YOURSAY ‘Who is responsible for our present state? Look in the mirror.’
What Bersih 4 needs to accomplish
Touche: I fully concur with you, writer Christine Hu. That is why I have said before, if only the Malays who are the majority are half as brave as IS, then there will be able to topple PM Najib Razak and Umno.
Malaysians need an Arab Spring for change to happen. Nothing else will. And certainly not through the courts. All dissenting voices and critics have already been silenced.
And Najib is not going to step down without a fight.
Hang Babeuf: There is much that is right in what this brave lady says. The question is: are people brave enough to save the country? In Jakarta in 1999, in much tougher conditions, they found that strength. But it is not made available free. It comes at a cost.
Are people ready to pay that price? If they are, change - genuine ‘transformation’ - is possible. If they are not, Najib and Umno are secure. Secure in what they hold. Secure in holding onto what they have already gained for themselves.
And now secure, too, under the fearful protection of the new deputy prime minister (DPM) and the loyal inspector-general of police (IGP).
Lone_star: Why are we in our present state? Who is responsible for our present state? Look in the mirror and there lies the answer. Will we continue to be mushrooms and kept in the dark?
We have remained silent and allowed those who shout the loudest to scare us. We have chosen to remain apathetic and allow the slimy ones dictate our lives.
Come the end of this month, we will know whether we are ready to take our fate in our own hands and see those unworthy ones out of our lives or continue to live as mushrooms.
Sarajun Hoda: We can understand Christine's feeling about all these. Most Malaysians feel the same. Angry, frustrated, helpless, vulnerable, devastated.
But Bersih is not into 'regime change'. We will not 'occupy' but seek to create more awareness within the people to seek drastic institutional reforms. That's what we intend to achieve by having a peaceful rally.
If the rally can draw a big number - you can disagree on this - we believe the government will listen because they know this will reflect the outcome of the next general election.
As for 'regime change' and 'occupy movement' that Christine suggests - like that of Egypt, Ukraine and all, it for the political parties who are in the business of politics for power, to do if they so wish.
The Bersih rallies in the past achieve nothing? It is not a fair comment. Well, like the Malay saying goes, 'tepuk dada tanya selera’.
The 53 percent popular vote would not have swung to the opposition, and we will see them in greater numbers as people's vote for change.
FairMind: Malaysians should take a leaf out of Mahatma Gandhi's power of non-violent civil disobedience to make people aware of injustices.
To protest at the government's salt tax, Gandhi proposed a 240-mile march from Ahmedabad to the coastal town of Dandi. The salt tax charged the Indian people for a basic human necessity and prevented them making their own salt.
When the marchers reached the sea, they started making salt from the sea-water, thus breaking the law. This gesture led to civil disobedience breaking out in many parts of India although quite a number of people were arrested.
In the end, the government had no choice but to give in to the citizens. The question here is - can non-violent civil disobedience make more Malaysians (particularly the rural folk) aware of the corruption and injustices and the government to lose reputation or revenue?
Ablastine: It is true, there are no free lunches. If the people of Malaysia allow Najib to get away with allegedly plundering billions of the people’s money with impunity just like that, I am afraid the worse is yet to be.
A prolonged rally like in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Myanmar is a must if people's power is to triumph over a dictatorship. They have paid the price and their respective country is now much more democratic than before.
All stakeholders of Malaysia - meaning the opposition alliance, Bersih, NGOs, the royalty, Umno factions not aligned to Najib and most importantly, the people of Malaysia - must get together to defeat this evil and corrupted regime.
There is no point paying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and income tax when the money just gets siphoned off or go into private accounts of those in the gravy train.
By a certain date, we must coordinate in such a way that everybody stops paying income and company tax until the tyrant resigns. The people must fill the streets and fence off landmarks in the country.
Apa Ini?: We must support the rally to highlight our dissatisfaction to their blatant disregard of the rakyat’s money, dignity and freedom of expression.
They get away with this, they'll also steal the next election.
James TCLow: Well-written, good articulation and a meticulously espoused proposition. Now, what is the rakyat's position?
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