It appears that the pressure of living up to the prestige of an Oxford degree can sometimes make a person so confused that he utters nonsense.
This is what happened last week, when Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin made a series of startling gaffes. He told the police to block off all roads leading to Dataran Merdeka and warned Bersih not to go ahead with its Nov 19 march.
He concurred with Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamad that the Red Shirts thugs existed only because of Bersih. Both said that the only way to stop the Red Shirts was to call off the Bersih 5 march.
“They just want to show that they are against Bersih,” Khairy said. “If Bersih does not do anything, then for sure the reds will not retaliate. And so the onus is on Bersih. The best way would be to not allow Bersih 5 to take place.”
Does Khairy read the papers? The Red Shirts leader, Jamal Yunos, on his release from a two-day remand, announced that his outfit had declared an “all out war” on Bersih. So we can assume that there’s war whether or not a Bersih march takes place.
First, why does Khairy not demand that the police arrest Jamal?
Second, doesn’t Khairy understand that Bersih advocates free and fair elections and clean, transparent governance? Bersih exists only because his party and his government play dirty politics and are suspected of using thugs to disrupt the peace.
The Election Commission, with its indelible ink and gerrymandering, acts as a poodle for Umno-Baru. That is why the rakyat embraces Bersih.
Khairy told Sinar Harian that he feared a repeat of Bersih 3, in which agents provocateurs were used to provoke the protesters.
He said, “We do not want incidents like the one that happened during Bersih 3 to be repeated. There were a lot of extreme acts at the time.” He recalled that a police car was flipped over and shops were broken into.
In Bersih 3, the police used tear gas and water cannons. When people ran to escape the debilitating effects of the gas and water, they had no choice but to breach the barricades. The police car was overturned to rescue an injured person who was trapped under it. The policeman who drove the car was protected by a group of protesters.
Does Khairy remember the brute force used by the police on protesters and innocent members of the press?
Dataran Merdeka belongs to the rakyat.
Khairy’s incorrect assertions about Bersih make people doubt that he is always in possession of his senses. They can smell the fear in him and his cabinet colleagues.
Khairy and his colleagues cannot continue to keep their heads buried in the sand or keep one eye closed to the injustices, corruption and abuse of power in Malaysia.
His remarks only show that he and the other so-called leaders are frightened by the ability of social media to mobilise crowds to march to regain their democratic rights.
He warned Umno Youth members of disciplinary action if they join the Bersih march. He then gave his approval for them to join the Red Shirts movement, a movement that has threatened violence and bloodshed.
Khairy has much to learn before he will be able to distinguish right from wrong. It’s wrong to threaten people and to rob them of their democratic rights.
The rakyat are neither stupid nor ignorant. They do not need an Oxford education to know right from wrong, fair from crooked and just from unjust.
Mariam Mokhtar is and FMT columnist.
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