Maria Chin Abdullah - from BERSIH to PKR?

I've written several posts on the songsang-ness of BERSIH after it has been chaired by Maria Chin Abdullah. Maria took over from the, to me, the very proper-&-BERSIH Ambiga Sreenevasan, who is an icon to me.

See my previous posts on Maria:

(1) The woman who would be king ... maker?,

(2) NGOs distancing themselves from Maria Chin Abdullah,

(3) Maria Chin Abdullah destroying Bersih's credibility?,

(4) Ms Konfucius.

(5) Pakatan 3.0 is Pakatan Pribumi.

.. wah, Maria Chin Abdullah, lu cheen chnea oo liao loh, wakakaka!

I have long wondered whether she even knows that BERSIH, the organisation she heads, has been supposed to be a non-politically aligned NGO as it was during Ambiga Sreenevasan's days.

BERSIH had then concerned itself with ONLY the Malaysian election business, playing watchdog to the dodgy Malaysian Election Commission.

There was a damn good reason for its non-aligned and impartial stance - to enable and ensure acceptance of its observations and recommendations by both sides of politics, with the aim of reforming and/or improving electoral process, policies, etc. Without bilateral acceptance, electoral reforms would be a failure from Day 1.

Let's revisit the concept of BERSIH when it was under Ambiga and review what it was intended to be.

Wikipedia tells us (just relevant extract):

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Malay: Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil) or Bersih (meaning clean in Malay) is a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which seeks to reform the current electoral system in Malaysia to ensure free, clean and fair elections. […]

In April 2010, the coalition was relaunched as an entirely civil society movement (BERSIH 2.0) unaffiliated to any political party.

Let's just read its charter again, namely, ... which seeks to reform the current electoral system in Malaysia to ensure free, clean and fair elections ... (BERSIH 2.0) unaffiliated to any political party.

In pre-Maria Chin days, I recall once Ambiga fended off Anwar Ibrahim's attempt to 'hijacked' a BERSIH rally for his own agenda.

Ambiga told Anwar off, reminding him that BERSIH was about electoral fairness, cleanliness and accountability and not for Pakatan to misuse as a political platform.

Since Maria Chin Abdullah took over BERSIH, she decided that BERSIH should also depose of an elected PM, and to also rally against the alleged crimes of 1MDB.

Hasn't Bersih under Maria Chin Abdullah gone songsang-ishly partisan from its original charter?

I hope you understand what I mean by 'gone partisan' from a political perspective.

Remember, BERSIH was relaunched in April 2010 as an entirely civil society movement (BERSIH 2.0) which was supposed to be unaffiliated to any political party.

Does Maria Chin have the right to change that BERSIH's charter?

Yes, but Maria Chin has an obligation to be transparent about her decision, and to inform Malaysians BERSIH is NO LONGER an unaffiliated NGO. And we know, under Maria Chin, BERSIH became affiliated to Pakatan. The downside would of course be it would make BERSIH, an electoral watchdog, encumbered with the baggage of political partisanship, and trusted by ONLY one side of politics.

Partisanship makes the NGO task of ensuring free, clean and fair elections far far far more difficult if not impossible, because the BN side of politics (I include PAS within this group) is unlikely to believe any alleged dodgy-ness perpetrated by the EC or recommendations for improvements of the electoral process. It has been sad that Ambiga's vision was not followed.

I had then wondered how would such a person like Maria Chin would be able to make effective non-partisan advice on electoral reforms. She is just anti establishment instead of being non-aligned as the role of BERSIH demands.

Okay, you may think all the above are just kaytee's prattle tattle, wakakaka, but let's take a look at a 2015 article posted in the renowned loyarburok website, Why I Will Not Attend Bersih 4 in which Abdul Haleem explained why he won’t be there.

This is not going to be well received by many. But let me emphasise the title of this opinion piece. Why I (meaning me, personally and singularly) will not join the Bersih 4 Rally. I am not advocating anyone against joining the rally. I am speaking for myself.

Before you crucify me, let me remind you that I was there for Bersih 2 and Bersih 3. I was briefly arrested during Bersih 2. Google it and you’ll find my opinion piece which I wrote after both rallies. If you need to know, I was based across the causeway and made a point to come down for it. Twice.

Now that I am based in KL, let me tell you why I will not take part in Bersih 4.

I am disappointed with BERSIH 2.0. If BERSIH 2.0 is fighting for fair and clean election, it should have gone all out whacking PKR and Pakatan Rakyat for the KajangGate circus.

What was the outcome of KajangGate? We have a new MB for Selangor and a new ADUN for Kajang. So what did the people of Kajang in specific and Selangor in general gain?

Bersih 2 and 3 was against all the manipulation, corruption and unfairness of our General Election. If Bersih can go all out despite all the odds taking it to the streets for the GE, why did they allow PKR and Pakatan to get away with just with a slap in the wrist for KajangGate?

On both previous rallies — though it was organised by Bersih — on the actual day, it was hijacked by the political parties.

On Bersih 3, all hell broke loose when clowns from PKR got hold of the mic and started the fiery speeches which were very provocative. The cops were no angels too.

During Bersih 3, the moment this particular political figure started his provocative speech, me and my friends got up and left the scene for some chilled drinks. By the time we finished the first drink the whole area turned into a war zone.

We don’t need to be reminded of police brutality during Bersih 3. I surely don’t want to see innocent young ones beaten up for taking part on a democratic process. I don’t think this time around is going to be different.

Yes, the above was written by Abdul Haleem, a BERSIH-rally veteran, telling us of BERSIH's double standards in not taking a strong stand against PKR's nonsensical misuse of the election process in the Kajang Gate by-election (I call it the rancid Kajang Satay event), yea, not even a slap on their wrists with a kangkung stalk, wakakaka.

aiyoh, I was looking for BERSIH lah 

Not too long ago, Jocelyn Tan of the Star Online wrote Anwar blocks Dr M’s bid for top job, which I picked up to blog & post as Anwar Ibrahim against Mahathir as Pakatan PM-designate.

Maria Chin Abdullah must have been furious at the article because Jocelyn had written in it:

Anwar is said to be unimpressed by Dr Mahathir’s promise of judicial reform, fighting corruption, rule of law and press freedom.

In a rather cryptic press statement issued on the day that the Pakatan presidential council met to discuss issues including the prime minister candidate, he urged the coalition to “heed the people’s voice”.

He did not touch on the disagreement over the prime minister post, but there were two giveaway points in his brief statement – he called on Pakatan to respect the spirit of consensus as well as to consult NGOs and activists on key issues.

He was telling the coalition that the decision on the prime minister candidate has to be by consensus, that is, all four parties must agree rather than put the matter to a vote.

He knew that if the issue was put to a vote, PKR would be outnumbered by DAP, Parti Pribumi and Amanah who want Dr Mahathir as the prime minister candidate.

Insiders said that his advice to Pa­katan to consult the NGOs and activist was aimed directly at Dr Ma­­hathir.

Two leading women NGO leaders had met the Pakatan chairman last week to share their views.

They had apparently told the 92-year-old leader that they will boycott Pakatan in the general election if the coalition cannot agree on a more suitable prime minister candidate.

The voices of dissent regarding Dr Mahathir’s candidature are grow­­ing louder with some Pakatan politicians and even analysts suggesting that he carries too much baggage and will not be well-accepted by the voters.

A poster depicting the Pakatan Cabinet featuring Datuk Seri Azmin Ali as the prime minister has also gone viral the last couple of days.

The Cabinet line-up with the tagline “Muda, Dinamik, Wibawa” (young, dynamic, integrity) began circulating on Thursday, just as the Pakatan’s presidential council was preparing to meet.

It was clearly a counter-campaign against Dr Mahathir’s bid to be named for the top job.

It also seemed like the handiwork of PKR supporters given that PKR leaders dominated 12 of the 27 posts, with Parti Pribumi deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Ma­­ha­­­thir as the deputy prime minister.

For years, Anwar stood in the way of his protege Azmin but it is said that he has finally come around to the idea that the Selangor mentri besar is ready for bigger responsibilities.
Of course the above is now history as somehow someone has convinced Anwar to support Mahathir as the Pakatan PM-designate.

But at that time the Star Online article appeared, Maria Chin Abdullah wrote in her Face Book:

I certainly want to know who these two ngo women are. Certainly disagree with them to boycott elections. (see my earlier posting) Malaysia follows Westminister system and the party with the majority gets to appoint their PM. Jocelyn - dont hide behind unnamed persons. Name them and we can have a debate.

Why has Maria Chin become so personal towards Jocelyn Tan? The latter is just a Star journalist and she is no different from many other pro Pakatan journalists in 'carma'-ing - you can read their articles in The Malaysian Insight, MM Online, Malaysiakini, etc etc etc. Whether she is pro BN or so-and-so is pro Pakatan isn't a significant issue - just read their articles with the usual reservations.

So why pick on Jocelyn Tan? It's like Maria Chin picking on all sorts of BN scandals, even those alleged ones, but ignoring the rancid Kajang by-election nonsense.

Though we suspect this and that, today it has become clearer why Maria Chin took BERSIH to one side of the political fence instead of standing impartial. Today the Malaysian Insight (TMI) publishes: Maria Chin to swap Bersih chair for ‘safe seat’ in GE14 (extracts):

BERSIH 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah was expected to resign within the next two weeks to stand for election at the polls, sources said.

She planned to contest a “safe seat” on a PKR ticket, electoral watchdog sources told The Malaysian Insight.

Maria declined to confirm the claims. "No comment," she said.

Bersih sources, however, said Maria wished to resign the chair this week. Discussions had been ongoing for more than a month about her resignation. Maria took over the chair from human rights lawyer and activist, Ambiga Sreenevasan, in 2013.

Last week, New Straits Times reported that Maria could contest the parliamentary seat of Batu or Petaling Jaya Selatan, while Ambiga could contest Kapar or Segamat.

Ambiga told The Malaysian Insight she has "no interest" in politics.

welcome to PKR Maria

you have  my seat but I may want it back after my period of disqualification, so please look after it

Yes, now we know why Maria Chin has, as BERSIH chairperson, behaved songsang-ishly.

Anyway, Good luck to Maria Chin Abdullah. I have no doubt she will feel more at home and much happier being a PKR politician than being a supposedly-impartial BERSIH chairperson.