BERSIH 2.0 FAILED, SO BERSIH 3.0 HAD TO BE ORGANIZED. DOES BERSIH 4.0 HAVE TO BE ORGANIZED TOO BECAUSE BERSIH 3.0 HAS FAILED?

By Mansor Puteh

It seems to me that the Bersih 2.0 protests of last year had failed miserably. This is despite the claim by its organizers that it had succeeded. The only thing that Bersih 2.0 had succeeded was to make the majority of the people feel anguished.

It was just a bit of pseudo-installation and street theater of the crass type. Those who took part in it were not original.

The Melayu who were there were not ashamed to allow themselves to be led - or misled by an Hindu woman who needed personal attention and perhaps vilification and wanted to ensure that she be anointed the true 'symbol of democracy' in Malaysia when all that she had done was to go against its very principles.

Maybe there was a good reason why a person like that had to be created.

The only reason anyone could ever think of is how she was there merely to make the Melayu realize their own folly; those who do not know better how to behave themselves and realize the grand plans of the others which they could only achieve with the support of the Melayu i.e. by ensuring that they are split.

Unfortunately, those Melayu have yet to realize this.

There were some Melayu who were at Dataran Merdeka on 28 April because they protested against the proposed implementation of the PPSMI.

Yet, there were others who disdained the fact that the many young Umno and Barisan Nasional (Barisan) upstarts who despite being so young, and not so well-educated but who could still rise so fast not only in politics but also managed to acquire immense wealth; whereas they, who are equally or better educated had to slog to pay for their student loans.

And yet, there are many others who were at the square for other more simplistic reasons.

The protests were definitely not against the Election Commissions or Suruhanjaya Pilihanaya Malaysia (SPM).

Maybe the publicity crazy SPM officers ought to think how they should better hide themselves from the glare of publicity so that they are 'not seen and not hurt'.

They become targets because they insist on showing themselves too much.

And for that reason, Bersih .3.0 had to be organized because of the failure of the organizers of Bersih 2.0 to achieve their aims, which was to cause greater inconvenience to the people of the city of Kuala Lumpur.

Because if Bersih 2.0 had been successful, then why was there any need to have its sequel?

Many Malaysians have the idea that the Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0 protests are really about the opposition and their supporting NGO leaders who are trying their level best to protest against their better judgment and to ensure themselves that they had indeed not failed those who had voted them in the last general election for which they have managed to wrest control some of the states in the Federation.

As it turned out the two protests were not organized by NGOs as claimed by its organizers but the opposition political parties.

And it is also ironic despite their exertions that the Bersih 3.0 was aimed at ensuring that the forthcoming general election be fair, yet, all that the speakers had managed to spout during the protests were none other than the diatribes of the most predictable types.

And all that Anwar Ibrahim could say to the reporter from Aljazeera was how the protests were about them demanding just that.

The Bersih .3.0 protests therefore can be described to have failed.

Many Malaysians were sure they were organized because the Internet channel that they had said were very effective for them to voice and share their political concerns with the masses, has proven to be such a fallacy.

If indeed the internet and the websites and blogs that support and promote opposition views and ideas as well as ideals were successful in influencing the people and voters, then surely, the opposition does not really need even the mainstream media to relay their messages across to the people, much less to organize physical and strenuous street protests...

The truth is that the internet portals and blogs of the opposition and the medium itself is not truly effective in changing the views of the public, who have all by now realized that this medium has been turned into no more than the platform for the dissemination of ideas which otherwise, would be discarded in the garbage bins.

The influence of the internet in Malaysia can be said to be low as most Malaysians have gotten used to the rotten state that it is.

Bersih 4.0 cannot happen, as its earlier editions have proven to be useless to the cause of the opposition; they have only caused the exposure of more of the types of deceits that their leaders have been spouting in ceramah and other platforms.

And from what I can see, even the size of the ceramahs have dwindled since the last few years and those who make a living out of giving speeches in them have now been described as 'standup comedians' who say the most predictable things again and again.

Many Malaysians pity them because they do not seem to have any clue of what and who they are in their zeal to prove to everybody that they are the real saviors of the land.