ATHESIS, so philosophers say, produces its own antithesis, a dialectic materialism which argument brings forth a praxis. In the instance of Bersih — the yellow shirts — it gave rise to the Red Shirts. However, the orange shirts, which claims to be born of these two contradictory forces, is not the praxis intended by the philosophers. It is mere parody, for Bersih has evolved into a 5.0 version, yet to be upstaged by the Red Shirts that have remained primordial, bereft of any informing philosophy for its actions. The latter has obviously forsaken reason for violence as it seeks to stop Bersih 5.0 in its tracks. And, today, Bersih 5.0 in insisting on a protest march, despite not having a police permit, will be met on the streets by the Red Shirts, who are equally illegal in its show of force.
Bersih 5.0 is unclear this time as to their demands other than the persistent “free and fair elections” theme mimicking that of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF), which claims to “assist democratic transformations”. These words, however, do not match the organisation’s track record of undermining the stability of democracies with duly elected leaders, most prominent of which is the Ukraine colour revolution that has left the country a failed state at the mercy of oligarchs, who like vultures are picking off every piece of dead flesh they can find. Now, according to minutes of an OSF meeting titled “Malaysia Program — Portfolio Review Outcome Summary”, it is in this country.
This is no fake document cooked up by DCLeaks because, reportedly, the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research director attended it. The Merdeka Center is a Malaysian opinion pollster, said to be partly funded by OSF and seduced by the latter’s “free and fair elections” sloganeering. While the OSF document does not name the non-governmental organisations it funds because it works quietly behind the scenes given “the level of vilification in the local media”, the Bersih chairman has admitted to receiving money from the organisation prior to mid-2011. But, the leaked documents do single out a news portal as having received allocations for its online television.
The report on the leaked documents specifically spoke of “an agenda to use secrecy to avoid public scrutiny and to mobilise the country’s youth along ethno-religious lines since 2010”. Seeing the dialectical evolution of Bersih’s actions, it would seem that the objective is being met. Bersih 4.0 turned out to be a mainly Chinese turnout confronted by the Malay Red Shirts, and now, the Indian orange shirts. It is turning out to be a farcical skit, but, unfortunately, dangerous. Orchestrated by masters of creating revolutions only to leave ruins behind, Malaysians must see Bersih 5.0 for what it actually is — a pawn used by a foreign global foundation attempting to undermine regional stability. Malaysians must reflect on this “free and fair elections” slogan. Is there any truth in it? Every five years or less, the government calls for a general election. And, the people vote for the party they believe will lead the nation forward. The party with the most votes is given the mandate to govern the country until the next polls. Is this not democracy in action?