916 Rally creates havoc out of nothing

Chen Bao Qing (translated name)
Sin Chew Daily, September 9th 2015.

The Constitution guarantees the Rakyat the right to assemble freely to convey their views in a peaceful manner. This is the norm in a democratic society which has to be respected.

This right does not include the right to hold a rally to incite racial sentiments and hatred which can destroy the harmony and stability of the nation.

The “916 Malay dignity rally” is in fact a rally that stirs trouble and causes panic in the society. The original objective of celebrating Malaysia Day is to promote national unity. The 916 rally has deviated from the spirit of goodwill and caused serious differences in a multiracial society.

Since the majority of the participants in Bersih 4.0 were Chinese, it was branded as a rally to humiliate the dignity of the Malays. The organizers with political backing intended to gather 300,000 Malay Red-Shirts as a counter response to Bersih 4.0.They intentionally picked Chinese majority areas like Bukit Bintang, Chow Kit Road, and Low Yat Plaza site in Kuala Lumpur which had racial clashes between the Chinese and the Malays.

No doubt the police decided not to issue permit for the 916 rally on the grounds of public safety but there were parties campaigning and promoting the Malays to attend the 916 rally on the net. They even pasted a poster with bloody racial overtone, a threatening intention, racial provocation in areas with Chinese majority. This created an atmosphere of unrest. Such posters had destroyed the harmony and mutual trust that was built through years of hardship.

The so called accusation of “Humiliating the Malays” was an unfounded allegation. No doubt most of the Bersih 4.0 participants were Chinese but other races like Malays and Indians were also present. Besides that the organizers of Bersih 4.0 were from all races and many Malay participants donning yellow shirts also attended the rally. Are they humiliating the dignity of the Malays?

Would Azmi, Mentri Besar of Selangor, Mat Sabu, the leader of Party Amanah Rakyat, Wan Azizah the President of PKR and other Malay leaders attend the rally if such rally humiliated the Malays? Would Tun Mahathir, who always safeguards the rights and interest of the Malays besides working very hard helping them, attend the rally with his wife at night to give moral support to the participants?

The 36 hour peaceful Bersih 4.0 rally proved that it was a peaceful street demonstration demanding for political reforms, good governance and upholding the universal value of integrity. Naturally, it is a demand from the Rakyat of Malaysian origins. What is the problem if the participants in the rally were more Chinese than Malays?

The 916 rally poster is portraying the intention of safeguarding the integrity of the Malays which contained motives of racial revenge, provocation which destroyed racial harmony and social peace. Besides that it also tried to distort the spirit of a peaceful street rally. They deliberately accused Bersih 4.0 of humiliating the Malays. This clearly showed that the rally is coated with political motives or agenda.

The ambiguous stand taken by the Cabinet and UMNO no doubt encouraged the controversial rally to proceed. The police had already classified the 916 rally as an unlawful rally but some UMNO top leaders like Ismail Sabri, Mentri Besar of Perlis Azlan had publicly declared that they would attend the rally. They are bad role models to the public who for the sake of political interest or agenda forgo racial unity.

The problems faced by the country at present are the lack of transparent governance, leaders’ confidence crisis and economic recession which have no links to racial issue. However there were parties playing racial cards to counter Bersih rally in order to divert the attention of the public on the serious core problems of the nation. Their actions were despicable.

UMNO leaders should be leaders by example. By right they should remove all corrupt practices and act as clean government officials to safeguard the dignity of the Malays. Why do they need a rally to convince the public?

Original Source:
916大集會，無風起浪