Illegal Rally: Don't Be Fooled By It!

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 (Bernama) -- For weeks, they were under the media glare for wanting to organise an illegal rally.
Their demands for a so-called clean electoral process was publicised and heard all over the country.
In fact, they received more than sufficient publicity and some support for their cause in the new media, apart from considerable objections and condemnation from groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals opposed to the illegal rally.
They were even granted an audience by His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Now, if all those were still not enough, what more does the outlawed Bersih and its leader, Datuk S. Ambiga, want?, asked University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) political science lecturer Che Hamdan Mohd Razali.
Some 48 hours left to Saturday and the group of trouble-makers was said to want to continue with their illegal rally, albeit in a stadium but, still with no guarantee that it will be held in peace.
Now, many do not believe anymore in the reason Ambiga gave that her group -- not registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) -- was to present their unhappiness with the Election Commission (EC) running the elections, and allegedly pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
Furthermore, the claim holds no water, as amidst such claims of unfairness in the electoral process, the oppposition parties still won in five states and managed to reduce BN's two-thirds majority in Parliament in the 2008 general election.
EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusoff has said the EC had given a lengthy explanation on the group's demands for a clean voters register and overall electoral process within the commission's jurisdiction, while a few others would have to be done by law in Parliament.
Che Hamdan deduced the trouble-makers were not that stupid to the extent of not being able to understand the EC's explanation. Rather, he said, they just wanted to proceed with the illegal rally because they had an ulterior motive, which was, to gather momentum for the desperate Opposition parties.
"Is there any need to hold a rally anyway, even in the stadium or in the streets? It's all clear now, they act for the Opposition parties as they are now desperate to collect enough momentum for the coming 13th general election," he reasoned.
He believed, with BN gaining more support, especially with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak actively going to the ground to meet the rakyat, announcements of more rakyat-friendly projects and the initial success of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), support for the opposition even in their strongholds have leaned towards the BN.
"So, when the group said they wanted to rally to present their memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, it's just to hoodwink the rakyat.
"The group is just trying to re-live the 2007 illegal rally with the hope that it could show the silent majority that the opposition is still getting support," he said.
Che Hamdan said Ambiga and her group could never appreciate the fact that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had shown his openness to receive the group, within a short notice.
"Why not present their memorandum during the audience? They should have done it there and then, if that's what really matters to them," he said, adding that he agreed with the home minister's statement that the fact they received a royal audience did not make the group legal.
He said, if Ambiga and her group were really good Malaysians, they should have called off the illegal rally upon His Majesty's special statement that demonstrations would bring more harm than good even though the original intention of doing so might be good.
Another UiTM political science lecturer Asri Salleh too, said the rally should have been called off.
"But, alas, the group has a hidden agenda," he said, noting that Ambiga had to soldier on as the other real leaders behind the group must have kept pressuring her to do so.
"Maybe, lots of money had been spent to print t-shirts, banners, flyers, whatsoever. Deposits for logistics had been paid, manpower had been manoeuvred. Maybe, she had to answer to her funder and supporters if the rally was to be called off," he said.
Asri hoped supporters of the illegal rally who had earlier, failed to see the bigger picture of the opposition ploy to keep the momentum going for them for the next general election, would now open their eyes.
He said they should not be manipulated by the parties.
The people who let themselves be fooled into believing they are heroes for democracy by attending an illegal rally, should face the music if caught by the police.
The police have given a stern warning against the illegal rally, added Asri.

tunku : the opposition has been fooling the people all these while.i wonder why people can't see their evil intention.ambiga had met the King but did not handover the memorandum they suppose to hand over on 9th July. The King had grant them an audience , they should had submitted the memorandum.now that they are given the chance to do at stadium, they insist of doing it at Merdeka Stadium.the management of the stadium reject their application base on the capacity.the illegal Bersih said they expect 300k supporters to turn up while the stadium can only accomodate about 30k only.the only reason they want Merdeka Stadium is because they want to march from the city centre to the stadium. they still want to do street demo. why they did not ask for Shah Alam Stadium? the police should go all out against them come this saturday.