Riot Police Battle 30,000+ Protestors in Kuala Lumpur

[Guest fountainhall]

Riot police have been deployed in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, after a demonstration by several thousand anti-government protesters.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...ific/214220.stm

 

Sound familiar? Well, it’s not actually a report of the huge street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday, demonstrations that were reported to involve 30,000 and more protestors. No, this was from 1998 when citizens were protesting about the political downfall and charges of homosexuality (still illegal and punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Malaysia) brought against former Deputy Prime Minster Anwar Ibrahim and heir apparent to then Prime Minister, the iron-fisted Dr. Mahatir Mohammed.

 

As has been detailed in this Forum in an earlier thread, Anwar survived beatings and five years in jail before his sentencing was overturned by the Federal Court. He and his wife then continued with the formation of their new political protest party before yet more charges of homosexual behaviour were brought against him in 2008. This time, however, after a long trial, the judge ruled in favour of Anwar in January this year. Yet again, the government emerged with egg on its collective face, for it is generally presumed it had set Anwar up on both occasions.

 

Malaysia’s government is now reeling again, thanks to Anwar and the huge popular support he has gained. In addition to his opposition political party, Anwar is involved in an organisation named Bersih (literally meaning “Clean”) whose aim is to force the government to clean up out-of-date and often abused electoral rolls to prevent fraudulent voting, and to demand the monitoring of elections by international observers. Another objective is equal access to government controlled broadcasters and news media.

 

Many outside Malaysia are unaware that, as in Singapore, the ruling party has effectively been in government for more than 55 years. After riots last year when 1,600 members of Bersih were briefly detained, there was an international outcry, and the present government under Najib Razak was forced to make some reforms. But they did not go far enough, and with a general election due in 2013 but assumed by most to be brought forward to as early as June this year, Bersih took to the streets again on Saturday, this time in far greater numbers.

 

Malaysia's Bar Council, a legal lobbyist group, said its monitors observed police fire tear gas directly into the crowd and demonstrators being beaten, while international lawmakers on a fact-finding trip to investigate the calls for electoral reforms were also caught up in the melee.

"I was hit by tear gas. It was not very pleasant," Sen. Nicholas Xenophon from Australia said in an interview. "There is an Arab Spring. This is the Malaysia spring. There is an unstoppable desire for reform."

 

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

 

In a country as deeply conservative as Malaysia, change will never be easy. Even a whiff of reform will find many politicians, state, city and religious leaders fighting to maintain the status quo. Whenever the election is held, it seems certain that more protestors will take to the streets more regularly, a point potential visitors to KL should be aware of when making their travel plans.