By Hafidz Baharom
July 17, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JULY 17 — Barisan Nasional has proven to this nation and its citizenry time and again, if not just rather blatantly in the recent days through their denials and openly disproven lies, that it is arrogant, relentlessly hostile and even, and you may quote me on this, downright stupid.

Let’s begin by stating the obvious for those who read my piece on LoyarBurok. Yes, I did join the Bersih 2.0 rally, wearing pink. Unfortunately I didn’t brandish a gigantic yellow umbrella as promised, so for that I apologise.

That aside, the experience was an eye-opener on two levels. One was very obviously the crackdown by the police force and the government. Second was the charity and compassion of those who took part in the Bersih 2.0 rally themselves.

For the first point, I wish to submit a request to our government. If you truly want to lie to the public and control the spin of what really happened during the Bersih 2.0 rally, then I suggest you take out the national 50 per cent broadband penetration agenda from your agenda for Malaysia.

Because, dear members of my government who I did not vote for, increasing Internet access, and being a stupid liar while there are videos and photos emblazoned all over cyberspace to prove that you are in fact a stupid liar is like having you coming to my doorstep, pissing on my foot and telling me to vote for you.

As for the second point, it was on this day that I truly saw charity, unity and compassion at its best. True, people were screaming political slogans and even religious doctrine as well, but it didn’t matter.

Those who didn’t adhere to either religious or even political views kept chanting slogans in line with Bersih. This was also the day where mineral water, isotonic beverages and salt were shared among the people, regardless of race or religion.

Barisan Nasional used to be the party of unity for all races, with each single component party taking care of their own groups based on the racial divide. This all took place historically during an era where there was racial segregation of every single aspect of life within the nation, from economic to housing. It was the way the British worked, and the establishment of all these parties — Umno, MCA and MIC — were to look out for the interests of their specific racial communities.

Sincerely speaking, after some 50 odd years, Malaysians have moved past that. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, Umno has not. And MCA, once a conservative Chinese lobby group for the economic interests of the Chinese which evolved to support the rights of the Chinese people in the nation, is nothing more than a shadow of its true self. And as for the MIC, they’ve become irrelevant.

I was truly surprised to hear that the MCA did not come out to condemn the tear gas bombing and water cannon spraying of two truly Chinese medical institutions, Tung Shin Hospital and also the Chinese Maternity Hospital. That in itself just shows how the MCA, once speaking out for the Chinese community, has become a toothless tiger.

As a closing, I have two questions for our prime minister.

Umno hosted a gathering of 6,000 members after Bersih 2.0 as a show of force. In fact, in his speech, the party president and our prime minister stated that Umno can gather 6,000 people in under a day, and, with three million members, can “conquer” Kuala Lumpur at any given time.

So, my first question would be; in 2008, where were these three million members when you lost all but one seat in Kuala Lumpur?

And secondly, if you truly preach 1 Malaysia, why weren’t MCA and MIC invited to this event at PWTC?

After all, Bersih 2.0 was a gathering of people from every state, religion, race and political identity. That being said, it is my humble opinion that Bersih 2.0 has proven the prime minister to be one of the worst leaders since Bush 2.0.