BERSIH Cleaning Up Malaysia

Malaysia has been gripped by the colour Yellow over the past month, this royal colour of the King is somewhat ridiculed when the organizers of the BERSIH rally calling for a free and fair Elections opted YELLOW as a symbol for their cause. The direct translation of the Malay word BERSIH in English is "clean". It's perplexing how clean do the Organizers of BERSIH want future Elections to be. The present Government under the strong grip of the UMNO Party led by Prime Minister Najib has declared BERSIH as illegal, one reason is that BERSIH has been said to have been sabotaged by the Opposition groups headed by Anwar Ibrahim, a man very much disliked by many in the UMNO Party.

YELLOW has therefore been splashing in most websites, even fb has been swarmed with yellow captions by Malaysians who think that change should be made first by being clean. Clean in this context covers the whole arena of corruption, mismanagement, nepotism etc etc etc of the present government. But is the BN Government that "dirty" to deserve such whipping? That is left to be seen in the Elections due in 2 years time. Like in any democracy, the people will decide for better or for worst.

In the state of Sarawak where the Ibans and Chinese form the majority and where the recently concluded State Elections gave BN (Barisan Nasional Party) another 5 year term in office, matters are quite under control. Or is it? The Police is vigilant in keeping an eye on the opposition groups who are now trying hard to convince the people that BERSIH's cause is a step in the right direction. How well will they succeed? Let's observe.

"The OBAMA SYNDROME"

"The Obama Syndrome" - wow! what is this? I would define it as an impetus for CHANGE, a CHANGE invented by Barrack Obama. I have called it The Obama Syndrome.

I am a lecturer living in Malaysia. I wish also to introduce another terminology which I called “The Protest Syndrome”. Seen and taken in both context, the 2 syndromes have prompted people in the Middle East to energize a power so great that they are willing to come to the streets to die to shake up their corrupt Governments and leaders.

The Obama Syndrome has brought with it a message to autocratic rulers the world over that real power is still in the hands of the people and not them.

I watched CNN and BBC almost every other hour when I have the time and goes roaming into the world of cyber space whenever there is time. The world today is small, just a click will tell you who’s right and who’s wrong and what’s going on. This in itself is CHANGE. Even classified state secrets have been revealed, Wikileaks has proven this.

The recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt calling for CHANGE have made me to coin this thing I called “The Obama Syndrome”. It stems from the word CHANGE which he advocated. Barrack was the guy, now President of the world’s greatest country who polarizes this word “CHANGE” with democracy. He won his Presidency banking on it.

The United States, a free country where its Government is for the people and with the people, a state where democracy is the cornerstone of the system, gave a new meaning to people all over the world that CHANGE can bring with it new hopes and new beginnings.

Of course this syndrome for change picked up pace and now seems to be the crystal ball of all the Middle Eastern countries. From Tunisia to Egypt and Libya, mayhem has broken out due to the want of CHANGE. All have echoed for CHANGE and it still goes on at this very moment.

Today, I understand that it has spread to some women’s groups in India. They too want CHANGE due to the rising food prices in the continent.

But admittedly by all practical norms, CHANGE cannot be brought about overnight. It must first be made known by the people through some kind of protest, be it mild, drastic or otherwise. This protest for CHANGE can by itself develop into a syndrome, evidenced by the current happenings in the Middle East. I have called it "The Protest Syndrome".

A Man Disgraced

Egypt, a close ally of the US had a shock awakening when young minds rallied the call for their President, Hosni Mubarak to step down. People took to the streets, overcame police brutality and turned their Liberation Square into a makeshift campsite, it still goes on and the worst may yet to come.

After 30 years, their military styled President Mubarak was cornered, scorned and could be lynched if he was to appear at the Square but of course, he didn’t. He just fell out of favour, degraded as a man and blamed for all the unemployment and hardship that many Egyptians went through for the past 30 years.

The man who is a military veteran had lived and played by tactical games to rule and stay in power is eventually tested by his own citizens. Frustration however was shown by him when he admitted that he’s fed-up with his leadership role. Ironically he’s still holding on to power.

Mubarak is actually buying time for him to shuffle his cards although he knows that his aces are all gone. It would be interesting to watch what the man will do next amidst all the calls from world leaders for him to initiate democratic reforms immediately. Not until he does that, the so called pro democracy protesters have indicated that they will stay on at the Square.

As one journalist puts it, he is “a dead man walking”. Wow!