A Kadir Jasin
Baik jadi PONDAN kalau berani kerana ramai.
ON Sunday, April 29, a day after the violent Bersih 3.0 demonstration for “clean election”, a woman reporter from The Malay Mail newspaper asked me to comment on various aspects of the event.
A portion of it was published in the paper on May 1 under the headline “Risks come with job but violence uncalled for”.
The following is the fuller version of what I told her in the telephone interview.
1.
Journalists, media photographers and cameramen must accept that their
occupations carry a certain degree of risk. If they cannot accept that
they should not be journalists, photographers and cameramen.
2.
It is easy for a “peaceful” demonstration to turn violent and for media
personnel to be mistaken for protestors in the melee, especially now
when every other Dick, Tom and Harry carries a camera and, in many
instances, claims or pretend to be members of the Press and some members
of the Press were attired like protestors. (That is why, despite my
ugly face being fairly widely known, I still carry the press
accreditation card issued by the Information Department because some
young police personnel and state officials may not recognize me.)
3.
I hold the Bersih 3.0 organisers responsible for their flock breaking
the agreed and publicised rules and breaching the barriers because they
claimed that the demonstration would be a peaceful and apolitical one.
4. I hold the police force responsible if its members provoked or acted unreasonably against the Press and the protestors.
5.
When the reporter asked about protests in the early days, I told her
that in those days, protesters (including Anwar Ibrahim) seemed to know
and accept what they were getting into. They were willing to be arrested
or had their legs beaten with rotan by the riot police (FRU).
6.
In fact, they took pride in being “caned” and considered the cane marks
as battle wounds and proofs of commitment to what they stood for. I
told her that too many people who took part in the protest were clueless
and were made up of “ponens”, “pondans” and “darai” who cried foul at
the slightest mishandling or injury.
7.
Some were so ignorant that they thought the Bersih 3.0 demonstration
was a festival, a fiesta, a carnival and a family outing such that they
turned up with their young children.
8. I posed the question: Could the Bersih 3.0 organisers have misled the public by deliberately misrepresenting the event?
9.
And despite the demonstration being billed as apolitical, opposition
leaders, led by Anwar Ibrahim and his loyal aide Azmin Ali, turned up in
full force.
amukanmelayu - awwwwwwwwww.........
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Raja Arif said...
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I fully agree with u Dato.
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Krishna said...
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You must be one of those who thinks that we Malaysians are all foolish
people and can be misled into thinking that we are going to a fiesta.
What do you call violence. If anyone had broken the barrier, just arrest them and charge them. Why fire tear gas and spray water cannon on those who did not did not break the barrier?
Watch the video on the police car being overturned. Someone can be heard shouting that someone is pinned under the car.
Press photographers have reported that even when they showed their press accreditation cards, they were beaten up.
Finally what gives the police the right to seize cameras and SD cards? Or to beat anybody?
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Zahari Zakaria said...
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Salam Dato , says setuju dengan unggapan Dato, pondan ponai dan darai
untuk kita simpulkan kepada peserta Bersih 3.0 dan bila melihat budak
muda menendang anggots polis yang cedera selepas kemalangan, yang kita
orang utara bolih kata dia pondan sebab dalam apa jua perlawanan kita
tak pukul bila seseorang tu sudah jatuh. Yang lebih memalukan pelajar
Uitm, yang menggunakan segala kemudahan yang beri kerajaan sanggup
melakukan begitu biadap selalu. Sangat sedih Dato, buat masa sekarang
ibu bapa yang anak mereka memohon untuk melanjutkan ke Uitm berdoa siang
malam agar anak mereka terpilih untuk belajar ke Uitm, tetapi
mengetahui yang budak muda yang menendang anggota polis adalah pelajar
Uitm. Bagi beribu bekas pelajar Uitm rasa sangat malu sebab bukan budaya
Uitm, kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelangga
