Of late, the ruling Umno party (and its allies) seem to have got their knickers in a twist over the BERSIH 2.0 rally (planned for Saturday, 09.07.11).
Suhakam has gone public saying that a permit should be given.
The Police however refuse to give a permit for the rally- even before an application is made- and then declare it "Illegal".
This is despite the fact that there has never been any incidence of violence or destruction of public property in ANY public rally over the last 12 years!! This is also despite the fact that the ones who have made threats of violence (and indulged in violence) are those who are clearly opposed to BERSIH!!
Never mind the Kris waving episode & bloodlust of a certain politicians in the past, it is common knowledge that certain other politician has gone on record lately to say that Umno should "defend Putrajaya", even if it means "crushed bodies".
Their most vocal ally- PERKASA- has apparently decided to launch a rally of their own and even went to the extent of hinting at violence by urging the Malaysians of Chinese descent to "stock up on food" because "anything can happen".
Not to be left out, a certain political novice who heads a faction of UMNO joined in the chorus to have a rally of their own. The best joke here is that apparently, even he got a "death threat"- and so sent his hoodlums to threaten to burn down a certain building in retaliation!!
The police, in working to heighten the fear among people have gone on a spree of arrests ..... even those wearing T-shirt sporting BERSIH color/logo is apparently a crime these days.
(It used to be Black some time back- now it is Yellow).
BERSIH is accused of going on a hacking spree (which was launched by an anonymous hackers group) Ambiga Sreenivasan was called to make statements for insisting on BERSIH 2.0 rally, PSM is investigated for "trying to revive communism" and "waging war on the YDPA, Police invade the parliament to take statements from parliamentarians, Literary laureate Samad Said is questioned for reading of his "seditious" poetry ....
From Govt websites hacking to communism, to foreign infiltrators, Jewish/Christian/Hindu/Anti-Islam agents, chaos on the streets, to violence, to a "planned coup d'etat" - they're all apparently due to BERSIH!!!
When invited for "ideas" which the Govt may need (to place more accusations/labels on BERSIH), people have suggested the following :-
"The next tsunami, Teenage pregnancy! Tax evasion, HIV/AIDS, a wider budget deficit, Najib's receding hairline, losing the Olympic badminton final, feral dogs, killing off endangered Hornbills, Singapore being better than us in generally everything, the Thai insurgency, the ozone layer, rising petrol costs, and Penang traffic jams".
I wonder what will be next ... LGBT lifestyle? Alien spaceships? Global Warming?One sad development was the fact that
Dr D. Jeyakumar of Sungai Siput had to be hospitalized - apparently as a result of the deliberate negligence on the part of PDRM in denying him his medication. (
Reports allege mental torture and other forms of ill-treatment of PSM campaigners arrested last Saturday).
As Art Harun says, we're definitely reaching
The Tipping Point- wherein the morally bankrupt UMNO politicians appear to be bent on provoking retaliation from the rakyat through their abuse of state apparatus to let loose violent actions of repression, then justify their "pre-emptive" violent repression.
It seems like UMNO is making everything many of us have mentioned in the past about them seem like a prophecy ..... and wish to "destabilize to stabilize".