Bersih march must go on despite the intimidation...

Police are already arresting anyone who happens to be wearing a yellow shirt. Police roadblocks are already in place to check the movements of Bersih symphatizers on their way to roadshows across the nation.

Yes, the police are busy rounding up Bersih marchers while thieves, rapists and acid throwers are still at large in the country.

Pro-UMNO NGOs and even people affliated with MATTA have come out to issue statements that the Bersih march would be bad for business and scare away tourists from visiting our fair country. A day’s march does more damage than RM1.8 million spent on setting up 6 Facebook pages by the Tourism Ministry? A day’s march does more damage to business in Kuala Lumpur than spending billions on submarines that have trouble diving?

With all that going against it, none of the Bersih detractors are really saying anything about the real reasons for the march. No-one is commenting on the 8 points Bersih is marching for. Not one of the critics, whether it is UMNO, Perkasa, Najib, Muhyiddin, Ibrahim Ali or Khairy Jamaluddin have brought to the table what they dislike about any of these 8 points that Bersih is handing over in the form of a memorandum to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong come July 9th.

And this is why Bersih is important. It is a march to uphold civil liberties. A march initiated by the people, organised by the people and participated by everyday Malaysians. It is a march by Malaysians to ensure a better and more matured election process.

It is only logical that when a system is broken, the system needs to be fixed. The people of Malaysia know the whole election process, the system is broken and it needs to be fixed. So what is wrong for like-minded people to march and present their ideas?

Too many ignored and broken promises

If the Election Commission counters and says that it has provided avenues for Bersih to hold dialogue in a closed setting, then the question to ask is - this has been done before, the dialogue over long ago and yet, what changes have we seen?

Case in hand - Point 3 of Bersih's 8 demands: The use of indelible ink. This suggestion was brought forward to the EC in March 2007. It is now 2011, and the EC has the gall to say the use of indelible ink requires a change to the Federal Constitution! Since when did putting ink on someone's finger require amendments to the Federal Consitution?

And even if there is a grain of truth to this, then amend the Constitution - the parliamentarians should debate this and vote on it and decide once and for all the necessity for the use of indelible ink. The thing is, will such a motion be allowed to get past the Speaker of the Parliament. Now, you know why citizens must come out to the streets and gather peacefully on July 9. BN lawmakers do not respect their wishes.

How hard is really to listen to the people and make their wishes a reality? For the duration that the UMNO-BN government has held two thirds majority in Parliament, the Federal Constitution has seen no less than 650 amendments. How much harm can one more amendment have when the current Federal Constitution is a shadow of its original, due to the devices of the UMNO-BN government.- Maclean Patrick

This is an excerpt from Malaysia Chronicle. Read here.

cheers.