By Farida Jivamala Ibrahim
Najib, you had hoped, you and your minions, that the atrocities committed against ordinary, decent and innocent people would bring them to their nadir their worst moment, their moment of least hope. But its backfired on you.
It is your nadir, Najib. Not ours. The more abuse you allow hurled at the rakyat who want a good government, the more those divisive slurs, the stronger the rakyat become. The more you allow freedom of speech and action to be stifled, the more they will speak out and do what is necessary for oppression to end.
Ethnic groups are coming together like never before. People are closing their eyes to status, race and religion and opening their hearts to one another. They have learnt to trust again, realizing the real party that has been shredding the fabric of unity and respect all this time. The walls you allowed to be erected are fast coming down.
The internet blossoms now with new and fervent writers, many of them so young, whose openness, passion, steadfastness and writing gifts this nation should be proud to acknowledge and applaud.
Freedom has finally found its voice. Courage has finally found its people.
Everywhere, people are awakening teenagers, adolescents, young and old. I keep hearing of 18-,17-,15-year-olds wanting to step forward. They have found new dreams. They see in the distance the fruition of a better country and are willing to give their all for reforms to be birthed.
It will come a free and fair country where we can stand tall among the nations and know there is a future for all.
And that glorious future can include you, Najib if you can get out of your time warp and Hitlerian mentality, and get Perkida, Wataniah, Mat Rempit army, Perkasa, silat groups etc to see reason.
You know, I went to court the other day about 8.30am, to give support to Murugan the last man standing. I was surprised at the number of Malay youths present at the complex, almost a hundred, I would say. They were giving support to the Datuk T trio, holding placards which proclaimed they loved them. Love porno-video makers?
I could not stay for Murugans session which was rescheduled to take place at 11.30 am. I walked out of the court complex at about 11am and saw those youths still there, a few possibly even as young as 13 or 14. They were standing around, sitting on the steps, doing nothing. I also saw a sea of gleaming motorbikes in the parking lot.
I wanted to ask some of them why they werent in school or college or working at that hour. I looked at one youngster, wondering whether it was he I should speak to. He looked back at me, and there was something in his eyes that made me keep my silence.
That day I had many troubled thoughts. All I could think of was the waste the waste of young potential, the brainwashing of gullible minds, perhaps even the poison of money doled out?
Why have these youths been brought down to this state of idleness?
Who in the end will rescue our young Malays from their wayward ways and dependency syndrome and give them something fresh and real and true to hold on to, something that will help them gain self-respect and esteem and worth?
Truly, no one has done a greater disservice to the Malay community, damaged the young, fed them insecurities, robbed them of self-esteem and self-respect than those who want an eternal perpetuation of their own position and power.
Please let our young grow before it is too late and! they le ad permanently damaging lives.
I am sure there are some people in the police force, on the bench, in the MACC, in SB,etc. whose conscience bothers them because they see the atrocities and think they cannot do anything. They are decent, they understand and want a better nation but they live in straitjackets, needing their jobs.
The time is now, if they should ever want things to get better. There is a choice, albeit a hard one. To say, No moreor continue to be dominated and be devalued as people, having the humanity in them slowly stripped away.
Najib, you bungled big-time. All you should have done was agreed to the Bersih rally, the Perkasa rally, the Khairy rally because that is democracy, never mind the purposes of each.
Instruct that each march occur at different times, and dont forget Bersih set their date and time and venues before the others. Have the police on hand to protect the marchers and apprehend any agent provocateur bent on disturbing and disrupting the peace, and when July 9 comes to an end, positive things would have been said about you. And you would have taken that first small step towards redemption.
Instead, you get the police to carry out your unreasonable orders and they get the bad name. I feel sorry for the police, so many good people there having to do bad things for you.
Ive ceased being angry with you, Najib. Ive ceased feeling disdain for Khairy, Hishamuddin, Rais, Muhyddin, Mahathir, Ibrahim Ali, Nazri and others recruited to spread hate and cause fear.
Why? We often hear this saying, If you do the same thing over and over again, and expect different results, thats insanity.
Look at where our nation has been heading down the years? See what you have been allowing directly or through your minions! The rakyat are bullied, threatened while you just rail and rant. The rakyat are constantly intimidated while you twist innocent words and actions, having the media print falsehood to raise the racist and religious temperature to new! obnoxio us highs. You allow the police to arrest Bersih individuals for merely wearing those t-shirts but Umno and Perkasa with their threats of violence, bloodshed, arson and unlawful behaviour get off scot-free.
And now, what is most incomprehensible is that in your total fear of the rakyat whom you are required to defend and protect, you make Yellow, the colour of royalty, a kotor concept.
You do these over and over again and yet expect different results? You do these over and over again and think somewhere along the way people will grow to respect and love you, obey and applaud you? If that isnt insanity, what is?
You have a choice. Call off your police and FRU and the army and SB. If they have orders to shoot, the bloodshed that flows is not that of an enemy of the state but of innocent people who want a future for our country, the citizenry of this country! That is betrayal of the highest order!
Why is it so difficult for you to comprehend that Bersih 2.0 is not about taking over government but about free and clean elections? That is so clear. The more you resist, the more we suspect so much of unethical moves are being done in preparation for GE13 and so now because you are being stalemated you have to resort to bestial and barbaric ways. Thus the fury.
In days of yore, many kings walked out of their palaces to sit in the public square to meet their subjects, hear cases and deliver judgment. That has drastically changed today. Walls and guards keep people away from their King and walls and guards keep their King inside.
Subjects want to meet their Ruler. Subjects want to hand over important matters for the Ruler to consider. Kings are not just figureheads. They have a crucial role to play in nation-building. And no one has the right to stop subjects who want to appeal to their King.
Najib, you may go on in this incomprehensible, reprehensible way. Thats your choice. But in the end there is always the day of reckoning for each of us each of us have to be finally a! ccountab le to our Creator.
For now, as July 9 looms, know that people are not afraid.
Here is a likely scenario I hope you will read and think through with compassion:
In his little village, 75-year-old Pak Mat rises from his prayer mat and steps out onto the veranda. He looks out to a dawn that is breaking and reflects on the significance of the day. In a few hours he will be there to march for free and fair elections. .
Mak Su joins him and he sees the tears before she hastily wipes them away. Dont go, she says imploringly. What if they beat you up, break your legs, detain you?
I have to, he replies sombrely. Its gone too far. If I dont do something now, therell be no hope for our country and our childrens future. It is my duty to stand up against all the wrongs.
Pak Mat slips into the bedroom where his five-year-old grandchild sleeps. He brushes the little ones cheek gently with a feathery kiss and hurries out to the veranda again.
He puts on his sandals , picks up his walking stick and looks at Mak Su. She is weeping.
What if they shoot you what if you are killed? she says brokenly, her weeping giving way to heart-wrenching cries.
Pak Mat takes his wifes hands in his, and with hope and faith in his heart says, I will be back. God is on our side.
Baginda bertitah sebagai ketua negeri Selangor, baginda tidak akan membiarkan adanya anasir yang akan merosakkan bangsa dan agama.
Perak police detain 41 activists over Bersih rally
The form is titled 'Borang Pemantauan Penlibatan Pegawai/Guru dalam Perhimpunan Haram atau Gerakan Yang Mengancam Keselamatan Negara' (form to monitor the participation of officers, teachers and staff in illegal gatherings or movements which may disrupt national security).
Abd Ghafar (left) in addressing all Education Ministry division directors, state education department directors, Teachers Training Institute directors and Matriculation Colleges directors have asked their staff and students from being present to the rally which is called "Walk for Democracy".
Presumably, at the behest of the constitutional monarch who granted the audience on Tuesday, Bersih called off its street rally scheduled for July 9, opting instead for a gathering in a stadium on the same day.
Which is why Bersih’s decision to hold its much-travailed rally at the Merdeka Stadium, where the independence of the country was proclaimed on Aug 31, 1957, is of momentous significance.
