Najib Tun Razak Says Street Demonstrations Such As Bersih Rally Not Part of Malaysian Culture, Conveniently Forgets Malayan Union Protests

Hypocrisy Meter from theblogprof.

In response to the Bersih Rally, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister said to The Star that ‘Malaysians should not go to the streets to voice their dissent, as street demonstrations were not part of Malaysian culture’.

From The Star 12 Nov 2007:

   

Soooooo… Okay. According to the second highest authority in the current Malaysian leadership, ‘Street demonstrations are not part of Malaysian culture’.

O RLY?????

Then what do you call this:

Begging for SPCA donations? Advertising for Maxis? (Since Digi-man is yellow and therefore must be supporting Bersih. See bottom of my Bersih Rally post.)

The very un-Malaysian street demonstrations against the Malayan Union were what gave birth to the Federation of Malaya to replace it, and the Federation was later succeeded by Malaysia.

So perhaps Najib can be said to be correct – Street demonstrations are NOT part of Malaysian culture.

Instead it’s the other way around, Malaysian culture IS PART OF street demonstrations, since the street demonstrations against the Malayan Union gave birth to Malaysian culture!

By the reasoning of the Deputy PM, the protests against the Malayan Union were also therefore ‘not part of Malaysian culture’.

Zainuddin would then have added that the UMNO marchers opposing the British should have been broken up with tear gas and water cannon, and the movement smeared as illegal and unsupported by the people in the then Jawi-language-only Utusan Melayu. (See video links in my Bersih Rally post.)

As a result, Malay special rights would not have been preserved. Go on Najib, I dare you: Denounce the anti-Malayan Union demonstrators as traitors to ‘Malaysian culture’. I can tell you that it won’t be Chinese blood soaking your keris after the UMNO gang-bangers catch up with you.

Above is Poster #4 from Malaysian Politics Motivational Posters

Related posts:

2007 Bersih Rally – Super Cover Up Job by Government and Mainstream Media

The Star Whitewashes Police Violence at the Bersih Rally as ‘Tact and Finesse’

Megaton Punch! UMNO Supporters Punch Guangming Daily Press Photographer

Ambush Mount Everest Hits From Malaysiakini

20 November 2007 is my most hits ever day! So far.

2750 hits! Just look at that Mount Everest steep incline, ambushing the gentle meandering river of moderate  hits like a Richter 9.0 quake that births new mountain ranges! The majority of which came from Malaysiakini’s blog tracker.

As you can see from the above stats, the three main culprits were my posts on recent government/police/UMNO bullying:

2007 Bersih Rally – Super Cover Up Job by Government and Mainstream Media

The Star Whitewashes Police Violence at the Bersih Rally as ‘Tact and Finesse’

Megaton Punch! UMNO Supporters Punch Guangming Daily Press Photographer

Malaysiakini caused my previous most hits on 1 November 2007, the smaller mountain worth 1671 hits.

That one was due to new comments on my old post Malaysiakini: Are US News Agencies Biased Against Palestine?

And long ago, I already posted in No, I’m Sorry, Your Blog Isn’t Really That Popular – It’s Just Malaysiakini and 200 Hits For My Green Carrot on the relationship between mentioning Malaysiakini on a blog, the Malaysiakini tracker listing that blog, and that blog’s hit spiking suddenly and temporarily.

Thus, I notice, the trend of various bloggers to include Malaysiakini in the Tags of their posts, even if the post has nothing to do with Malaysiakini.

Dishonest jacking up of hits? But since it works both ways, free advertising for both the blog and Malaysiakini, I suppose it’s ‘fair play’. But I won’t resort to that artificial tactic.

Much.

But anyway, thanks Malaysiakini auto-blog tracker, and all the curious doods and doodettes who clicked on the link to my (curiosity-ticklingly titled) posts.

UPDATE: 1713 hits on the following day.

     

The Star Whitewashes Police Violence at the Bersih Rally as ‘Tact and Finesse’

In an insipid comment piece on the recent Bersih rally, columnist V.K.Chin at proves that The Star is truly Government Enslaved Media (GEM).

In fact, it’s such a lamely argued article, that I suspect poor Mr Chin was forced to churn out this Government-apologist piece to appease the Print License Overlords.

From The Star 20 Nov 2007. Read especially the parts I highlight in red:

     

And here are the sickeningly partisan parts that make up most of the article, with my refutations to them.

Police handled protest with tact and finesse

COMMENT BY V.K.CHIN

Their fear is justified, even with peaceful ones, since there will always be elements making use of such occasions to start trouble, with people getting hurt and property damaged.

In the case of the Bersih rally, no one started any physical altercations and no one got hurt… Until the police opened up with tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon on the nonviolent marchers.

For starters, people were not interested in the group’s objective of calling for a fair and just election since they have other more serious problems to worry about, such as personal safety due to an increase in criminal activities.

And who is to blame for not controlling the increase in crime? Why, the government of course, duh! The police are obviously better at abusing peaceable citizens than they are at scaring off impudent criminals.

What people were relieved over the latest protest is that there was no violence, and this was due mainly to the way the police dealt with the incident.

Uh, Earth to Government Enslaved Apologist? The police themselves were the source of the only violence during the rally!

The organisers, foreign media and critics would have been disappointed that there were no broken heads or shots fired, which would have made good television coverage.

Many foreign media people and observers were convinced that the police would use force to disperse the crowd. However, the only ‘weapons’ used were water cannons and tear gas, standard equipment for crowd control.

O RLY?????

Then what do you call using a shield to bash an unarmed, frightened and retreating rallier over the head?

     

A walking aid? A prophylactic, perhaps? Video evidence at 1 minute 27 seconds into the link. I wonder how much more un-broken the victim’s head was after that vicious strike.

Above from Malaysian Politics Motivational Posters.

Credit must be given to the police for their tact in handling what could have been an explosive situation. They were not provoked nor attacked by the protesters.

So there was no need to use any force to disperse the crowd and only those who had refused to obey were taken to the police station to have their statements recorded, and they were released within hours.

Absolutely correct! It was the POLICE who provoked and atatcked the protestors, at the behest of their Government masters! The only reason it all didn’t turn explosive was the self-control (and understandable fear) of the Bersih supporters.

As the comment piece says, the polcie were not provoked or attacked by the protestors. So if there was no need to use force since the protestors were nonviolent, then WHY the use of water cannons and tear gas as mentioned a mere two paragraphs earlier in the piece?

On the whole, it was a setback for the organisers in many ways. They could not accuse the police of brutality and using excessive force to deal with peaceful protesters.

But that is exactly what the police did use – the tear gas, chemical cannons and shield blows constitute brutality and excessive force, when the protestors were not even the least bit threatening.

The organisers must also be disappointed because they did not get members of the public to take part in the protest. In fact, they lost the goodwill of traders who had to close their premises for fear of damage to their goods and property.

It’s like saying that the 5-year old child must be disappointed, because no one feels sympathy for her after her abusive step-father beat her with a non-lethal rattan cane although she didn’t even fuss or throw a tantrum!

————————

CONCLUSION:

Credit for tact and finesse should be given to the Bersih ralliers, not the police or the government. For although they had done nothing aggressive when they were attacked by the police, they did nto allow themselves to be provoked into retaliation. There are not even any reports of marchers striking back at the police.

The writer’s use of ‘the people’ is intentionally meant to give the implication that most Malaysians think and feel the same way about the Bersih rally as the Government Enslaved Media.

The most poignant question is not addressed: If the Bersih marchers were not behaving violently, then why did the police start using painful crowd control tactics meant to quell violence?

If the siuation was as potentially explosive as the Government Enslaved Media portays it, with the marchers painted as thugs and hooligans ready to riot at any time, then wasn’t the unneeded use of force akin to throwing a match into the dynamite storehouse?

Or did the Government actually intend to rouse the marchers into a (arguably justified) angry, physical response? Then their attack dogs could be fully unleashed to teach the protestors an unforgettable and painful lesson – SLAVES MUST NOT MESS WITH THE MASTER.

And the result of all this rationalizing and approving of ruling party sponsored violence against opponents? Grassroots ruling party members start taking violent oppression into their own ‘hands’ too.

——————

PS. The article above is still nowhere as insipid as this piece of trivial fluff:

     

But The Sun shows that it, at least, is not wholly cowed by the Government:

      

2007 Bersih Rally – Super Cover Up Job by Government and Mainstream Media

UPDATE 9 DEC 2007: 10 BERSIH people arrested 

I go off to Miri and Mulu a few days, and a mega event like this happens.

And I don’t know about it till late, because the mainstream newspapers superbly downplay and discredit it! Well, they have their print licence to think about… One wrong word, and no more The Star, New Straits Times and so on!

On Nov 12, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak tells the press that street demonstrations are not-part of Malaysian culture… Conveniently whitewashing the history of Malaysia that was strongly influenced by UMNO street protests.

Then on Nov 20, Government Enslaved Media mouthpiece The Star praises the police violence as ‘handling the protest with tact and finesse’.

But it must be said that The Sun bucks the trend by printing this response:

      

to this piece of trivial fluff:

     

Fair elections > Facials!

Meaning, if we didn’t have blogs and online independent news… We wouldn’t know about goings on in our own capital city!

Methinks it has VERY MUCH to do with the embarassment to the establishment that not everyone in Malaysia supports the status quo over the concept of justice-and-fairness-for-all.

That and the over-the-top police brutality against unarmed, orderly, peaceful civilians.

Here are some links for info on this event:

UPDATE 28 Nov 2007: What did I say about the ISA?

Wikipedia on Bersih Rally (intro to what the Bersih Rally is, info, pics and links)

Chongeng.org, with Al Jazeera video of police violence

Darnmalaysia, Masjid Jamek police violence (Kenny Law personally recounts getting water/chemical cannoned and tear gassed despite no marchers causing trouble)

Kakiblog on Bersih Rally (first-hand testimony and pics of being tear-gassed for being not violent)

Jeff Ooi on How They Painted It Yellow

Jeff Ooi on Clean Up

Bersih.org on police efforts to esclude marchers (since yellow is the colour symbolizing the event, anyone wearing a yellow raincoat is stopped by the police roadblocks! See pic at very bottom of this post for SATIRE!)

Whatalulu on a Bersih and a love story

Whatalulu’s personal account (contrast the official mainstream media report with the pix)

Whatalulu on security non-threats

Whatalulu on the Bersih Rally, with pics

Cherwith: BERSIH (10-11)Many Faces

Susan Loone: Bersih: What did I tell you about the King?

Susan Loone: Bersih: running dogs and angry sultans

Elizabeth Wong: Rakyat pantang dicabar!

Dr Hsu: Michael Backman on Malaysian Truth and Justice (reposted article by Michael Backman, ‘Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way’)

Light Documents: Kuning dan Bersih

Video links:

Youtube of tear gas use (tear gas canisters fired at marchers… And flung back at police. Did anyone take a canister home as a souvenir?)

Youtube of water cannon use (water cannon unleashed on marchers)

Youtube of water cannon use on Al-Jazeera (Al-Jazeera coverage of water+chemical cannon and more, same as embedded in the chongeng link earlier)

Youtube of FRU violence (Malaysiakini montages of Federal Reserve Unit violence, including a slow-motion shield bash at 1 min 50 secs)

  

Youtube of Zainuddin Maidin embarassing himself (our revered Malaysian Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin, gives an interview to Al-Jazeera. Did I say interview? I mean TOTAL RANT while on automatic gear! He rails against the foreign media for only showing the side of the protests that he doesn’t like, instead of a balanced view. Hello, sir? You already have RTM as can be seen below! His logical justification: the rally is illegal because there are elections, heavy-handed methods used because it’s illegal)

Youtube of RTM version of above self-embarassment (Malaysia’s RTM report of what transpired between Zainuddin and Al-Jazeera, in Malay. According to RTM, the police handled the protest WELL! When the demonstrators refused to leave, the police ‘allowed’ them to march on to the palace and submit their memorandum. No mention of the police violence against non-rioting demonstrators. And apparently, Malaysians are laughing at Al-Jazeera’s reporting… Not our high INT, high WIS level Minister’s performance! Followed by said Al-Jazeera interview. Much blurrier than previous link)

Home of the Shrimpy Baron!!: Another Idiot Minister makes a fool of himself and Embarasses the Country (video embed and transcript of Zainuddin’s interview, with embarassing bits highlighted. Also more examples of his previous nonsenseness.)

Berita Berita: Transcript of Malaysia’s Information Minister’s interview with Al Jazeera News on the Bersih Protest (another Zainuddin interview transcript, cleaner but less lolzing.)

And some pics from various sites, including the above links. Those don’t look like just 4000 peoples!

  

So who do you believe?

The official Government and local mainstream media, which portrays the Bersih Rally as illegal and thus justifying tear gas and chemically-laced water cannon, small, comprised of only Opposition parties, exploiting children and the King, troublesome for city-folk who get delayed by the marchers, largely unimpactful, and blown hugely out of proportion by the alternative media?

Or the blogs, online news and foreign media, which portray the Bersih Rally as within legal rights but denied a police permit based on political influence, comprised mostly of NGOs and ordinary concerned citizens, peaceful and orderly, manhandled by police use of disproportionate force advocated by the ruling politicians (whose police roadblocks and rescheduling of public transport were the real cause of city-folk delays), largely impactful, and covered-up, smeared and downplayed by the mainstream media?

Decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, emboldened by the silent approval of disproportionate and violent response against opponents as shown by the government-controlled police, UMNO members start taking violent oppression into their own ‘hands’ too.

From Kereta Merah via Mushroom Ali:

Translation: Do you know this man? WANTED by the Malaysian Government for being yellow.

Wakakakakaka! Yellow Coverage Fellow (aka Digi Man) should be instantly recognizable to all Malaysians. Info at here for foreigners.