KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Julai — Datuk Seri Najib Razak berkata beliau sebenarnya berhasrat mahu menawarkan Stadium Shah Alam kepada Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih 2.0) untuk berhimpun, namun gabungan 62 badan bukan kerajaan itu memilih Stadium Merdeka sebagai lokasi.
Najib sebelum ini tidak pernah mencadangkan mana-mana lokasi stadium kepada Bersih 2.0, sebaliknya hanya berkata bersedia menawarkan stadium.
Bagaimanapun Bersih 2.0 yang dipengerusikan Datuk Ambiga Sreenevesan mahu menggunakan Stadium Merdeka bagi menjayakan Himpunan Bersih 2.0 pada 9 Julai lalu.
Namun polis tidak mengeluarkan permit kepada Bersih 2.0.
“Kita mahu ia (perhimpunan) dilakukan ikut saluran yang betul, sebab itu kita tawarkan stadium. Mengapa kita tawarkan stadium? Supaya mereka boleh berucap dan tidak turun ke jalanan kerana tiada sesiapa yang boleh jamin perhimpunan di jalan tidak akan timbulkan apa-apa masalah.
“Kita cadangkan stadium tapi tidak diterima, mereka masih mahu turun ke jalan . . . dalam pemikiran saya, saya mahu berikan Stadium Shah Alam tapi mereka tolak,” kata Najib pada majlis perasmian penutup Persidangan Tahunan Pemimpin Mahasiswa Malaysia Summit (MSLS) Kelima di sini.
Jelas beliau, perhimpunan yang dibuat di stadium lebih selamat daripada diadakan di jalan.
“Kalau kita buat (perhimpunan) di jalan siapa yang boleh jamin tiada orang (awam) berada di sana? Siapa dapat jamin tiada masalah yang akan timbul?
“Setiap rakyat Malaysia dilindungi, sebab itu kita mahu ia (Himpunan Bersih 2.0) dibuat di stadium,” katanya di hadapan kira-kira 1,000 perwakilan kalangan mahasiswa.
Himpunan Bersih 2.0 menyaksikan hampir 1,700 peserta telah ditahan termasuk pemimpin Bersih 2.0 dan Pakatan Rakyat. -TMI
Jangan temberanglah, Najib — Lucius GoonUlasan GB
JULY 31 — I have watched from afar how the prime minister and his administration have squirmed and twisted and justified their handling of Bersih 2.0 and shown their reluctance to discuss meaningful electoral reform.
Very little has surprised me about an administration that is bereft of principle and function on the basis of spin and half-truths. It is quite obvious that the government believed that it could kill off Bersih by tough action and threats of intimidation.
When this did not happen, Najib tried a different tack: that the government was reasonable but Bersih was bent on causing havoc on the streets. His administration also spread the word that if the electoral system was skewed, there is no way the Opposition could have snared five states.
Today, while speaking to student leaders, Najib added to the spin, saying that if the government really controlled the Election Commission, it could have easily won Kelantan in 2004 where a few seats were lost by a few votes.
I think we should end this lie now. In 2004, the PM was Abdullah Badawi, not the smartest man around and definitely a major disappointment but not a cheat. He would not have thought of stuffing the ballot box. In addition, the Umno guys did not know that Abdullah would lead BN to a strong win across the country.
Their showing in Kelantan was probably a surprise. But in all likelihood, Abdullah would have frowned on cheating.
In 2008, nobody, not BN, not Abdullah and certainly not Pakatan Rakyat, believed that the Malaysian public would punish the incumbents so severely.
Umno was caught unawares. Given that scenario, they did not feel the need to change the postal vote rules as they have done so recently. In addition, it is unlikely that as a God-fearing man, Abdullah would have agreed to wide-scale cheating.
But times have changed and the people at the top these days are facing much more pressure than Abdullah did: there is more racial strife; personal issues like the Scorpene deal which refuse to go away; a disillusioned non-Malay/Muslim electorate; a gaping budget deficit and a less gullible electorate.
More than anything else, there is also belief within Umno circles that this could be the end, and this fatalism is reflected by the grabbing and get rich mood currently prevalent among the BN elite and their cronies.
With this background, it is not surprising that Najib played hardball over the Bersih rally. Within Umno, they actually gave the Bersih people more power and credit than they deserved.
There is no way that Umno will agree to the transparency of electoral reform because the party leadership believes that control of the Election Commission is the last trump card it holds.
Coming back to Najib today. All this stout defence about offering Shah Alam Stadium is an afterthought. As the days roll along, the administration will embellish this story, aided and abetted by the lamestream media.
Depending on the audience, sometimes the justification for the government crackdown on Bersih will be to protect the majority against tyranny of the minority or that it is illegal to deal with an illegal organisation or something along those lines.
Temberanglah. Notice all talk of communism and a Christian takeover has suddenly disappeared. -TMI
Kalau nak bagi stadium, bagilah yang kerajaan pusat ada kuasa ke atasnya seperti Stadium Merdeka atau Stadium Bukit Jalil.
Stadium Shah Alam, itu kami dari Pakatan Rakyat pun pernah mencadangkan, malah MB Selangor pun mencadangkan.
Itu (Stadium Shah Alam) bukan dibawah bidangkuasa Najib. Ia di bawah pentadbiran kerajaan Negeri Selangor.
Pun masih nak perbodohkan rakyat walaupun kepala lutut akan dibedah di hospital hari ini.
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