— Othman Wahab The Malaysian Insider Jan 07, 2012
JAN 7 — Oh no, not again. In the run-up to Bersih 2.0, the Najib administration agreed to allow the demonstrators to use a stadium and then withdrew the offer after being worried that calls for free elections could lead to the overthrow of the BN government.
After Prime Minister Najib Razak realised that his handling had been an unmitigated disaster, the government gave half-hearted and lame excuses about how its offer of the Shah Alam Stadium was not accepted by Bersih 2.0 organisers.
The BN government looked weak and devoid of courage. It appeared yesterday morning that the lesson of Bersih 2.0 had been learnt when the police agreed to allow the opposition to gather near the High Court in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur on January 9 to show solidarity with Anwar Ibrahim who is facing jail time for a sodomy charge.
Fantastic, I thought, finally the government and its agents showing maturity instead of behaving fearfully in the face of legitimate democratic expression.
PKR said it was willing to guarantee that no untoward incident would happen and everything seemed okay.
And then last night, the police exhibited that they still are determined to earn the scorn of Malaysians as well as stay in the dark ages. They imposed conditions on the organisers of Monday’s gathering, saying that there can’t be any speeches, no holding of placards or banners.
And no noise. Yes, that’s right. The police ruled that the gathering must not make noise.
Don’t talk, don’t deliver speeches, don’t hold up any banners. Given the interval between the police agreeing to the gathering and the imposition of conditions, I can only guess that the KL police chief got a call from upstairs. These set of conditions also makes nonsense of the claim by the Najib administration that the passing of the Peaceful Assembly Bill removes impediments to public gatherings and is a sign of a mature democracy.
Any legislation is only as good as the intent of the government of the day and the ability of government institutions to understand that Malaysians are not stupid.
Can you imagine? A gathering without noise.