An open letter to BN MPs

Dave Anthony calls on BN MPs to take collective responsibility for the brutality towards peaceful Bersih 3.0 demonstrators and for the Lynas plant.

Dear Puan Puan and Tuan Tuan,

Please note I do not address you as yang Berhormats. If you have plans to stand for election in the coming general election, please consider how you are going to face and address your audience.

You are associated with a regime that is tainted with brutalising the people. Your standing has been prejudged by the people as a result of the overwhelming evidence of what happened at the Bersih 3.0 rally. Don’t go begging for the vote of the people on whom you have shifted the blame for the riot.

People have concluded that they need to show the powers-that-be that when they attacked Bersih they were messing with the people and people power can’t be intimidated or silenced; it only grows stronger.

If you are Malay Malaysian you belong to Umno, the master mind of the 428 atrocities. If you are Chinese Malaysian your MCA is devoid of anything constructive as evidenced from the moment your leader Soi Lek opens his mouth to a broken record. If you are Indian Malaysian, your MIC’s claims to defend the Indians ring hollow when after more than half a century the majority of the community remain marginalised. Ministers and MPs in Sabah and Sarawak, if you have a sense of belonging to that beautiful land, don’t forget that you sit inside and drive the vehicle that is devastating the land and prostituting it. You are all collectively responsible for all the misdeeds of the government authority.

Whatever credentials you may pronounce at your campaigns will be thrown back at you. You have remained silent and not raised a word of protest in defence of the people when they were unjustly brutalised by the police force not only during the Bersih rallies. We have heard, read and seen numerous cases of police brutality in this country where people, good, bad or otherwise, have been mistreated, abused and killed in police custody.

By your silence you have condoned the sleazy gutter-type scandals that have brought disrepute to the nation and the ginormous corruptions that have crippled the economy, even if you may not have been personally involved. So long as you have not spoken against them, your compatriots, you are considered to have approved their criminal actions. Your silence is deafening.

The Lynas rare earth plant is something that the people do not want. Why do you have to go to great lengths to prove that it is safe when the people just do not want it. If you presume to represent the people, why don’t you respect their wishes? The people realise now that it was a mistake to have elected you.

You may hide behind the judiciary, which is popularly judged to be subservient to the ruling elite and very often in high profile cases not to give a just verdict. People now judge the judges who sit on cases and predict the judgments.

People are waking up to the fact that your money cannot buy everything. What have you got left in your election manifesto? The tide has turned and, if you do not want to be judged a bad hat by history, you still have time to change course.

Whatever religion or race you belong to, in your heart of hearts, don’t you feel insulted when religion and race are used or abused as tools to manipulate the people? Your silence is consent.

You may try to speak for yourself but you are draped in the dishonourable colours of your party flag. You cannot escape that – even if the mainstream media paint you in glorifying colours. The people have already made up their minds regarding the hypocrisy of the main media.

“For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men—
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones” said Mark Antony.

Ponder on the sentiments of your wife and family, your children, grandchildren in the future, relatives and friends and the image you portray to them. The only honourable thing that you can do now is to immediately disassociate yourself from the ruling elite. But first you have to ask yourself why you are there in the first place and why are you still there. Are you there to serve the people or to amass wealth for yourself. If you genuinely care for the people immediately sit down and write a resignation letter. Retire gracefully while you still can.

Don’t even think of joining any political party at this moment; perhaps in a decade or so you may try to resurface when your heart responds to the needs of the people.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

And a final word to Pakatan or independent or whoever dares to stand for election; remember that people are watching you and beware of a similar fate befalling you in five years’ time.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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