Bersih 2.0, Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil, terkejut dengan mesej ugutan dan dendam yang dikeluarkan oleh beberapa pemimpin tertinggi kerajaan menjelang pilihan raya umum yang dijangka berlangsung di antara bulan-bulan yang akan datang dan pertengahan tahun yang berikut.
Pertama adalah amaran Timbalan Perdana Menteri Zahid Hamidi bahawa sekiranya ‘kontrak sosial’ terhancur, rakyat Malaysia akan menghadapi bukan sahaja “gangguan sosial tetapi – lebih buruk daripada itu – jalan-jalan akan berlumuran darah dan bersepahan dengan mayat orang”.
Free Malaysia Today memetik Zahid sebagai berkata demikian dalam ucaptamanya di Persidangan Antarabangsa Ekologi Manusia di Putrajaya pada 18 April.
Kemudian, pada 19 April, dilaporkan bahawa Menteri Kesejahteraan Bandar, Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan Noh Omar telah mengeluarkan arahan pada 6 Mac kepada pihak berkuasa tempatan untuk membatalkan projek-projek infrastruktur berskala kecil di kawasan pilihan raya persekutuan yang tidak diwakili oleh parti pemerintah.
Pada Bersih 2.0, kenyataan Zahid dan tindakan Noh amat buruk, lebih-lebih lagi kerana ia datang daripada pemimpin politik yang sepatutnya menetapkan suasana yang memungkinkan pilihan raya umum yang bebas dan adil.
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Sebaliknya, kenyataan Zahid membangkitkan kemungkinan keganasan dan secara tersirat mengungkit tempoh paling gelap dalam sejarah negara kita, iaitu pilihan raya umum tahun 1969. Walaupun ancaman sebegini pernah dibuat, melihat kepada trend sejarah, ia masih tidak disenangi dan mesti dikutuk dengan sekuat-kuatnya oleh semua rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan keamanan.
Noh seolah-olah kurang pemahaman prinsip asas yang diketahui oleh semua rakyat yang membayar cukai, iaitu kerajaan pemerintah mempunyai kewajipan dan diamanahkan melalui sistem demokrasi untuk berkhidmat kepada rakyat di bawah jagaannya, tanpa mengira fahaman politik mereka, melalui cukai yang dibayar oleh orang awam.
Undi ialah hak demokratik yang melahirkan kehendak rakyat berkenaan wakil kerajaan mereka; ia bukan sebiji token yang digunakan oleh pengundi untuk mendapatkan hadiah pembangunan.
Tindakan Noh turut bercanggahan dengan kenyataan 17 April Perdana Menteri Najib Razak yang dilaporkan oleh Bernama bahawa kerajaan tidak pernah menipu rakyat dalam pemberian projek pembangunan tetapi sentiasa mempertimbangkan hak dan keperluan rakyat tanpa mengira latar belakang, sesuai dengan slogannya “rakyat didahulukan; pencapaian diutamakan”.
Noh juga lupa bahawa amalan diskriminasi sebegini, yang akan menjejaskan kira-kira 20 juta rakyat Malaysia, turut memberi kesan kepada penyokong parti pemerintah, termasuk mereka yang tidak mengundi, yang kebetulannya tinggal di kawasan di mana majoriti pengundi tidak memilih parti pilihan mereka. Tidakkah pihak pemerintah khuatir bahawa ia juga menghukum penyokongnya bukan atas sebab kesalahan mereka tetapi atas sebab ciri pilihan raya yang tidak dapat dielakkan?
Semakin kita menghampiri sistem dua parti yang berfungsi dengan sepenuhnya, semakin sengit pertaruhannya dan ahli politik yang tidak berintegriti akan menggunakan taktik kotor sebegini untuk memenangi pilihan raya tanpa menghiraukan kesejahteraan rakyat. Rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan keamanan mesti menolak ahli politik sebegini yang melahirkan persekitaran yang tidak sihat yang menghalang pengundi daripada menggunakan hak mereka terhadap perwakilan tanpa rasa takut.
Jawatankuasa induk Bersih 2.0
Malaysians must reject vengeful politicians and those who suggest threats of violence
BERSIH 2.0, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, is appalled by the messages of intimidation and vengeance that a few top government leaders are sending out in the prelude to a general election that is expected to be held between the coming months and middle of next year.
First, is the thinly veiled, horrific warning by Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi that if the so-called ‘social contract’ is broken, Malaysians can expect not only “social disorder but – worse than that – our streets will be littered with blood and dead bodies”.
Free Malaysia Today quoted Zahid as saying this in his keynote address at the Human Ecology International Conference in Putrajaya on 18 April.
Then on 19 April, it was reported that Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar had issued a 6 March directive to local councils to scrap small-scale infrastructure projects in parliamentary constituencies not represented by the ruling party.
Bersih 2.0 finds Zahid’s statement and Noh’s action deplorable, coming especially from political leaders who should be setting the tone for a free and fair general election to come.
Instead, Zahid evokes the spectre of violence, implicitly harking back to one of the darkest periods of our nation’s history, the 1969 general election. Though such threats are nothing new going by historical trends, they are no less unwelcome and must be condemned loudly by all peace-loving Malaysians.
Noh appears to lack understanding of a fundamental principle that all taxpaying citizens know: the government of the day has a duty, and is entrusted via a democratic system, to serve the people under its charge, regardless of political affiliation, through taxes paid by the people.
A vote is a democratic right and an expression of the will of the people on who they want as their governmental representation; it is not a token that voters exchange for development goodies.
Noh’s action is also at odds with Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 17 April statement reported by Bernama that the government has never cheated the people of development projects and has always considered the rights and needs of the people regardless of background, in keeping with his “People first; performance now” slogan.
Noh also forgets that such a discriminatory practice, affecting some 20m Malaysians, will also hit supporters of the ruling party, including non-voting constituents, who happen to live in constituencies where the majority of their fellow constituents did not vote in the party of their choice. Is the ruling party not concerned that it is also punishing its supporters for no fault of theirs but an unavoidable electoral feature?
As we come closer to a fully functioning two-party system, the stakes will get ever higher, and politicians lacking integrity will adopt such dirty tactics to win the elections at the expense of the people’s wellbeing. Peace-loving Malaysians must reject such politicians whose actions engender an unhealthy environment that prevents voters from exercising their right to representation without fear of repercussion.
Bersih 2.0 steering committee
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi warned that if the so-called ‘social contract’ is broken, Malaysians can expect not only “social disorder but – worse than that – our streets will be littered with blood and dead bodies”.
Before the last general election, the Bugis Warrior warned that he would defend Putrajaya even if it meant broken bones and crushed bodies.
They seem to be preempting such scenarios in case BN loses all power. Then they (could) be able to say “We told you so, we warned you about it. We warned that only the BN can ensure peace and harmony. See what happens when BN is not in power to maintain peace and harmony”. And to restore peace and harmony, the National Security Council Act (could be) invoked to bring back “peace and harmony” by suspending Parliament.