Two sides to every story

Ladies and gentlemen!

As everyone knows, the Bersih rally is on the 9th of July. And surely by now, everyone knows what the issue at hand is.

Everyone's got an opinion, and this is mine.

I believe, both sides are at fault.

(how typically me)

Lets start off with the government.

Words can only go so far as to state one's intention, but actions go further, infinitely. They say that this rally is allowed so long as it is peaceful and does not cause public unrest. Yet, their actions simply show that they are unwilling to give them a chance. Yes, it is better to evade than to cure. However, as the government, do they not have and control the means to a peaceful rally? If due concern had been given to these complaints when they were just political embers, would they be facing a wildfire right now? Same goes with the denial of a stadium. Bersih applied for a permit to hold this rally in Stadium Merdeka, so they have gone through the proper channels. And as expected, they have been denied. The official reason? "Internal sporting event". Seriously? I honestly wouldnt be surprised if they created an event that just so happened to fall on this date, and just so happened to be at Stadium Merdeka, where, COINCIDENTALLY the Bersih rally was to be held.

Democracy is a practice, labelling oneself democratic, really has got to be backed up by actions.

There really is nothing much about Bersih's demands.

• The use of permanent ink to ensure that voters may only vote once.
• A clean out of the electoral rolls to remove entries that are no longer valid such as deceased people.
• The abolition of postal votes on the basis that they are easily abused.
• Perhaps most importantly, Bersih demands that all candidates and political parties have equal access to print and broadcast media.

How hard can it be to practice that? In fact, why hasnt it been practiced since the beginning? Elections are meant to be fair, are they not? What problems can there be in implementing these steps to ensure that a fair election is carried out? Cost? Please. There is a 100-storey mega tower being built for 5 billion, yes BILLION. If they took out 2 floors, they'd probably have enough to fund these changes already.

With these changes in place, wouldnt a victory be even sweeter?

If they lost, then so be it.

Democracy, remember?

Next, a really interesting video.

Yeah well, you decide if that was necessary.

And on a related note, THAT WAS OUR FUCKING INFO MINISTER?

COULD WE NOT HIRE SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH?

This is not discrimination, this is malaysia projecting a bad image. I am ashamed.

AKU TAU KAU MARAH, TAPI PROFESSIONAL LA SKIT BANG!

okay, enough government-bashing.

The people at Bersih arent exactly too pristine as well.

First of all, laws are to be abided by, regardless of which government is in power. And the law states that, unless you are registered as a society with the Registrar Of Societies, you officially are not a society.

Bersih is not registered. Hence, whatever gatherings that they organize, technically is illegal. Does this not make it easy for the government to label them illegal? Yes. And this has to be a fault on the hands of the people at Bersih. If you claim to be peaceful, there is no reason to not abide by the rules. This just plays into the hands of the government.

Bersih is also backed by, SURPRISE SURPRISE, Pakatan Rakyat. This is, honestly, the biggest problem that stands out.

IF Bersih was an impartial, independant committee, it would have so much more conviction. It would be much more believable as a reforming agent, but as it is backed by Pakatan, one cant help but wonder if it is just a facade that Pakatan is using to pressure the government.

We need to consider as well, the people who make up the numbers. There are those who are genuinely concerned with Bersih's cause, and there are those who are there to make a scene and create mayhem. And the worst part of it is, they do it in the name of Bersih. Bersih might be peaceful, but its members may not.

We need not look far for an example, i.e. our former information minister (refer to video above). A simple interview that should have been conducted in a professional manner turned into a venting session, which really is a shame. That is what he has portrayed to the millions that watch Al-Jazeera. He claims they are portraying Malaysia as Myanmar. I say, he is portraying Malaysia as immature.

So, what Im trying to say is, it only takes one to start a riot. And there will certainly be a few "one"s on Saturday. And when that happens, the government is forced to react. Can we really blame them then? The means of dispersing a riot is not the issue, tear gas and water cannons are used all over the world, most recently in Egypt, Libya, etc.

There are two sides to every story. In politics, there are massive grey areas.

However, this is just an opinion.