Congrats on making people angrier, DAP lawmaker tells Putrajaya

Putrajaya acting tough against the Bersih 4 rally this weekend will backfire and may even do the rally good, a DAP lawmaker said today. Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said Putrajaya should keep up its tough stance, such as its block on websites promoting the event, because the more restrictions it imposed, the more it would anger the people. "The government will just get more people angrier over its high-handed action. It will show and even reinforce the people's belief that the nation needs change. "My advice to Putrajaya is to keep it up. Congratulations to them," he told The Malaysian Insider today in Penang. Power to rule, Zairil added, "comes from the people". Zairil was commenting on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) move to block the official website of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0, which is organising the 34-hour rally that kicks off at 2pm in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Bersih groups in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, as well as other major cities around the world, will also hold their own rallies. MCMC had announced that it would block websites that promote and spread information about the rally, which is demanding reforms in the election system, governance, freedom to protest, parliamentary democracy and the economy. The Internet regulator took this step yesterday, just days after Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Salleh Said Keruak said the ministry had no plans to block any website but would monitor social media platforms, blogs and sites giving publicity to the event, which has been declared illegal by the police. Zairil said no matter what the federal authorities did, their actions would not deter the people from gathering tomorrow. "We have seen this happen before during Bersih 2. People were also arrested ahead of the event but it did not stop people from assembling. "The police used tear gas, water cannon, smoke on that day too. I was there. The people had to run into the Tung Shin Hospital... but all that created momentum for Bersih 3," he said, adding that he too would be attending the rally in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Another opposition lawmaker, Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, also said that threats by the federal government would frighten or intimidate people into staying away. He said in a free country, the media should also be free, and that it was now useless for the authorities to block websites. What the authorities should do now, he said, is to focus on ensuring the rally would proceed peacefully. "Bersih rallies have been held before and every time it was meant to be peaceful. The authorities should look at agent provocateurs instead, not the people. "The right to express and assemble in peace is enshrined in the constitution, and the police have no right to interfere," said Mujahid. – August 28, 2015.