By Othman Wahab
June 16, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 16 — Ibrahim Ali thinks he is a brilliant strategist and Umno is confident that it is onto something and Khalid Abu Bakar, the deputy inspector-general of police for Umno, performed just like a politician did.

Of course, I am referring to the moves to stop civic-minded Malaysians from gathering on July 9 and protesting about election shortcomings. The Bersih 2 rally is now not likely to happen, with police threatening tough action (they can’t nab criminals but they can bully tax payers. That is what happens when an institution becomes politicised).

As pointed out by Raja Petra Kamarudin, blogger extraordinaire, the government is worried at the prospect of huge turnout, concerned that momentum could build towards coming polls. They are also worried about the impact of Arab uprising here, despite protestations by the government that Malaysia is not like Egypt.

The shadow puppetry started when Umno Youth lodged a few police reports and then the conscience of Umno, Ibrahim Ali threatened to crush the gathering and hold his own march. All this puppetry was necessary to create imagery of confrontation and chaos so that the police would be justified in some tough talking.

So then the government would say that it is neutral about the gatherings and would leave it to the police. This is exactly what happened.

Hishammuddin Hussein, the home minister for Umno, said that the matter should be left to the authorities.

Khalid Abu Bakar says no permits will be given to either Bersih or Perkasa/Umno. On the face of it, he is fair. But we are not stupid; we have seen this theatre before.

For “national security” and “concern over the livelihood of traders” (never mind that cost of living is more of a threat to traders than a peaceful gathering) the police were always going to ban Bersih 2. But they wanted to appear even-handed, so the theatre of Ibrahim staging his protest was performed.

The man is the ultimate Umno loyalist.

Their machinations are so amateurish, but they think they are sophisticated. This surely is a sign of the times: When the ruled are few steps ahead of the ruling class.