George Orwell wrote that if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
The weekend Bersih rally is about the space for Malaysians to come together to make their demands for free and fair elections, transparent government, the right to demonstrate, strengthening the parliamentary democracy system and saving the national economy heard, loud and clear, by the government.
And to do so even if the government is not prepared to hear these legitimate demands or respect the rakyat’s inherent right to dissent.
Sometimes you can gauge a faux-radical that relies on the borrowed aesthetics of revolution to hog the limelight.
Bersih is the exact opposite. And so we need to show up in full force to re-claim our rights, to re-claim our space.
As Malaysians we need to make our voices heard despite threats from the police and City Hall.
It’s our chance to show the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, that the people are no fools and will not tolerate a corrupt government.
Ruling politicians are slamming the rally for it is scheduled to end on the eve of Merdeka Day.
But isn’t the right to peaceful dissent that won us our independence from the British in the first place?
Isn’t the history of progress of mankind the history of informed dissent?
Taken together, the right to free speech, the right of assembly and the right to express grievances to the government add up to the right to dissent.
And this is the right of citizens to organize themselves and to make themselves heard in order to achieve political and social change and question government policies without fear.
Today we favour democracy as the most acceptable form of governance because, in a functioning democracy, a citizen has the right to dissent without fear of persecution.
And therefore demonizing Bersih’s weekend rally would only serve to underline our democracy as not functional.
I read with amusement the claim from the city hall that Dataran Merdeka belonged to them and therefore they will continue to bar protestors from entering into the Square or camping out around the vicinity.
This statement is an insult to Malaysians as Dataran Merdeka belongs to the rakyat.
We need to therefore gather in solidarity this weekend to show that protesting at the Square or in any given space is our basic civil liberty.
And that we would continue to do so until our legitimate demands are heard and met by the government.