'If PSM were waging war, the authority would have known a long time ago. Why is it only during the lead-up to Bersih that they discovered this?'
Rais: Communist ideology last resort of the 'desperate'
Multi Racial: Information Minister Rais Yatim, you are getting senile. It was the authority who coined the communist threat and slapped it on the group which supports the peaceful demonstration for fair and clean elections.
It was Umno who was getting desperate, so don't turn around saying others were getting desperate. If Umno is confident with the support they having, why not allow Bersih to go ahead with their peaceful demonstration?
Clearly, BN is fearful of the people power. They have been using the media to suppress things and were successful in the past, but things have changed and people now realise that they have been conned by a bunch of politicians who are only interested in taking care of themselves and their cronies.
Kgen: PSM's ideology is socialist, not communist. If Rais doesn't know how to distinguish between them, he should not open his mouth and prove his ignorance.
Muak: The people are now telling the government that power comes from the people and the people will take it back if the ruling regime abuses it. Umno/BN has abused the power given to them by the people for 54 years. So it's time for the people to take it back from idiots like Rais Yatim.
You can only be seen as "rampas kuasa" when power is not yours. But power in Malaysia belongs to the people, not Umno, not MCA and not MIC or Gerakan. Power does not belong to the opposition as well.
Power is entrusted to the ruling government and when the ruling government does not perform according to the expectations of the people who voted them into power, the power is the entrusted to a party who will do that.
It's as simple as that, something the Umno/BN folks just don't understand. Or more accurately, refuse to understand. The people are the bosses.
KSN: The first step they will take is to detain all Bersih leaders and opposition parliamentarians under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
The second step will be to start the new settlements, the Gerald Templer type, which the whole country is familiar with and have plenty around to remind us of our history.
The third step will be to declare emergency to fight ‘communist insurgency'.
The fourth step will be to bring back the British and Indian soldiers, Gurkhas included. Otherwise, how are we going to defeat the communists? Right folks?
Anonymous: Excuse me, do they have proof that PSM is spreading communism? If PSM were doing so, the authority would have known about it a long time ago. Why is it only during the lead-up to Bersih that they discovered this?
Is it alright for a minister to say something like that without substantiated proof?
Fellow Malaysian: It is mind-boggling that PSM and its supporters could be carted off and investigated for waging war against the king for wearing some T-shirts bearing pictures of Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin.
What about tourists who come here and buy T-shirts bearing snapshots of Che Guevara, Stalin or Mao Zedong? Are they communist suspects as well? If equal treatment were to be meted out, ought they not be investigated as well?
S'porean at heart: Rais is trying to spook kampung Malays into believing that Pakatan Rakyat is trying to overthrow the government. PSM is one of the smallest political parties there are. Anyone can see that PSM is no threat, except to BN.
Citizen: When I was a teenager in Negri Sembilan, Rais was the menteri besar and we had great respect for him for being a humble man. Then when he was part of Semangat 46, we admired his boldness to go against the ruling power, but now he has become just another Umno yesman.
Where is the Rais that I knew? You can do better than this. You have brains, please put it to good use.
Disbeliever: This is an unfair statement from a senile senior minister who actually doesn't deserve to be in the cabinet. It all boils down to one thing; it's not Bersih 2.0 or the ppposition who are the desperadoes, but rather Umno and BN.
They will resort to any means - to quote PM Najib Abdul Razak "to defend Putrajaya at all cost" - to win the next general election and remain in power.
Kee Thuan Chye: Resorting to communism is the last resort of the desperate indeed, but in this case, the desperate are the people in power. Rais numbers among them, of course.
That's why he talks like this - it is most unbefitting of a man who holds a PhD. More like something you'd expect from an PMR dropout. But then, he knows who his target audience is, so he aims it at that intellectual level. Which makes him a Machiavelli for PMR dropouts.
Dharma: I supposed Rais wants us to believe that PSM is the fifth columnists for the Soviet empire - deliberately weakening the country to make it easier for the communists to march in. The only problem is that the Soviet empire does not exist anymore. This speaks volumes for the intellectual bankruptcy and the extreme moral perversion of Umno.
I hope the electorate have woken up to the reality of this thoroughly stupid (for all its brute cunning) and truly evil coalition government. While making Malaysia a social and economic waste ground, one wonders how much suffering lies ahead before BN is at last ejected by an angry, disillusioned nation.
Anonymous_5fb: Rais Yatim, you are right, rakyat are desperate with Umno-led BN government, but communism is not our choice, clean democracy is. That's why we are going to join the Bersih walk on July 9.
DannyLoHH: Dear Rais, Umno is the one desperate by resorting to the resurrection of the communist bogeymen. No one in their right minds will believe that T-shirts are weapons that could "wage war against the Agong".
Words and images on a T-shirts do not have enough impact to sway minds, nor does it carried enough weight to be used as a projectile weapon. So, where is the threat?
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .