Last July, Malaysian activists –collectively known as the Bersih 2.0 movement– brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, demanding electoral transparency.
With the country’s next general election widely expected to be held this year or early next, activists are planning another rally scheduled for the end of this month, continuing their push for free and fair elections.
The “sit down” protest is planned for April 28, with Bersih (“clean” in Malay) to show the activists’ dissatisfaction with what they say is a lack of commitment by the government to implement measures for free and fair elections. Although the government is considering new rules to reform election processes in the country, the activists say the ideas floated so far don’t go far enough. The activists’ demands –ranging from the establishment of an independent body to help clean up the electoral roll and inviting election observers to monitor the vote– falls short of calling for a boycott of the upcoming election, which must be held in or before 2013, even if their aspirations are not met.
However, the decision to call a fresh rally does raise the heat on the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak as he tries to build momentum for what he hopes will be a successful re-election. Last year’s rally was more than just a quiet sit-down, turning messy after police fired tear gas and water cannons on protestors, including prominent leaders of the country’s opposition parties. Many people were injured and some 1,600 people were detained, including Bersih’s co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan. All were subsequently released, but human rights groups including Amnesty International condemned the action as the “worst campaign of repression we’ve seen in the country for years.”
Organizers of this year’s rally do not envisage a repeat of last year’s crackdown, given how unpopular the police action was. “I am assuming that sensible advisors of the Prime Minister will tell him to refrain from using the same tactic,” said Ms. Sreenevasan at a press conference announcing the rally.
After last year’s rally, an opinion poll by independent research firm Merdeka Center showed Prime Minister Najib Razak’s popularity dipping to 59% in August, compared to 65% in May. It has since bounced back to 69%, according to Merdeka Center. The rally is not for a couple of weeks, but already political leaders are warning Malaysians away from the event, arguing that the choice of location –Dataran Merdeka, the historic square where the flag of an independent Malaya was raised for the first time– is illegal.
Government minister in charge of legal matters Nazri Aziz said in Parliament last Wednesday that the square had not been gazetted as an area where assembly is allowed. Other government officials have been quoted in local press as saying the activists need not bother holding a protest because the government is already responding to their concerns.
Organizers insist the rally will go on as planned unless they get a commitment from the government that their reforms will be implemented before the next general election. After last year’s rally, Mr. Najib announced the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into electoral reform. The committee included five members of the governing coalition, three from the opposition and one independent member. The committee drew up 22 recommendations around electoral procedures – including that the electoral roll only list eligible voters, and that election bodies function independently of the government.
Last Tuesday, their report was adopted by Parliament without debate, though the government is not obliged to implement any of the recommendations. The country’s Election Commission will discuss the report’s 22 recommendations in a meeting next week. The report failed to address one of Bersih’s sticking points, though – international observers coming to Malaysia for the general election.
Countries across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Thailand, are open to international and domestic observers. Malaysia sent observers to Myanmar to monitor its most recent by-elections held earlier this month. Chair of the Election Commission Abdul Aziz Mohd Yosuf, speaking to the Wall Street Journal after the announcement of this month’s Bersih rally, said that the body would be in favor of both international and domestic observers for the upcoming election since electoral authorities “have nothing to hide in [their] election systems and processes.”
Analysts, however, say that for many Malaysians the rally is about more than just elections. They say it’s also about general dissatisfaction with the state of politics in the racially-fragmented Southeast Asian nation, including concerns over corruption.
“Bersih represents opposition [broadly], not just opposition parties. These are quite separate issues,” said Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin of the National University Malaysia, who labels the movement as a “third-force” in Malaysian politics. He and some other analysts have said the movement’s organizers have been too hasty in calling for a protest without first exhausting other means of settling the issues they are unhappy about. “On the street [action] alone invites a certain kind of negativity, and both sides become very defensive,” said Professor Shamsul. Ultimately, demonstration organizers say it is not up to them to decide how the rally will end.
“At the end of the day, the Najib administration and the police have to decide what kind of outcome they want. The last time they arrested 1667. This time, if [they] want to go that way again, I am sure many Malaysians will come forward and turn ourselves in and say ‘put us in’,” said Mr. Wong Chin Huat, a member of the Bersih 2.0 steering committee.
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