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The gov't that fights civil society won't last long

I had half expected that this would happen (Dataran Merdeka declared off-limits), despite Premier Najib Abdul Razak's administration promising that the Bersih 3.0 sit-in protest could go on.

The prime minister will not allow the civil society's push for democracy to topple the government, under BN for the past 55 years.

Frankly, since Bersih 2.0 on July 9, Najib has not learnt his lesson from history that no government that continues to fight the people will last long.

Whatever happens on Saturday will cost his government big. Two things I wish to remind Najib and his men:

One, that if the government continues to fight civil society, it will not last very long.

That if the civilians are treated with brutality or arrested, or charged in court, as threatened, it will create more anger amongst the people.

Each of us has a network of at least 100 people around us. People like Bersih co-chairpersons Ambiga Sreneevasan or Pak Samad Ismail have thousands of supporters.

You touch anyone, it will have a multiplying effect that will never be matched by even the biggest tsunami.

Although I was not involved in Bersih 1.0 or Bersih 2.0, I was watching the news and making my own assessments.

The time has come for me to go down to the ground with my fellow Malaysians to push for democracy.

I can see that the momentum built for Bersih 3.0 is sufficient to cause a political earthquake in the 13th general election, given that the Bersih demonstration in 2007 had merely caused a political tsunami.

What I read of late pisses me off with the way how the Kuala Lumpur Datuk Bandar, Fuad Ismail has conducted his duty.

Sheer arrogance and lack of sincerity is the style that we see so often in our civil servants and their political masters.

If previously it was the police that behave thuggishly, I see this time I believe it will be the City Hall officers behaving like they are the bosses.

The Datuk Bandar should realise that although 1.9 million urban citizens may not participate in this Saturday's Bersih 3.0, the people are watching the way things are developing.

It is time for Fuad to learn who his bosses are at the end of the day. He should also read the book on Bersih 2.0 compiled by the Bersih 2.0 steering committee to realise how fellow Malaysians have risen up as one people.

This is something that Najib, Muhyiddin and Hishammuddin will not be able to fight.

As the saying goes, if you cannot fight, ask for a truce. But this is not the way how Najib's administration appears to be responding to civilian pressure.

On Saturday, it is not the terrorists that will be going down to the ground. It is the rich, the poor, the learned, the educated, the professionals, from all walks of life.

Independently making decisions on their own, I know of at least five people who are planning to go down to Dataran Merdeka.

Each person is angry with the way how the BN government treated its people in the 709 Bersih demonstration.

There are all professionals. Most of us will be going down to the ground for the first time.

My wife just told me that in her office, a big group of people have decided to also show up. From the forum organised by Tindak Malaysia on "How clean will the 13th general election be?" on Tuesday night, I can feel the pulse and the anger of the people.

The people are simply angry with the BN administration, which has overstayed the hospitality of the Malaysian people for far too long.

People are angry with the way how corruption has worked its way into all strata of government departments. People see how RM240 million is being given out to a family with no experience in raising cattle, only to be used in purchasing luxury condominiums.

People are also angry with the way how young Malaysians like Teoh Beng Hock ended up dead, in the hands of the agency that is supposed to fight high level corruption cases like the NFC, PKFZ, Perwaja, MAS, Bank Bumiputra and so on.

Instead, MACC went after the Selangor Menteri Besar for donating cattle to his constituents for korban .

I am sure even within the government agencies that there are hundreds of thousands of fellow Malaysians who have seen through the hypocrisy of their leaders, whose promotions depend mainly on their links with their political masters.

This alone is sufficient for them to lend their support to Bersih 3.0. There will come a point in time that even the civil servants will join the rest of Malaysians to push for a clean and fair election.

This is what Najib should realise after using the hardliner's approach on Bersih 1.0 and Bersih 2.0. The more the people of this country suffer in his hands, the faster the BN government will be toppled.

None of us, who are pro-Bersih citizens, even talked about toppling the BN government, except to push for a cleaner and fairer election.

Give us a clean and fair election, and clean up the electoral roll of some 3 million doubtful voters - and we, and I am sure Ambiga, Pak Samad, Maria, Chin Huat, will back off.

Since you refuse, the Dataran Merdeka, owned by Malaysians, is our assembly point.

It is the insincerity of the Najib's administration that pisses me off, from the day I have been monitoring the Bersih news. Stop playing the tug of war game, and admit that the electoral roll needs a lot of cleaning up.

If you lose, lose with dignity.

Najib, remember, you are only an elected government! We will show you who we are - the bosses.

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