Well, it looks that the information Minister will have to eat his own
words. He will have to believe what he sees. His eyes are not playing
tricks. It is indeed true that concerned Malaysians did turn up in their
thousands to demand for clean and fair elections.
They were not intimidated by the heavy presence of the police and the
FRU; they were not discouraged by the water cannons or the riot police
with their shields and batons. These are brave Malaysians who have had
enough of the arrogance of the powers-that-be. They are here to
demonstrate to the democratic world that there are Malaysians who are
prepared to stand up and march for justice.
In his arrogance, the Minister of Information sneered, “Do you believe
thousands of people will be coming for the rally? Don’t be so silly as
to be taken in by them,” he said, adding that even the Umno annual
meeting could not gather such a number of people.
Well Zam, what have you to say now? These are ordinary people who don’t
need to be enticed with pocket money, transport and nasi bongkus. When
you genuinely walk for justice, you are driven by noble ideals and
propelled by sincerity. It is this commitment to the values that we hold
dearly that has brought out people in solidarity to raise an issue and
to state a point.
What has Nazri to say about this mammoth crowd who braved the rain and
faced the risks involved and displayed an indomitable spirit to seek
justice and right the wrong? He had haughtily dismissed the crowd of
2,000 odd lawyers who also had marched in an attempt to stop the rot in
the judiciary as being in the minority.
Well, Nazri if you had dared to persuade the police to allow the
proposed march to proceed unhindered, then you would have witnessed a
crowd that would have been bigger than the Kesas Highway gathering.
It is because the Barisan government does not want the people of
Malaysia to witness how upset and unhappy many Malaysians are, that is
the sole reason that they had brought in their mighty strength
represented by the police and the FRU with the sole purpose of
disrupting the gathering. In this way they had hoped that Malaysians
will not get to witness the truth that exposed their lies and distortions.
What took place today was a peaceful, democratic and legitimate exercise
undertaken by concerned Malaysians to seek a remedy for our tainted,
lopsided elections. Whatever may be said in defence of the Election
Commission or the manner in which elections take place in our country,
the truth is that there has never been equal opportunity to fight clean
and fair in the general elections. It has been always tilted in favour
of the Barisan Nasional which abuses the state facilities and state
coffers to entice the electorate that must be seen by any impartial
observer as clearly constituting corruption.
P. Ramakrishnan
President of Aliran
10 November 2007
I wanted to go but couldn’t for some personal reason and I apologise for that
I got a big kick from listening to Zainuddin’s reply to Al Jazaree’s questions – Zam is obviously not cut out to present Malaysia as a civilised country by the way he stammer in his English, launching personal attacks,jumping into his denial mode rivalling the lying Iraqi Information Minister while US troops were getting into the Iraqi capital.
To save Zam from further embarrassment, gomen has banned that segment in Malaysia but the rest of the owrld can watch the segment and judge for themselves.
Will we see AL Jazaree thrown out of Malaysia like what Dr M did to BBC all those years ago?
The response of Najib, that the gomen can “monilise even more supportes” reflect the confidence (arrogance?) of the present administration and suggest possible further abuse of public funds to hire mock protestors (not unlike those hired to cry in Taiwan funerals)
Teresa, how did we get into the morass of having a government that, although purported elected by the people, is doing everything in its power to go against their wishes and interests?
I think that this subject will make an interesting thesis for anyone taking a PhD in Malaysian politics or psychology.