Stephanie Sta Maria April 30, 2012
According to Deputy Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, that single incident robbed Bersih of declaring its rally a peaceful success.
According to Deputy Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, that single incident robbed Bersih of declaring its rally a peaceful success.
PETALING JAYA: A Barisan Nasional politician pinpointed that the overturning of a police car during Saturday’s rally had robbed Bersih 3.0 of declaring its rally a peaceful success.
Videos and images of the incident, which made headlines, showed angry protesters overturning a police car after it lost control and rammed into three other protesters sitting by the road.
And that single incident, said Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, stood in the way of Bersih being able to take credit for a peaceful rally.
“That was top story for the mainstream newspapers,” he told FMT. “If that police car wasn’t overturned, there would be no story for the dailies.”
“Bersih could have laid claim to a peaceful rally and that would have been a bigger issue for BN. But now Bersih has to answer to BN’s statement that the rally was far from peaceful.”
The Termerloh MP then echoed what his peers had repeated countless of times – all would have been well if Bersih had just agreed to move the rally to Stadium Merdeka.
Just days before the sit-in rally, Kuala Lumput Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail had offered Stadium Merdeka as an alternative to Dataran Merdeka which he had declared off-limits. But Bersih had declined the offer on the basis that it was too late to change the venue.
“Using Stadium Merdeka doesn’t mean that everything would have gone smoothly but at least it would have given us more control over the situation,” Saifuddin said.
Handle with ‘care and finesse’
He, however, cautioned the ruling government to handle the aftermath with “care and finesse” which he said included refraining from labelling protesters as “barbarians” and “morons”.
He also noted that the police had “acted strangely” towards the media and in not allowing detainees access to their lawyers or speak to Bar Council representatives but didn’t elaborate further.
A number of journalists were arrested and assaulted while taking pictures or filming the police clashing with protesters. Two ended up in hospital with serious injuries.
“(Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) made a very important stop today when he visited the injured journalists at the hospital,” Saifuddin said. “That’s what I mean by addressing the issue with care and finesse.”
Najib had yesterday made a personal apology to a journalist from The Sun for the violence he encountered at the hands of the police while covering the rally.
Saifuddin also observed that the youth had made up the majority of the rally participants and that there was an element of “defiance and anger” in the crowd which he understood.
But he clarified that the above statement was directed only at the “non-political” half of the 80,000-strong crowd who had gathered early in the morning and before opposition politicians had arrived.
“I know they are fed up and while I don’t agree with their stand to take to the streets, I understand it,” he said. “I was once an activist myself. But the violence is another story and I strongly condemn that.”
‘Not given a chance’
He, however, declined to comment when asked if his understanding of the protesters’ anger indicated an acknowledgement that BN had not done enough to ensure clean and fair elections.
“I would rather not comment on that… please,” he said “But on our side we were trying to explain that Bersih 3.0 was not necessary because the Dewan Rakyat had already passed the Parliamentary Select Committee’s report.”
“Bersih 3.0 was announced immediately after that without giving us a chance to do anything about those recommendations.”
Videos and images of the incident, which made headlines, showed angry protesters overturning a police car after it lost control and rammed into three other protesters sitting by the road.
And that single incident, said Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, stood in the way of Bersih being able to take credit for a peaceful rally.
“That was top story for the mainstream newspapers,” he told FMT. “If that police car wasn’t overturned, there would be no story for the dailies.”
“Bersih could have laid claim to a peaceful rally and that would have been a bigger issue for BN. But now Bersih has to answer to BN’s statement that the rally was far from peaceful.”
The Termerloh MP then echoed what his peers had repeated countless of times – all would have been well if Bersih had just agreed to move the rally to Stadium Merdeka.
Just days before the sit-in rally, Kuala Lumput Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail had offered Stadium Merdeka as an alternative to Dataran Merdeka which he had declared off-limits. But Bersih had declined the offer on the basis that it was too late to change the venue.
“Using Stadium Merdeka doesn’t mean that everything would have gone smoothly but at least it would have given us more control over the situation,” Saifuddin said.
Handle with ‘care and finesse’
He, however, cautioned the ruling government to handle the aftermath with “care and finesse” which he said included refraining from labelling protesters as “barbarians” and “morons”.
He also noted that the police had “acted strangely” towards the media and in not allowing detainees access to their lawyers or speak to Bar Council representatives but didn’t elaborate further.
A number of journalists were arrested and assaulted while taking pictures or filming the police clashing with protesters. Two ended up in hospital with serious injuries.
“(Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) made a very important stop today when he visited the injured journalists at the hospital,” Saifuddin said. “That’s what I mean by addressing the issue with care and finesse.”
Najib had yesterday made a personal apology to a journalist from The Sun for the violence he encountered at the hands of the police while covering the rally.
Saifuddin also observed that the youth had made up the majority of the rally participants and that there was an element of “defiance and anger” in the crowd which he understood.
But he clarified that the above statement was directed only at the “non-political” half of the 80,000-strong crowd who had gathered early in the morning and before opposition politicians had arrived.
“I know they are fed up and while I don’t agree with their stand to take to the streets, I understand it,” he said. “I was once an activist myself. But the violence is another story and I strongly condemn that.”
‘Not given a chance’
He, however, declined to comment when asked if his understanding of the protesters’ anger indicated an acknowledgement that BN had not done enough to ensure clean and fair elections.
“I would rather not comment on that… please,” he said “But on our side we were trying to explain that Bersih 3.0 was not necessary because the Dewan Rakyat had already passed the Parliamentary Select Committee’s report.”
“Bersih 3.0 was announced immediately after that without giving us a chance to do anything about those recommendations.”
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