscrupulous and strong-arm tactics
to blame the Pakatan.
After all, whoever it was who opened the barricade's gate, it still does
not absolve the police from their excessive, dangerous and overly
brutal response.
In the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally of 2011, there was a similar pattern of
denial and obstruction. A classic case was the police firing tear gas
into the grounds of the Tung Shin Hospital, but refusing to admit it.
MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai, who also the Health minister, and
Chua Soi Lek, the MCA president, were roped in to help in the charade to
defend the police. Eventually, Liow was forced to apologize but the
police were unpunished.
It looks like history is now repeating itself, with the drama and noise
turned to the maximum to direct blame at Anwar and Azmin, while
delecting attention that nearly 300,000 Malaysians had spoken up against
Najib's rule.
"Why has no policeman been arrested for the criminal attacks upon the
public on April 28. Why no action on the arrests ad assaults of
journalists. BN is acting like the Nazis," said Surendran.
Making use of the press and City Hall
At
their post-Bersih press conference held on Monday, Anwar and Azmin had
condemned the police violence and rebutted accusations that they were
the ones who gave the signal for the crowd to breach a police barricade.
One of the journalist present, however, stood up and said he heard Azmin say, “Dataran Merdeka…can enter..can enter”.
“Lies”, Azmin immediately refuted the allegation.
Some have called the current finger-pointing a 'blame game' but that might be a bit too naive.
During the height of the Datuk T sex DVD scandal against Anwar, it was
found that top editors of the mainstream media were not only briefed
about the scandal, but they had actually helped Najib's media advisers
concoct the conspiracy aimed to destroy Anwar's credibility.
But the plot failed and Anwar and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition is now
rated as being poised to wrest the federal government. As such, the
likelihood is high that Najib has once again made full use of the
mainstream media and its staff to pursue his political ambitions.
Indeed, just a day ago, Surendran revealed that Najib's cousin - Home
Minister Hishammuddin Hussein - had called a meeting of top editors,
waring them not to report on the police violence.
Nonetheless, Hisham's order could not stop furious rally participants
from bombarding You Tube and the Internet with thousands of photos and
video clips that showed the police did really over-react. In many
instances, the police were caught going after their quarry in groups of 7
to 8 - often versus only a solitary and unarmed victim.
Deflecting attention that 300,000 came to protest Najib's rule
The
press was also warned to downplay the size of the Bersih 3.0 turnout as
this could affect voter confidence in Najib's BN coalition, which is
still trying to hold snap polls as early as possible. More than 250,000
people - i.e. hundreds of thousands - had come to the main rally centre
in Dataran, five other states in the country, and 71 cities in 29
countries.
Yet, the national news agency reported only 25,000 had turned out,
another news portal reported 50,000 while others conceded that 'tens of
thousands came' which carries the implication that the turnout was less
than 100,000.
In defending the police violence, Najib has insisted it was due to a
group of overzealous participants breaking through a barricade that
prompted the severe lash back. He accused Anwar, Azmin and PKR MP for
Batu Tian Chua of giving the signal to the group and instigating the
people to defy the police.
However, Najib was panned for his over-simplistic explanation that does
not answer why then, was the violence not limited to that spot or
section of the vast rally? There are news reports and hundreds of
eye-witness that police had inexplicably chased participants for several
kilometers all over Chinatown, creating some panic and confusion.
Najib was also ridiculed for his explanation that City Hall had refused
to allow the rally to be held in the Dataran because it feared a
long-term Occupy Wall Street-type of situation. But throughout the weeks
of negotiation with Bersih's Ambiga Sreenevasan and Samad Said, not
once did Najib or City Hall mention this reason. Moreover, if long-term
occupation was part of the Bersih 3.0 plan, their supporters could have
sat and occupied the roads nearby to the Dataran instead. But the crowd
dispersed and went home.
Preplanned attack: Demand for liberation heard loud and clear
In
the aftermath of the police violence, the 58-year-old Najib has been
fishing for excuses to wriggle out from a nasty and sensitive political
situation. The police have always been subservient to his Umno party,
and he cannot be seen to punish them without losing their support
eventually.
Signs are indeed emerging his administration had pre-planned the police
attack with the intention to turn the tables on Anwar and Pakatan even
though such a ruthless move would have to come at the expense of public
safety. True or not, Najib also received a helping hand from the Kuala
Lumpur City Hall and the mainstream media.
However, against startling and horrific video and photographic evidence,
public opinion is still with the Bersih 3.0 organizers, Anwar and the
Pakatan Rakyat.
While addicted to politics, Malaysians have tended to be timid, hardly
daring to speak out against the establishment. But the April 28 rally
appears to be a key turning point in the nation's history, with
Malaysians finally breaking out from their shell. If anything, they are
now raring for more. Anwar himself has noticed this and said so.
"The rakyat (people) will commemorate 28 April 2012 as the day Malaysia
woke up and marched for liberation in one voice," said Anwar in a
statement out on Monday.
"We shall not be intimidated by continuous lies spawned by the state
media. We have a much potent and effective media in our hands as the
300,000 rakyat carry the messages of Bersih 3.0 and liberation to every
corner of the nation."
Boomeranging, Najib's headache set to become a migraine
At
the end of the day, it is hard to believe Najib expects Malaysians to
believe in his 'version' of who and what instigated the reprehensible
police crackdown.
Right from the moment Hisham said that Bersih was not a threat to
national security, to City Hall immediately banning the use of the
Dataran, suspicion had swirled. The 11th hour strong-arm tactics of
getting a court order that effectively legitimizes police action if the
crowd tried to get into the Dataran was taken as further confirmation
that bad faith was in the air.
According to Tian, the attack was pre-planned. It was manipulated with
the aim of smearing Anwar and Pakatan, and there was also conspiracy
between Najib's advisers, the City Hall, the police and the BN-linked
media, the PKR vice president said
True or not, it is already boomeranging. Bersih supporters who were
there are already gathering visual and audio evidence that prove there
was indeed a heinous plot to create public disorder - the purpose of
which appears to be to discredit Anwar and the Pakatan.
GE-13
If
Najib succeeds in capitalising on the police attack to whittle down the
Opposition Leader's credibility, some say he might immediately dissolve
Parliament and call for snap polls.
Pundits have warned, the longer Najib waits, the more likely he is to
create even more blunders. Hence, it might be prudent to have the GE-13
sooner rather later while the BN can still hope to garner a simple if
slim victory.
However, even that might be too late. Already, a video put out by the
Najib administration claiming that it was Anwar who gave the green light
has been found to have been 'edited' for the purpose of intentionally
creating a false picture.
Additionally, as more whistle-blowers emerge, Najib will soon find his Bersih 3.0 headache becoming a roaring migraine.
But if he did indeed endanger the safety of people for his own vested interests, then he more than deserves it!
Malaysia Chronicle
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