This is my honest opinion pertaining to this matter.
But I do have my own opinion on something, in which means I might be taking sides too, but I'm not going to stick with it.
What Is Bersih 2.0 Is All About?
Okay, shortly it is a gathering or public demonstration in which supported by Pakatan Rakyat (coalition of three largest opposition parties in Malaysia) in which they advocates for electoral reforms in Malaysia, and has been advocating this since the last Bersih gathering in November 2007. It is scheduled to be held again on this upcoming 9th of July 2011 in Kuala Lumpur. They are demanding SPR of Malaysia (the Election Commission of Malaysia) this :
1. Clean up the electoral roll.
2. Reform postal voting.
3. Use indelible ink.
4. 21-day campaign period as a minimum period.
5. Allow all parties free access to the medias.
6. Put an end to dirty politics.
I tried to grasp every each of the demands, I asked few persons and brainstormed them all and I found that all they want by requesting all this demands to EC is just, an equally fair election. Fair enough without any kind of abuse, or any chance of votes to get on some kind of falsification, or electoral manipulation by the government. Thats all.
Okay, we take the second demand as an example. The request is to abolish the postal vote with exceptional to diplomats and overseas voters. Why they're including this in the memorandum? Well all I can say is postal voting is vulnerable to get abused. This is due to report in 1999 where an ex officer in ATM (Malaysian Army) confessed that he had violated thousands of votes for the soldiers, by crossing them by himself as ordered.
Okay, why Harakah? Why other newspaper didn't have any of these reports? Well thats how the system works. You won't write a report that will reveal your true color, don't you?
Oh, you have to know most of the newspaper out there is owned by the government. We have no doubt about this, it is obvious that the government side is dominating the whole media. They own the TV broadcasts, they own the radio channels, and they own the whole lot of newspapers you found out there. So is this fair? A kid can tell how unfair is, and this lead to demand number 5; Allow all parties free access to the medias. This is why they want to have equal access to the media, so it will be an equally fair match.
What do you think then? Your call.
So what is the problem? Why is people against this if there's nothing wrong with the demands? They said demonstration isn't a right way to voice out. "You better write to goverment and they'll consider.." Haha. Is it? I don't think so. Yeah writing to government is the right way to voice out, but we want to be heard. All this while I saw the demands, request or everything that is not "physically" heard or seen, or not by actions are all thrashes. Everything fall on deaf ears. Nothing is considered. So whats the point?
They said the chairperson Dato Ambiga Sreenevasen shouldn't be acceptable by the Malay for her role in the case of IFC (Interfaith Commission) and the apostasy case of Lina Joy. But I think it is better we look to what the thing is going to lead us to, not who is going to lead us to. To the better? If she's going to run something right and for the better, so whats the problem? My friend said :
I chose to agree with him. Coz I saw this thing has nothing to do with what she was doing in 2001, dealing with IFC etc. Yes I agreed and we all know the ungodly things; her role in IFC and Lina Joy case, and we all agreed it couldn't be accepted. But none of the demands itself are dealing with religious or racial matters. It is just all about electoral reformation, and it is indeed to the better coz they want to straighten up things. They just want justice in elections, and thats all this was all about. Is it wrong?
Well, I'm still neutral but I must have a stand, so that is just my opinion regarding this. I saw nothing is actually wrong about this, and I think the are no reasons why we can't have to run this program when the only purpose is for search of justice. What do you think then?