7 very un-Bersih things that have happened before Bersih

You might’ve seen all over the news last week that someone spray-painted “#4.0” in yellow on George Town’s famous street art. Police have CCTV footage showing a man getting out of a car at 3.15am, on 19 Aug, and spraying on the murals, shop doors, and even on a few cars parked there. Wait a sec….#4.0?….Yellow? That’s Bersih! Did Bersih vandalise George Town? Or did Bersih haters make it look like it was Bersih?! Or what if Bersih did it, to make it look like the haters did it, to make Bersih look bad!?!?

Either way, it was not a very nice thing to do and it looks suspiciously like sabotage. Just when you thought that was it, MORE vandalism was done… this time on the femes yellow Volkswagen Beetle belonging to Bersih’s Thomas Fann. Vandals threw acid on the car, sprayed vulgar words, slashed its tyres and cut the fan belts. “I am heartbroken but this is what we are facing. Thugs. But we will persevere,” Thomas told The Malaysian Insider.

So we called Mandeep Singh who’s a Bersih Secretariat we’ve interviewed before in another story, to ask him if the Bersih guys noticed any “suspicious” activity lately. Especially now that it’s so close to the rally, which btw will be held 29 & 30 Aug in KL ugaiz.

“We don’t know who did it. We won’t say it was supporters or people who are anti-Bersih. You know, sometimes people get excited. But whoever it was, they did the wrong thing. We don’t support vandalism. You can paint on your own property – that’s fine. If you are anti-Bersih, then come out and argue based on facts. ” – Mandeep told CILISOS

Since Bersih is coming up this weekend aldy, we thought we’d look at the PAST un-Bersih sabotages that’ve happened around rally-time. Here are 7…

 

1. Someone stashed dangerous weapons and Bersih T-shirts around Gombak

This was back in 2011, when Bersih 2.0 was scheduled to happen on 9 Jul. So a few days before the big day, police found 3 disturbing stashes of Molotov cocktails, parangs, firecrackers, surgical masks, yellow and red bandanas, lighters, ball bearings, a saw, and a meat cleaver. And guess what… they were all found with Bersih T-shirts. After tip-offs from civilians, including one from stall operators who saw 3 men wearing skull caps and masks acting suspiciously, the police confiscated the stuff and good thing no one got hurt.

The police never did catch the guys who left the weapons around. Here’s what they suspected:

“They knew that it would be difficult to hide the weapons on the day of the rally as police would be everywhere, so they hid them earlier.” – Acting City Police Chief Datuk Amar Singh in NST

But thankfully, Bersih 2.0 as those of you who attended remember, was peaceful… at least for the first half, until the tear gas and water cannons came out. No one threw any Molotov cocktails, no one chop at people with parangs, but a lot of people wore Bersih T-shirts la. The only evidence of a knife during Bersih was this…

 

2. Someone edited peaceful Bersih photos to show violence

After Bersih 2.0 was over, a photo of a guy carrying a ‘knife’ made front-page news on Berita Harian and New Sunday Times papers. Looks like a totally violent protester right? Except he was holding the Jalur Gemilang and NOT a knife! Several blogs showed how the photo was edited and the caption from Berita Harian clearly stated it was a “pisau” in his hands.

Finally, the masked protester revealed himself as Abdul Razak Endut at a PAS ceramah in KL. Here’s a video. And he explained his pose, which looks like he was throwing sumtin’ (nope he wasn’t throwing stones at the police)…

“When the FRU fired tear gas, I saw the wind blowing towards the demonstrators. I picked up the canister and tossed it to a grass field with the hope that the demonstrators would be safe.” – Abdul Razak on Malaysiakini

Aiyo, if wanna photoshop ini macam la:

 

3. Someone distributed fake Bersih pamphlets

Here’s another one that happened before Bersih 2.0… PAS MPs found hundreds of thousands of fake Bersih pamphlets being printed in a factory in Johor. It had a Bersih 2.0 logo directly above a caption that read:

“Bersama kita tumbangkan kerajaan sekarang! Adakah kita mampu seperti Libya?” [Together we will topple the government now! Can we be like Libya?]

Libya erupted into civil war after its citizens protested against the autocratic regime of Muammar Gaddafi (guy that looks like Kipidap) in February that year (2011). So these fake pamphlets seemed to suggest Bersih was calling for a Libya-style revolution, but MPs condemned it saying this was NOT Bersih’s intentions.

“We are not here to overthrow the government. We are gentlemen. We want free and fair elections.” – Mahfuz Omar, Pokok Sena MP, Malaysia Today

 

4. Someone gathered fake “Bersih” protesters to protest against Bersih

From afar, this group of people dressed in yellow could’ve fooled us into thinking it was a pre-Bersih protest, but if you went up close, you would have seen the protesters carrying banners that read:

“Ambiga boneka Yahudi.”

That, and the fact that Bersih has agreed to gather on 29-30 Aug, not BEFORE, would give people a clue that these protesters are not with the real Bersih. Since the photos were uploaded on Facebook on 16 Aug, it has been shared 917 times, and even had people trying to guess who these posers were.

Then on 20 Aug, there was another gathering of people wearing the same exact T-shirts. This time, they identified themselves as members from 15 NGOs who gathered to support Najib. They brought a cutout of Bersih chair Maria Chin Abdullah and poured syrup all over it in protest (this was the story Mandeep was referring to), and then threatened to get 7,000 people to open up stalls in front of her house!

 

5. Some hackers appeared to be Bersih supporters

So there’s this group called Anonymous Malaysia who threatened to attack 150 government-related websites in conjunction with Bersih 4.0. They uploaded an 8-minute video expressing their support for Bersih and said the hack aimed to force the PM to resign. But Maria Chin said Bersih has nothing to do with this group and that their actions would jeopardise the rally.

“We do not condone, and must condemn the threats issued by this so called group of hackers who have misused Bersih 4’s campaign in order to further their own agenda, whatever that may be. Bersih does not agree nor tolerate with vicious attacks, either physical or virtual, towards a democratically elected government, however flawed the electoral system might have been.” – Maria on Malaysiakini

Would true supporters really do something that could sabotage the rally? You be the judge.

 

6. Some Umno guy said he saw policemen joining the Bersih crowd

But not to join in as Bersih 3.0 rally supporters… he claimed they went undercover as protesters so that they could ARREST people. The poster was Zaharin Mohd Yasin, who is the Umno Secretary of Bandar Tun Razak. He posted that on Facebook and we found it being shared on Curi-curi Wang Malaysia.

Then we found a full report on Sinar Harian. Apparently, Zaharin recognised a cop from Pahang wearing the yellow T-shirt and arm bands, adding that it was undercover cops who also charged a police fence and threw things at the police in standard uniform. Bersih 3.0 had started out quiet, but towards the end, things got rowdy. Blows were being exchanged from BOTH sides – the fellas in yellow and the cops. People even threw things at cop cars, causing one to crash into a wall and later get overturned by the crowd.

Needless to say, Zaharin’s statement pissed some people in Umno off.

 

7 . Someone said got people spreading communism at Bersih

Recently, 30 members from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) were arrested and investigated for allegedly planning to revive communism in Malaysia during the Bersih rally. This has to be the most extreme un-Bersih story we’ve heard so far. The police rampas their possessions too, including flyers and T-shirts with Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin and Suriani Abdullah – all connnected with MCP – printed on them.

Yes, PSM is gonna be there to support Bersih all the way, but Secretary-General S. Arutchelvan said the cops were using communism as an excuse to scare people and use the ISA. He added that those T-shirts can be bought from any pasar malam anyways.

“We are being used by the police as a pawn to give a psychological fear to the participants of the Bersih rally.” – S. Arutchelvan told FMT

 

But that’s not what Bersih stands for…

Why every time it gets closer to Bersih, this kind of un-Bersih thing happens wan!? Besides the sabotage acts, there were the butt exercises in front of Ambiga’s house, death threat SMS sent to her, etc. Whether some of these acts were done by supporters in over-excitement, or people who are anti-Bersih, they are NOT what Bersih stands for.

So what does Bersih stand for? It stands for clean elections, a clean government, the right to protest and democracy, buuutt all done PEACEFULLY – not through violence or extortion!

“Come out and argue based on facts. Be professional. We are a democracy, if anything, state your demands.” – Mandeep

It stands for people like Aunty Bersih and thousands and thousands of Malaysians, who despite not knowing what to expect with every Bersih rally, face tear gas, water cannons, getting arrested and the rain for something they believe in. Incidentally, Aunty Bersih will be going again for Bersih 4.0 this weekend.

At the end of the day, who benefits when people act out of line? Not Bersih. Not the protesters. Not Malaysia. So when you go for the rally this coming weekend, don’t break the peace no matter how or who stirs up the crowd. Stay calm and end the day the Bersih way. Meanwhile, here are some photos to bersihkan your mind.