“Mountainous pressure” of the 916 rally

By: Lin De Cheng (translated name)
Sin Chew Daily, September 14th, 2015.

What is the core agenda of the 916 rally? I think this is the problem that the organizers of the rally could not clarify or explain clearly.

Initially it was a rally with a racial overtone inviting participants to join the rally called by the UMNO division head Jamal Yunos. He expressed that the rally was to counter Bersih 4.0, fully supporting the Prime Minister and safeguarding the dignity of the Malays.

In short such calls are to encourage more Malays to participate so that their voices can be heard. Nevertheless majority of the Malays are rational people. (Don’t forget there were many Malays who participated in Bersih 4.0).There were 20 Malay NGOs rejecting the rally and conveying a memorandum to urge the Agong to interfere.

Besides that they also proclaimed that there would be 2500 personnel standing by to protect the safety of the Chinese residents at the location of the rallies.

In the city of Kuala Lumpur, posters of blood washing the Chinese were wantonly displayed and the social media carried remarks threatening the safety of the Chinese were also wide spread. It was only a call to the rally to safe guard the dignity of Malays yet it sparked off racial sentiments so easily.

Besides that the rally will pass through Chinese dominated areas like Bukit Bintang, Petaling Street and other areas. After the riot at the Low Yat Plaza, nobody wish such racial clashes will happen again. However who dare to guarantee the trouble makers and racial fanatics will or will not take this opportunity to stir up trouble?

Similarly it was just like Bersih 4.0 rally when incidents of humiliating the national leaders occurred which were unavoidable. Will the participants of the 916 rally be more disciplined than “Bersih”?

Not to be forgotten was Jamal did advise the non-Muslims to stay away from the city to avoid unpleasant provocative situations. Even though he claimed that it would be a peaceful rally but many people have no confidence in his promise. The business people chose to make it a rest day or ready to escape for safety.

At present the rally had changed its name from “Malay dignity rally “to a “Malay solidarity rally”. The federation of the Malay martial arts /silat (Pesaka) which is the organizer of the said rally tried to defuse the tension by saying it is not a Red Shirts rally but actually a rally to safeguard Rukun Negara by showing the spirit of solidarity.

Rally is a means for the Rakyat to convey their appeals and this will transform into a political pressure on the party concerned. If the rally is tainted with racial overtones, can the participants from all races attend it without any fear?

If the rally really wants to show the solidarity spirit, why can’t it just jointly organize the 916 Malaysia Day celebration together with the government at the very first beginning? Why caused so much trouble and created havoc on such rally?

To me the 916 organizers are facing a big dilemma. The factors that will be faced by them are: 1. How to control the participants so that they will not cause trouble. 2. The turnout might be low. 3. Will they consider a last minute cancelation?

Now Malaysians are focusing on the rally, it is a “mountainous pressure”.

Original Source:
916集會“壓力山大”