Malaysian EC is backwards, opines fact-finding group

 MA Pakistani member of a fact-finding mission group on Malaysia election opined that the local Election Commission (EC) is backward, which is a cause of the country's weak democracy.

At a press conference to release the group's interim report today, Pakistan senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that he is surprised to find that Malaysia, as a modern country, still has an underdeveloped electoral system.

"A country like Pakistan has introduced electronic voting long ago," he said.

New video: Cop points gun at protestor

A slew of videos have ermeged in the aftermath of last Saturday’s Bersih 3.0 rally, showing both the police and protesters turning violent on the streets.

Today, FMT received a video depicting a traffic policeman pointing his gun at an unarmed protester, adding on to the series of incriminating visual evidence indicating the use of excessive force by the authorities.

In the 10-second clip, from an anonymous contributor, the protester, believed to be a PAS Unit Amal member, is seen trying to lift a red motorcycle amid a chaotic background of protesters appearing to be fleeing from the police.

There were two motorcycles lying on the road. It was not clear if they were properties of the police. PAS’ Unit Amal is a volunteer corp tasked to maintain crowd discipline during rallies.

A few seconds later, a traffic policeman is seen entering the frame with a gun in hand and pointing it towards the activist. The latter is then seen raising his hands as the officer approached him and runs off to join the rest of the crowd.

At that point, two blue uniformed policemen are seen chasing the large crowd away with their hands on their holstered guns in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate and repel the crowd backwards.

According to a lawyer, a policeman could only take out his gun if the person before him was highly suspicious or likely to cause hurt.

“So in this case it was wrong for the traffic policeman to do that. In some countries it would have been considered as assault or intimidation,” the lawyer said on condition of anonymity.

Police violence

The video was believed to have been shot along Jalann Tunku Abdul Rahman near the Sogo shopping complex just after a police car was overturned and police and protesters clashed on Jalan Raja Laut that saw scores injured including those from the police.

The clashes occurred after police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators, following a breach of the barricade in front of Dataran Merdeka.

Police had on Friday obtained a court order barring Bersih 3.0 and the public from entering the historic square across the weekend.

Dozens of tear gas canisters were shot on a packed crowd forcing them to retreat north of Jalan Raja Laut while some ran towards Jalan Tun Perak as police and anti-riot squads moved in to disperse the crowd.

Angry protesters later attacked a police car, which then crashed into at least two people, while trying to flee. After an ambulance took away the injured policemen, the protesters flipped the car over on its side but then fled after tear gas was fired.

Both the authorities and rally organisers blamed each other for the fracas but the police now face more pressure to explain the surfacing evidence of what rights groups described as unnecessary violence used to disperse a peaceful assembly.

Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar had vowed to open investigations on the allegations but said his men made the right move to disperse the rally as a “more dangerous situation could have taken place.”

[Source: FMT]

These two pictures say it all

Najib, Hishamuddin, Mahathir and all you people in UMNO, eat your hearts out.

Never in the history of our nation, has there been so many people in one single gathering.  I still remember having read what Sir Winston Churchill once said during the battle of Britain in 1941, "Never in the field of human conflict, have so much been owed by so many to so few." and our heartfelt thanks to Ambiga and her like minded friends of Bersih 2.0. What Mahathir, Abdullah and Najib failed to do as prime ministers of this country, it took one courageous lady, a Malaysian of Indian descent, to do that.  She doesn't even have a political platform nor money to achieve this, but just sheer determination to see that our electoral system is conducted in a fair manner, that's all.  Yet, our leaders are still blind to this one simple request.  I guess 50 years of running this country have turned them into political retards, complacent and arrogant.

BBC flays local censors for slashing Bersih coverage

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has "strongly condemned" Malaysian censors, claiming their coverage of Saturday's Bersih 3.0 protest had been clipped on local operator Astro.

"During the week of World Press Freedom Day, it would be deplorable if access to independent and impartial news was being prevented in any way.

"We would strongly condemn any blocking of the trusted news that we broadcast around the world including via distribution partners," a BBC spokesman in a statement emailed to The Malaysian Insider.

The British public service broadcaster added that it was making "urgent enquiries" to Astro to seek its reasons for censoring its two-minute coverage of the violent protest.

"The BBC is making urgent enquiries to the Malaysian operator, Astro, to establish the facts.

"The broadcast of anti-Government protests in Malaysia was apparently edited before it was re-broadcast on Malaysian satellite television, with sequences removed from the original BBC version," it said.

According to the YouTube link available in the statement, BBC's coverage of Bersih 3.0 had been shortened by several seconds to exclude clips of short interviews with two protesters.

The video showing the difference between BBC's original report and the one aired on Malaysian channels can be viewed below.

In the first censored interview, a man, believed to be Chinese, had told the BBC that the police were firing tear gas arbitrarily at protesters despite efforts to negotiate.

"They fired a shot at us and instead of saying sorry, we know it was an accidental shot, they shot some more we were about to talk and make peace and negotiate but they shot at us," he said.

In the next interview, an Indian man had explained his reason for joining the rally for free and fair elections, which had turned violent at nearly 3pm on Saturday.

"I'm here to see that we have free and fair elections. That's all.

"We want the Election Commission (EC) to be independent and clean. At the moment, it is not clean. Okay? So I have to stand here because this is a day of destiny for Malaysians," he said, amid a backdrop of hundreds standing before the barricades surrounding Dataran Merdeka.

Local TV operators had also slashed another portion of BBC's report, which showed scenes taken from above of the riot police's fire-red water cannon trucks firing chemical-laced water at protesters.

A part of the BBC correspondent Emily Buchanan's words were also clipped along with the scene.

"It's not entirely clear how the violence started," she had said in the portion of the clip that was aired.

"... but after the rally was declared a success and people began to go home, the barriers were breached...," she said in the censored portion.

"... and the authorities fired tear gas at the crowds," she continued, as the scene continued.

Saturday's opposition-backed rally has already received negative coverage in the foreign media, which have predicted a likely backlash for the Najib administration.

According to BBC, "despite the massive turnout, the government appears to be in no mood for change and there could be an election in June, too soon for major reforms to take effect.

"That means many more political battles ahead."

In the days following the event that had become more violent than last year's, Bersih 3.0 supporters and government leaders have been engaged in a blame game over who was to blame for the numerous altercations that took place between protesters and the police.

And if the above was not bad enough, the police have to beat up a European tourist.  Our police are really a bunch of sadistic lot.

This picture says it all

MCA is the latest to blame Anwar Ibrahim (and Azmin Ali) for the cause of the riot on April 28.  However, if one was to look at the picture below, now we know what UMNO is really up to.  So far only one person was "arrested", and I am sure there are many more lurking in the crowd on that glorious day waiting for the moment to strike.

This is it - GLOBAL BERSIH 3.0

Hishamuddin, what have you to say about the brutality shown by your police

Thousands of demonstrators demanding free and fair elections met with tear gas and water cannon in capital Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian riot police have fired tear gas and used water cannon on a crowd of demonstrators who staged one of the country's largest street rallies in years, demanding fair rules for national elections expected soon.

At least 25,000 demonstrators swamped Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, hoping to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition - which has held power for nearly 55 years - to overhaul electoral policies before polls that could be held as early as June.

Authorities insist the elections will be free and fair, rejecting activists' claims that the Election Commission is biased and that voter registration lists are tainted with fraudulent names.

Demonstrators wearing yellow T-shirts, waving banners and chanting slogans poured into downtown Kuala Lumpur, massing near the city's historic Merdeka (Independence) Square that police had sealed off with barbed wire and barricades.

Authorities had refused to allow Bersih, or Coalition for Free and Fair Elections - the opposition-backed pressure group that organised the rally - to use the square, a nationally renowned venue that hosts parades and patriotic celebrations.

The demonstration remained peaceful for several hours, prompting organisers to declare it a success and ask people to head home.

But when a small group appeared to suddenly breach the police barriers, authorities began firing tear gas and water laced with stinging chemicals at the crowd. 

Authorities detained dozens of people, with Malaysian media reports saying as many as 60 were arrested.

No major injuries were immediately reported.

Police action 'unjustified'

Kuala Lumpur's police said in its social media statements that authorities were forced to move against the protesters, but opposition leaders and rights groups said the action was unjustified.

A federal police spokesperson estimated there were about 25,000 demonstrators, but many witnesses and some Malaysian news organisations said there were between 80,000 and 100,000 protesters at the rally.

The rally's organisers have also sought longer election campaigning periods and changes to ensure citizens living abroad can cast ballots, as well as international observers for the polls and fairer access for all political parties to the government-linked media.

Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, said: "As far as the protesters are concerned, the government haven't met their demands. They want a series of improvements to the electoral system. They are calling for better electoral role. They also want the electoral commission, which runs elections this country, to be entirely reformed.

"The protest was not what both sides [government and protesters] were talking about. They were talking about peaceful protests. Ideally, the protesters wanted to protest inside Independence Square." 

Saturday's gathering follows one crushed by police last July, when 1,600 people were arrested.

That rally for clean elections prompted a police crackdown with tear gas and water cannon.

A resulting backlash prompted Najib, Malaysia's prime minister, to set up a parliamentary panel whose eventual report suggested a range of changes to the electoral system.

But Bersih and the opposition are demanding a complete overhaul of a voter roll considered fraudulent and reform of an Election Commission they say is biased in favour of the governing coalition.

Najib has launched a campaign to repeal authoritarian laws in a bid to create what he called "the greatest democracy".

His ruling coalition has governed Malaysia for more than five decades but made a dismal showing against the opposition in 2008, and Najib is under pressure to improve on that.


Mr Lee, a Bersih 3.0 participant, was attacked & arrested by more than 10 policemen while taking picture & waiting for train to go home at Masjid Jamek LRT Station. He was released at Police Training Centre at midnight.


Having witnessing the past two Bersih rallies, I thought while Bersih 3 has the most turn-out, it was also the most brutal. The police were chasing the protesters - sampai lubang cacing, both on foot and using their water-cannon and tear gas. As the crowd took a reprieve behind small alleys and backways, the police would shoot the tear gas onto them.

If you are caught - God forbids, they would not simply handcuff you. YOu would be beaten by the whole battalion first, like in this video! Judge it for yourself.

Pukul curi, or tumpang sekaki, literally seems to be the moduls operandi of the police. Thanks to the videographer for capturing this. This video was captured at 5.30 pm, long after Bersih has ended!



Malaysian police brutality during peace rally. The victim seems to be innocent said by the video capturer. Actually, the victim himself is a cameraman. The polices deliberately hit the victim because he was taking pictures of the polices hitting other people, causing chain reaction.
Even AlJazeera English's cameraman was told to not to capture photos or videos, their cameras were taken by the polices to hide their hostile acts. The AlJazeera crew used iPad later instead for live show that they were just broadcasting today.


The above are just three of the many video taken by private individuals depicting the brutality of the police.  Now the big question is, do we need to pay taxes to the government so that the police could earn their keeps to beat us up?


The above might as well be scenes from Israel's treatment on the Palestinians where their IDF have the penchant in coming down hard on the people showing the slightest hint that they are terrorists.