Rabu, 6 Julai 2011

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysian Governance 101: How to Deal with an Impending Street Demonstration for Electoral Reform

Posted: 06 Jul 2011 08:30 AM PDT

http://www.criticallegalthinking.com/?p=3720

Author: Soo Tian Lee

In memory of the late Peter Falk, this article shall loosely mimic the format of the detective TV series Columbo. The answer is revealed from the beginning, and the issue to be dealt with is how do we get from not knowing much at all to knowing enough to come to a possible conclusion at the end. In this case, the factually correct (but not necessarily tactically sound) answer to the problem of a planned street demonstration on electoral reform in Malaysia is: Arrest the socialists, ban a colour and a word, then get the masses off the streets and into a stadium.

Much ink has been spilled — both virtual and material — by the Malaysian press and blogging community in the last couple of weeks on the subject of a street demonstration that was to be held this Saturday, 9 July 2011, in Kuala Lumpur to push for reforms to the electoral system. The protest was called by a coalition of around 62 NGOs and civil society initiatives known as Bersih 2.0. The word 'bersih' simply means 'clean' in Malay(sian), and the version number indicates that it is the successor organisation of the group that organised a similar demonstration on 10 November 2007 on the very same issue.

The coalition's 8 demands are simple and in principle almost impossible to argue against, from putting the electoral roll in order to granting 'free and fair access to [the] media.' Some may have been surprised, then, at the hostile response from the Malaysian government. 30 members of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) were arrested on 25 June ostensibly for Bersih-related activities (whereas they were actually on a 'road trip' campaign only peripherally related to the Bersih rally although with a certainly more subversive — and in my view more laudable — main demand, namely for the 'retirement' of the present regime). The police found in the bus they were travelling in t-shirts with images of former Malaysian communist guerrillas. This was deemed by the authorities as potential evidence that the PSM activists were attempting to 'revive the communist ideology' and they were thus remanded to investigate a potential charge of 'waging war against the king' under s.122 of the Penal Code. Just as some may have concluded that it was 21st century McCarthyism that was the reason behind these arrests and not the Bersih rally, the entire coalition was accused of supporting communism. On 2 July, six of the 30 detained were released, but were then promptly rearrested under the Emergency Ordinance, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, thanks to the four states of emergency which have not been lifted since (in the case of the earliest) 1964. This quadruple state of exception is a clear illustration of Agamben's insight on the normalisation and permanency in today's world of what should in theory be a provisional state of affairs.

One might hazard a few guesses as to why the powers that be chose to target in particular a small socialist party rather than members of the three large opposition parties which make up the People's Pact (Pakatan Rakyat). The motive for the crackdown was certainly to strike fear into the general populace. The Socialist Party, although being a tight-knit group made up of very dedicated activists, does not command the influence among most Malaysians that the three big opposition parties do. Also, anti-communist sentiments are still present among the general population due to the hegemonic viewpoint arising from the defeat of the guerrillas. Hence, it was a tactical move to discredit Bersih by attempting to link it to communism. Yet another dubious claim was that overseas Christians were manipulating the coalition due to donations Bersih received from some Western non-governmental organisations. In a country where the dominant contradiction within its political system is that of race and religion rather than the left/right ideological divide, the allegation of outside interference by foreign Christians was meant to push the panic button among the Malay Muslim majority, due to the rather delicate situation between Muslims and the Christian minority as a result of recent controversies, the most infamous being one triggered by the use of the word 'Allah' in Bibles. Even before this claim was made, two right-wing groups — UMNO Youth, the zealous youth wing of the dominant party in the government coalition and Perkasa, a National Front-like organisation founded to defend 'Malay rights' — had pledged to hold counter-demonstrations.

Another step that was taken by the Malaysian authorities to combat Bersih was to effectively ban anything with the colour yellow and the word Bersih from being worn in public. Yellow was the colour the first manifestation of Bersih chose for its official symbol. The symbolism was and is, in a sense, potentially reactionary as it was chosen due to it being the royal colour. The rhetoric surrounding the first demo in 2007 was that Malaysians were petitioning the King to intervene and push for electoral reform, hence the wearing of yellow (some parallels can obviously be drawn with the Yellow Shirt movement in Thailand). This time the appeal to royal power appears to be less emphasised, but the plan was still to march to the royal palace and deliver a memorandum to the monarch. You know that a country is in a bad situation when citizens have to beseech a feudal institution with only residual power to take action and influence the 'democratically-elected' government of the day (or, in the case of Malaysia, the government of 54 years running, that is, from independence). But in the case of Bersih 2.0, the arrests of more than a hundred people for simply wearing a t-shirt shows once again the absurdity of the UMNO/BN regime.

Three days ago, however, the King himself issued a statement on the matter, which took some by surprise due to the normally highly restrained attitude of the palace in public affairs. He called for Bersih and the government to hold talks on the issue of electoral reform in order to avoid the impending street demonstration, cautioning 'the people' against "creat[ing] problems that will cause the country to lag behind." The chairperson of Bersih, Datuk S. Amiga, stated in an interview that should the King request that the demonstration be called off, Bersih would heed his advice. On the same day, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, said that the government would not object to the rally taking place in a stadium. Early in the afternoon yesterday the news broke: the organisers had met with the King and had agreed to holding a rally in a stadium rather than a march in the streets. As of the time of writing, talks to confirm this option are imminent, but have yet to take place.

The Malaysian Insider ran an editorial yesterday analysing the 'winners and losers' of the stadium compromise. Their conclusion appeared to be that the Bersih 2.0 organisers, the King and the ordinary Malaysian on the street have come out on top, whereas various government officials including the police, as well as the leader of Perkasa, have emerged as the 'losers'. The subtext appeared to be that the stadium option has allowed the campaign to become even more mainstream, and other comments made by various quarters in blog comments and listservs seem to indicate a belief that a stadium rally would allow for more people to participate as some would be worried about, for example, bringing their children to an outlawed street demonstration.

Those of us who have been involved in protests in London, however, may see a parallel in this case with the pens opposite Downing Street on Whitehall. For the information of those who have not taken part in a Downing Street demonstration, these pens (made up of metal barricades) are the official 'protest spot' where people are moved to by the police in order to not block, among other things, the camera-trigger-happy tourists who come to pay tribute to Yes, Minister. The danger in conforming to restricting one's site of protest is simple: one has lost the battle in what some have termed 'locational conflict'. Don Mitchell in his article 'From Free Speech to People's Park' discusses this concept with reference to the Free Speech Movement and the People's Park struggles which took place in the 1960s in Berkeley, California. In the first case, which is the one more relevant to the situation with Bersih 2.0, students of UC Berkeley battled for the right to set up stalls and disseminate political literature in a strategic place they valued, rather than a new, and inferior, location prescribed by the university authorities and which was deemed a form of indirect censorship. In the case of the Bersih rally, by acquiescing to governmental pressure (both from the Executive and from the King) to shift locations, the organisers have surrendered the streets, a key site of struggle since urbanism has concentrated people and power in cities. Alas, there will be no cry this Saturday on the streets of Kuala Lumpur akin to the famous "Whose Streets? Our streets!" One also is reminded of the rally against the hikes in petrol prices which took place a couple of years ago in a stadium. Billed in a sense as a family-friendly event, it ultimately was a non-event, drawing a far smaller crowd than hoped for. The Bersih 2.0 rally is different, no doubt. It is far less outwardly partisan and based on a burning issue that goes beyond a simple, immediate grievance. We will have to see how Saturday plays out.

The most ridiculous allegation made by the apologists against the Bersih 2.0 rally, however, came from a former opposition politician, Dr Chandra Muzaffar. In a statement published in the Malaysian Star, Muzaffar alleged that there was an allegation that if the Bersih rally takes place in a stadium "certain elements in Bersih would [potentially turn] the stadium to a Tahrir Square, with demonstrators camping there day and night for weeks on end." What this ostensibly astute political pundit failed to recognise is that the symbolic power of the recent square demonstrations around the world comes from their strategic public location and visibility. Who cares about a rally in a bloody stadium walled off from the rest of the world? Certainly not the governmental authorities. If Malaysians want to occupy a square it should be Dataran Merdeka, the site of the proclamation of independence.

Hishamuddin Rais, a Malaysian writer, film-maker and activist who lived as an exile in the West for 20 years after escaping detention without trial in the 1970s due to his involvement in the Baling peasant protests as a student agitator, had a collection of his writings published in 2002 titled Pilihanraya atau Pilihan Jalan Raya. The clever title translates literally as 'Elections or the Street Option'. It is clear from the most recent developments that the Bersih 2.0 coalition and those happy with the planned move to the stadium have an obsession with the former as their driving force. Although the campaign was always a liberal election-centric initiative, it would have been interesting if these two opposing strategies for change in the Malaysian context were united once again in a street demonstration for fairer elections, which for Malaysian radicals would be a part of a minimum programme. If the 2007 Bersih rally — deemed by many as a pivotal event leading up to the March 2008 'political tsunami' where the ruling coalition lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time since 1969 — had been confined to a stadium, free from chanting protesters, water cannons and the brutal Federal Reserve Unit, such sanitisation would arguably have resulted in a loud but ultimately empty display of rhetoric. Yes, Bersih 2.0 have in a sense won out against the government and the right-wingers, but only time will tell whether it was a pyrrhic victory, and all for a cause that at the end of the day will simply allow the smoke and mirrors of representative democracy to persist — a tale that has always been full of sound and fury, but signifying almost nothing if one cares about the creation of a society not dominated by capital and hierarchy.

Pakatan Rakyat Kerah 300,000 sertai Bersih

Posted: 06 Jul 2011 02:48 AM PDT

KeadilanDaily

Ketua Umum Keadilan, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata Majlis Mesyuarat Pakatan Rakyat bersetuju untuk mengerahkan 300,000 ahli dan penyokong ke perhimpunan Bersih pada hari Sabtu, 9 Julai ini di Stadium Merdeka.

"Majlis Mesyuarat Pakatan Rakyat menyokong keputusan Bersih bagi menuntut pilihan raya yang telus, bebas dan adil.

"Majlis akan mengerahkan 300,000 ahli dan penyokong ke perhimpunan Bersih pada hari Sabtu, 9 Julai ini di Stadium Merdeka," katanya pada sidang media di G Tower, di Jalan Tun Razak, sebentar tadi.

Beliau turut menuntut kerajaan menghormati semangat pertemuan di antara Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih) dengan Yang di- Pertuan Agong.

"Kami kesal dengan sikap Menteri Dalam Negeri seolah-olah mereka tidak peduli pertemuan Bersih dengan Tuanku. Seolah-olah Yang Dipertuan Agong memanggil 'kumpulan haram' untuk berbincang.

"Polis perlu ambil kira semangat pertemuan ini. Jangan keruhkan keadaan untuk membuat tangkapan," jelas Anwar.

Turut hadir pada sidang media itu ialah Pengerusi DAP, Lim Kit Siang dan Timbalan Presiden Pas Mohamad Sabu.

Sementara itu, Pengerusi Bersih 2.0, S.Ambiga pula dilaporkan akan berusaha sedaya upaya untuk mengadakan perhimpunan aman di Stadium Merdeka.

Pihak pengurusan stadium berkenaan dikatakan tidak membenarkan stadium itu digunakan atas alasan satu konsert raksasa akan diadakan di situ, meskipun sebelum ini konsert itu  telah dibatalkan.

Najib Kata Dia Adil

Posted: 06 Jul 2011 01:24 AM PDT

Harakah

Oleh Subky Latif

MENGULAS tentang rancangan unjuk rasa Bersih 2.0 bagi menuntut perjalan pilihan raya bersih dan adil serta mewujudkan sebuah SPR yang adil dan bersih, maka Perdana Menteri Najib berkata bahawa dirinya dan kerajaannya telah mengendali perjalanan pilihan raya dan mewujudkan SPR yang adil dan bersih.

Alasan mudahnya betapa ia bersih dan adil ialah ada pembangkang berjaya mengalahkan BN di lima negeri dalam Pilihan Raya  Umum 2008 dulu dan ditambah pula BN hilang majoriti dua pertiga di Parlimen dalam pilihan raya itu.

Termasuk akal setengah orang yang tidak panjang akalnya dengan alasan itu.

Oleh kerana adanya cerita jenaka arnab tertidur di tengah perlumbaannya dengan kura-kura, maka kalah arnab oleh kura-kura dalam perlumbaan itu. Adakah dapat diterima dalam realitinya kura-kura juga sama pantas berlari dengan arnab?

Pembangkang lima negeri dalam pilihan raya lalu bukan bukti perjalanan pilihan raya sudah adil dan bersih. Ketempangan yang wujud itu menyebabkan BN kalah dilima negeri saja. Kalau ia tidak tempang ia bukan kalah dalam banyak negeri lagi, malah belum tentu Putrajaya sentiasa dikuasainya.

Mungkin Najib dan kerajaannya betul-betul adil dan bersih, tetapi dia mesti mencari logik yang lain.

Pada Najib apa yang dibuatnya sudah dirasakan adil dan bersih tetapi ia perlu diuji dan disemak imbang. Diodit dulu apa yang dibuat dan apa yang dikata.

Tidak ramai orang yang didakwa di mahkamah mengaku bersalah. Cakapnya tidak diterima terus. Bicarakan dulu dan hakim serta mahkamah akan menentukan dia bersalah atau tidak.

Semua orang kata Firaun adalah sekejam-kejam pemerintah. Al-Quran yang Maha Benar itu mengatakan Firaun kejam, tetapi Firaun tidak pernah dirinya kejam dan zalim.

Bukan Firaun saja tidak mengaku dia zalim. Bahkan Haman dan Qarun serta orang-orang yang mendapat nikmat dari pemerintahannya mengaku Firaun adalah seadil orang.

Al-Quran merakamkan sekalian orang yang pernah beriman mengaku beriman apabila ditanya Allah. Setengah yang mengaku beriman itu sebenarnya tidak beriman. Setiap yang beriman itu mesti melalui ujian dulu sebelum masing-masing disahkan beriman di hadapan Allah.

Sebelum Najib mendakwa dirinya dan kerajaannya sentiasa adil dan bersih, dunia menyaksikan betapa Hosni Mubarak, Muamar Ghadaffi, Basher Asad dan lain-lain mengaku diri mereka dan pemerintahan mereka adalah adil dan bersih.

Tidak pernah Bosni Mubarak memenangi pilihan raya Presiden dengan undi kurang dari 98 peratus. Tidak ada siapa di negaranya sepanjang pemerintahannya sanggup berkata dia tidak adil dan tidak bersih.

Yang dapat menentukan dia bercakap benar atau hanya berbohong ialah  amalan demokrasi di negara itu. Jika demokrasi itu mati, yang mati akan dikata hidup, yang zalim dikata adil dan yang adil dikata kejam.

Di hadapan mata kita, orang yang mengaku adil di Mesir, di Libya, di Yaman dan di Syria semuanya dikata tidak adil oleh orang-orang di jalan raya. Gadaffi dan Basher Asad masih berkuasa tetapi di jalan raya orang memekik mereka kejam. Hosni Mubarak dan Ben Ali dari Tunisia sudah tidak dapat mempertahankan diri bahawa mereka itu adil dan bersih.

Ia adalah antara hujah bahawa sesorang pemimpin yang mendakwa dirinya begitu dan begini belum dapat dijamin betul bagai yang didakwanya. Ketentuan adil dan kejamnya akan dapat dilihat dari sebuah pemerintahan yang telus yang memberi ruang kepada semua institusi dan orang melakukan semak dan imbang.

Najib dan kerajaannya boleh jadi benar adil dan bersih bagai yang didakwanya. Tetapi pernan semak dan imbang dalam pemerintahannya tidak begitu berbuka. Terlalu banyak yang memperikai kejituan perjalan mahkamah, jabatan peguam negara dan personaliti pimpinan setengah polis, tiada apa yang dilihat kerajaan Najib dapat membetulkannya.

Maka payah rasanya dakwah Najib tentang adil dan bersih kerajaannya hendak dipertahankan. Apabila kita tidak dapat terima bulat-bulat dakwaan Najib tentang keadilannya dan kerajaannya, maka kita tidak boleh melihat bulat-bulat Tok Guru Nik Aziz, Azizan Razak, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim dan Lim Guan Eng betul belaka.

Mereka boleh jadi betul dan boleh jadi tidak betul. Apa pun ketelusan mereka dan kerajaannya akan menentukan kedudukan mereka. Dengan berbagai tunjuk perasaan kecil dan sederana dan banyak aduan polis dan aduan SPRM yang dibuat terhadap kerajaan mereka akan dapat menentukan mereka telus atau sebaliknya.

Bagi mengetahui Tok Guru Nik Aziz dan lain-lain telus atau tidak lebih mudah disemak imbang dari menyemak imbang pentadbiran Najib dan BN.

Unjuk  rasa yang dicadang Bersih itu adalah langkah bagi membetulkan guna demokrasi. Bila demokrasi itu lurus maka mudah diketahui kerajaan dan ketuanya adil atau tidak.

Peguam Bela Masih Belum Diberi Akses Untuk Menyoal Rosmah Dan Najib

Posted: 06 Jul 2011 01:17 AM PDT

Malaysiakini

Janji pihak pendakwaan bagi mengaturkan pertemuan beberapa saksi utama termasuk perdana menteri dan isterinya untuk disoal oleh pihak pembelaan masih belum ditunaikan, kata peguam kanan Karpal Singh.

Walaupun dua bulan sudah berlalu selepas Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur mengarahkan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim membela diri dalam pertuduhan meliwat ke atas dirinya, nanum peguamnya masih belum diberi akses untuk menyoal saksi utama yang ditawarkan, iaitu Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan isterinya Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Ketika mendedahkan perkara itu, Karpal menyoal bagaimana pihaknya dapat membuat persiapan jika pihak polis dan pendakwaan gagal membekalkan saksi berkenaan.

“Hingga hari ini, kita hanya mampu menyoal lima saksi termasuk doktor Pusrawi, tetapi mereka bukan saksi utama. Pada mulanya, pihak polis dan pendakwaan banyak membantu. Namun, sekarang mereka tidak lagi beri bantuan.

“Malah pegawai penyiasat, Supt Jude Blacious Pereira, juga tidak lagi kelihatan. Mahkamah telah mengarahkan Jude dan pihak pendakwaan untuk membantu tetapi tiada yang menghulurkan pertolongan. Macam mana kita nak sediakan pembelaan?" soal Karpal.

Katanya lagi, sehingga sekarang tiada persiapan dibuat bagi pihak pembelaan menyoal Najib dan Rosmah.

Sebelum ini kedua-dua pihak pendakwaan dan pembelaan bersetuju saksi disoal oleh peguam di kompleks mahkamah Jalan Duta.

“Kenapa harus kita pergi Pejabat Perdana Menteri – kita mahu tempat berkecuali dan ini sudah dipersetujui sebelum ini," kata Karpal.

Pihak pendakwaan menawarkan 72 saksi kepada pihak pembelaan, termasuk 27 saksi pendakwaan yang telah memberi keterangan dalam kes membaitkan Anwar itu.
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