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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
The showdown scheduled for Saturday between the Malaysian government and the group of non-government organisations calling itself Bersih 2.0 has simmered somewhat.
What would probably have been a long peaceful march by 100,000 Malaysians of all races, dressed in royal yellow T-shirts, towards the palace to hand over a memorandum seeking wide-ranging electoral reforms, will in all likelihood now be a rally taking place inside a stadium.
This compromise was reached after a momentous meeting between Malaysian King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and three leaders of the non-government organisation (NGO) coalition: Front person Ambiga Sreenevasan, steering committee member Zaid Kamaruddin and national laureate A Samad Said. The aged and highly-respected A Samad Said is being investigated under the Sedition Act and the Police Act related to unlawful assembly. His offence was a recent recital of a poem at a Bersih 2.0 event.
But, whether the stadium rally happens peacefully will depend on how the Malaysian police chooses to handle the issue over the next few days. An application for the demonstration will still be required of Bersih. It is also vital that Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose suggestion it was initially to move the rally to a stadium, show some national leadership and get the Home Ministry and the police to simmer down as well.
If the Home Ministry continues to feel that the compromise is a victory for the government, then one may expect more flexing of muscles from the beleaguered and agitated police force. In the weeks prior to the march, the Home Ministry and the police had been taking messy Draconian measures to intimidate the public and discourage supporters of Bersih 2.0. These included roadblocks, arrests of members of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia on the ludicrous suspicion of trying to revive communism in the country, the detention of people wearing yellow shirts and the holding and questioning of opposition leaders and activists.
For now, calls for the release of detainees have gone unheeded, and the police has been causing huge rush-hour traffic jams outside KL with roadblocks at entrances and exits to major highways. This is highly reminiscent of the days before the first Bersih rally in November 2007 and the Hindraf Hindu rights march in December that same year.
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