Protect against Agitators

Remembering Bersih 3.0 and all that happened, this was my article written following certain violent incidents that took place, not in small part due to the police. A version of this was published in theSun on 4th May 2012.

Protect against Agitators

It would be fairly difficult to avoid the subject that has invaded the news all of the past week, both mainstream and alternative. The incidents that took place in the city centre last Saturday during the Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections have left Malaysians divided as to their responses to the peaceful event that unfortunately turned violent. The bigger question is what impact the rally has on public sentiment towards the ruling government, and the subsequent decision by the Prime Minister on when the 13th General Election will be called.

Before getting to the details of the event, remember that it was the last installation of the rally, Bersih 2.0 held last July, that was catalyst enough for the Prime Minister to set up the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms. Without sufficient pressure, this committee would never have been formed, and the report with recommendations to the Election Commission would not have been issued.

Having said that, let us recall the reasons for which the Bersih 3.0 rally was held. After the report submission, Bersih announced that these reforms were not good enough. Coupled with analytical reports from Dr. Ong Kian Ming about the significant numbers of suspicious voters on the electoral roll, it was decided that a protest was in order – to demonstrate that Bersih and its supporters were serious about their demands to implement these reforms before polls are called. Note, however, that the Election Commission had not yet responded to the PSC report and whether or not these recommendations would be taken up.

Bersih 3.0 Rally Day 

So, Bersih 3.0 was held to call for a free and fair election, as a peaceful sit-in. And things could have stayed that way, if only the application for the selected venue could have been approved accordingly. If permission for the said venue was granted, and plans made to facilitate easy access for the public to proceed there and back, the planned-for sit-in would have ended in all of two hours. The festival-like environment with yellow balloons, ribbons and balls – which were present at the start – would have been all there was to it.

But that’s not realpolitik, is it? A court order was obtained to render Dataran Merdeka off-limits to the public for four days, starting from the 28th April. Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan respected the law and committed not to traverse the barricade of barb wire set up all round the area. However, it is worth asking on what grounds the constitutional right to freedom of assembly –  as guaranteed under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution – was denied. What would the police’s standard operating procedure be from hereon?

There is a range of reports and speculation as to the culprits behind the breaking of the barrier. At the time of writing, there exists insufficient evidence to prove that any one person or persons were responsible for this. It could have been a combination of factors. Suffice to say that the minute the boundary line was crossed, the police took that as a cue to react. And react they did.

Some issues therefore crop up, which need some serious probing and resolving. First, to what extent was the response of the police legitimate? Were its actions of firing teargas and water cannons all the way down to roads many kilometres away, and allegedly beating protestors, commensurate with the reported provocation by protestors? Second, related to the first, why did the police seemingly target the media, by arresting journalists and photographers, and taking away their cameras?

The third and most troubling issue is, who ought to claim responsibility over protestors who did behave like hooligans, throwing bottles of water and broken concrete slabs at the police? Now, this is a difficult question to answer given that anyone who wore a yellow t-shirt that fated Saturday would be pointed at by the government and accused of being a Bersih supporter. Easy enough, isn’t it? So, how then could Bersih (or any other protest organiser) protect itself from potential agent provocateurs in the future?

Lessons for the future

One simple but tedious solution is one that stems from the experience of Indonesian activists that organise rallies regularly on a range of various issues, namely to pre-register protestors weeks beforehand. Each locality, say Taman Tun, or Bukit Bintang, would have a leader to whom anyone wanting to attend a rally would need to submit their names and identity card numbers. Anyone who is later caught causing trouble or bringing weapons, and is not on the registered list, is not the responsibility of the rally organiser.

This would require some massive co-ordination and early preparation, but it is well worth it. If good organisation is not possible, then perhaps such a rally should not be organised at all.

Finally, political parties should play an insignificant role in rallies which are not theirs to begin with. This would allow for a cleaner and neater separation of causes, and champions behind those causes – thereby allowing some legitimacy and empowerment of those who claim neutrality of campaigns and movements.

Mainstream media has to date painted an ugly picture of the Bersih 3.0 rally, naming and shaming the protestors as violent and unruly. Sadly, this fails to capture the spirit of most of the people present that day. If public perception swings to the ruling coalition based on these accusations, and the Prime Minister makes the decision to call for an early election, Malaysians will witness how well a peaceful gathering-turned-chaotic was maneouvred to a certain side’s advantage. This was, after all, a violent ending that could well have been avoided from the very beginning.

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