MP William Leong Has Important Piece on Bersih2.0 Rally

BERSIH 2.0 EXPOSED NAJIB’S ERODING LEGITIMACY TO GOVERN

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in using brute force and spin doctors in the BN-controlled media to stop the Bersih 2.0 rally lost the game even before it started. Ambiga Sreenevasan, chairman of the coalition of NGOs, told the press conference in the early afternoon of 9^th July that Bersih 2.0 had achieved its objectives even before the first step in the march for electoral reforms was taken. Najib’s attempt to derail the rally exposed the eroding legitimacy of his administration to govern. Just like all the King’s horses and all the King’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again, all of Najib’s police and spin doctors cannot repair the damage he has done to his own administration.

The real meaning of the nursery rhyme is illustrative of what happened to Malaysian society on 9^th July 2011:-

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men,

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Joyce and Barry Vissell in their website, Support4Change.com, gave a very interesting explanation on the real meaning of Humpty Dumpty which I would like to share with some adaptation on what I see is the real meaning of Bersih 2.0.

Humpty Dumpty was an egg. It is a symbol of fertility, creation and also fragility. The egg holds the potential for the complete life process. The egg is also a symbol of the earth, which is not round but is egg shaped. Humpty Dumpty represents our earth, the Malaysian society. Malaysian society is in an infant stage of development. Like the egg, it has the potential to mature into a developed nation.

Humpty Dumpty was sitting on a wall. A wall always has a deeper meaning. A wall separates two areas. A wall separates the two political ideologies of BN and PR. BN advocates the rigid divisiveness of racial politics, continuation of the NEP and Ketuanan Melayu. PR advocates the liberal integration of multi-racial politics, structural reforms under the New Economic Agenda and the policies of change contained in the Orange Book. Sitting on a wall is like sitting on a fence. The fence sitters are those who are indecisive or who have not decided to take sides. Humpty Dumpty represents the Malaysian “silent majority”. This is the majority of the Malaysian society who until now has not decided which side of the political wall they want to be.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. A fall represents a fall from grace, the descent into darkness, into an abyss of immorality. The actions taken by the Najib administration were wrongful. They have caused distress to Malaysian society. They violated the agreement upon which each of us as citizens have made with our government. Political legitimacy is the belief by the governed in the ruler’s right to issue commands and the people’s corresponding obligation to obey such commands. The citizens agreed to give power to the government and to obey its commands in exchange for the government providing us security, welfare and opportunity to earn a living. The moral authority to use this power is lost when the power is used not for collective good of the people but for personal gain or advantage. To use the government’s powers and authority to stay on in power against the people’s will is an abuse of the power. An example of the illegitimate use of power is the situation where the police carry out a search. The police have the legal power to carry out a search. It is a legitimate use of the power if the search is to investigate a crime. It is an illegitimate use of the power if the search is not to investigate a crime but for some ulterior motive. The moral authority to use the power is lost when its use is illegitimate. Najib lost the moral authority to govern by the actions he had taken to stop the Bersih 2.0 rally:-

a) Najib’s decision to stop the people from gathering is wrong. It was done in keeping with his call for BN to hold on to Putrajaya at all costs. Such a call offends the basic principles of democracy. Only autocrats hold on to power at all costs. Strong democratic leaders know when it is time to change. Autocrats think that to give up power is akin to surrender or death. Abraham Lincoln said “… Nearly all men can withstand adversity, if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”. Autocrats do not lack power but their use of it demonstrates a failure of character. Strong leaders show character in the ultimate test by handing over power according to the will of the people. The call to hold on to Putrajaya at all costs exposes a failure of character ;

b) Najib’s decision to reject Bersih’s call for electoral reforms is wrong. All right thinking persons are aghast that a “democratic professing government” refused to accept Bersih 2.0 demands for electoral reforms. A system of government can only draw legitimacy from the free choice of people expressed through the ballot box. Regimes such as those in the Middle East and Africa lack legitimacy because they do not represent the people. The Arab Spring has shown that such illegitimate regimes are quickly swept away upon the awakening of the people to stand for their rights. Legitimacy is a regime’s most precious asset. Only through legitimacy can its decisions have compelling moral authority for the people to obey. Regimes that cling on to power through false elections or unconstitutional means lack legitimacy. Such regimes can only impose their will on the people through naked and brutal force and oppression. Such regimes do not enjoy the mandate of the people ;

c) Najib’s decision to declare Bersih 2.0 illegal, the organizers an illegal organization and the wearing of yellow T-shirts an offence is wrong. The arbitrary arrest of elected representatives such as Dr Lee Boon Chye, MP for Gopeng, Chan Ming Kai state assemblyman for Simpang Pulai and hundreds of others for wearing yellow T-shirts and distributing Bersih flyers cannot be condoned. The raid by 20 policemen including one armed with an assault rifle on Bersih secretariat and arrest of seven volunteers from the women’s rights group, Empower and seizing of 314 yellow, 90 orange and 136 cream Bersih T-shirts was announced as if it was the seizure of a large consignment of contraband or dangerous drugs. Such actions are not only wrong but are evil when the liberty of Dr Jeyakumar and the 6 others were taken away by detention under the Emergency Ordinance or the Internal Security Act. No one can accept that having T-shirts of any particular colour or with imprints of whosoever person amounts to waging war or the revival of communism. The unlawful detentions carried out in the attempt to stop the rally are reviled by Malaysians. Since the time of Thomas Aquinas and John Locke, all right thinking person accepts that power and authority are given by the people to the government for the purpose of protecting the citizens. The use of power and authority for the personal agenda to stay in government is an abuse of power. The abuse of power in the run up to the rally offended right thinking Malaysians ;

d) The brutal use of force by the police during the rally was wrong. The police shot tear gas canisters directly at the heads of the Pakatan and Bersih leaders. The injuries to Khalid Samad’s head, to Anwar Ibrahim and to his body guard who was hit are clear evidence of the wrong done. The police used a Land Rover to ram into the motorcycle Mat Sabu was riding pillion. Khalid Samad needed 6 stitches to his head. Anwar a neck brace. His body guard surgery to repair the broken cheek bone. Mat Sabu surgery to his knee. This is an example of wanton brutality. The firing of tear gas into Tung Shin Hospital and the maternity wing is a further act of unwarranted and irresponsible use of force. The death of Baharuddin Ahmad is a tragic example of the needless costs incurred for not allowing the people to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly.

All these actions and abuses of power by the Najib administration pushed the silent majority to defy the ban on Bersih 2.0. In the nursery rhyme, we do not know whether the King pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall but in our case, Najib pushed the Malaysian society off the wall. The Malaysian society has been pushed to fall on the side of what will be described in the future as the right side of history.

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

The King’s horses represent the brute strength of the police. No amount of police intimidation could frighten the people. No amount of tear gas, water cannons, police beatings and arrest could deter the people. Pictures and videos taken show the brutality and unwarranted use of force on the peaceful and orderly participants. The beatings carried out by the police on the peaceful demonstrators brought back reminders of the same scene at the salt mines of India. Mahatma Gandhi’s followers were physically beaten by the brute force of the British. In the end the might of the British Empire was beaten by the force of peaceful resistance known as “Ahimsa” – non-violent resistance. The people’s right will prevail over BN’s might.

The King’s men represent human cleverness in the use of disingenuous arguments. It represents the use of the King’s men to spin and stretched the truth by propaganda, misinformation and disinformation. The BN controlled media went into overdrive before and after the rally. Unfortunately for them the truth always prevails and lies are soon exposed. The IGP reported that only 5,000 attended. Pictures of the rally published in the next day’s papers showed the multitudes at the scene. No one believes it was fewer than 50,000. The denial that Tung Shin hospital had been attacked by the police was again contradicted by pictures, videos and testimonies of those who were present at the time. Everyone knows that the traffic jams were caused by the police road blocks. There was no necessity to close the shops. No property was vandalized, destroyed or looted. The attempt to demonize the rally and the participants is proven wrong by the peaceful and orderly behavior of the demonstrators walking hand in hand. The participation of persons like Annie Ooi Siew Lan, a 65 year old retired English teacher who took a bus from Setapak waving a flower throughout the march, dubbed as “Auntie Bersih”, the old, the young and the disabled who came in wheelchairs and on crutches, showed the warnings that the rally was a gathering of troublemakers and vandals were nothing more than lies. These denials, misstatements and lies only serve to undermine the police and the administration’s credibility.

Bersih 2.0 has shown that the Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Najib administration have violated the accepted, proper and valid use of power. The powers were not used for the promotion of the collective interest and welfare of the community but for the ruling elite. The moral legitimacy of these institutions has been eroded. Many Malaysians are disturbed about the unjust use of powers exercised by these institutions. Their moral compass tells them something is seriously amiss. The worst thing that can happen to a regime is to lose its legitimacy and with it the respect of the whole world. We do not need to be rocket scientists to know that something is terribly wrong with the Malaysian administration. We know it is wrong because it is as simple as ABC or the nursery rhyme we learned when young. We may not have known the true meaning of Humpty Dumpty when we learn the nursery rhyme but we are taught to know right from wrong. The thousands who attended the rally is testament to this.

Anwar Ibrahim at a dialogue session with young professionals the day after the rally referred to Ambiga’s quote of Mahatma Gandhi; “The right will always prevail over might”. Anwar added a qualification to this. It also requires the courage of conviction. We salute the 50,000 who braved the administration’s actions to stop the rally. The question is what about the millions of other Malaysians that did not. Edmund Burke said “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. If evil is to be stopped then the good men and women in Malaysia will have to do something.

William Leong Jee Keen

Member of Parliament Selayang

13^th July 2011.