As Bersih 5 approaches, there is a fear that the protest would turn ugly. Months of agitation and outright violence from Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Yunos and his Red Shirts against Bersih have led us to expect a confrontation tomorrow. At the very least, emotions will run high even if the police succeed in preventing contact between the two groups.

Regardless of what may happen, there remains an essential problem which has yet to be solved. While mass demonstrations are certainly eye-catching as far as statements go, the true problem lies in the disconnect between the city and countryside, between the urban and rural votes.

The lesson we’ve learnt from the last two elections is that the high moral arguments and the accusations of corruption have not moved those whose concerns are an economy that seems ever more intent to abandon them.

A protest does not accomplish anything towards educating the masses as to why they should be concerned with corruption and international scandals involving numbers they cannot even imagine. The real work, as it has always been, lies in the toil of helping every Malaysian become cognisant of the role his vote plays in ensuring good governance. It lies in teaching voters that a vote is something that should not be sold for money, that voting is not only a right, but a responsibility that every eligible voter must exercise.

That is certainly a much harder task than gathering a group of protesters from among those already committed to the cause. One suspects the ranks of Bersih may be swelled this year by those tired and frustrated by the hooligan antics of the Red Shirts, but the additional protesters will still be from the same core of opposition supporters and civil society members.

Members of the liberal elite tend to be far presumptuous about the support given to them. That is why the voting pattern does not change. It is said that the elite fears the ignorance of the masses and the masses fear the indifference of the elite. In the wake of the Trump victory and Brexit, the truth of that statement must be something for the liberal elite to ponder as we head into yet another election with a weak, fractured opposition and an incumbent that keeps close to the down-to-earth concerns of the rural masses.

It is certainly hoped that things will be kept under control tomorrow. Violence has no place in a civilised protest, and no one wins by resorting to it.