COMMENT Will the ‘Himpunan Maruah Melayu’/’Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu’ rally expected to begin this afternoon turn ugly?

By ‘ugly’, I mean two things. First, individual participants causing property damage or bodily harms or even deaths to others in isolated incidents. Second, systematic and orchestrated ethnic rioting.

The first possibility is impossible to rule out in any mass event, especially when participants’ emotion is high. What most people fear is the second possibility, put it bluntly, a replay of the May 13 riot 46 years ago.

While the first may be driven by emotional outburst, the second would have to be some calculated actions.

The coded message of May 13 replay

You should not be faulted if you fear a May 13 2.0 because that is how the ‘Himpunan Maruah Melayu’ rally is aggressively promoted, as a response to Bersih 4.

The most telling examples are of course the poster showing a Silat practitioner executing a person in yellow Bersih 4 T-shirt a la IS, with wording ‘Cina turun Bersih, sedialah bermandi darah’, and its variants.

Another poster sends this message: ‘Kita bukan nak halau orang yang tumpang rumah kita.. Kita hanya nak ajar penumpang supaya kenal tuan rumah. Jom sertai Himpunan Melayu Bersatu 16 September 2016.’ (‘We don’t want to chase away those who squat in our house... We only want to teach the squatters who the house owners are. Let’s join the Himpunan Melayu Bersatu on 16 September 2016.)

And then there is the repeated message that Bersih 4 is dominated by DAP Chinese.

How do Bersih 4’s demands for clean elections, clean government, right to dissent, strengthening parliamentary democracy and saving economy assault the dignity of Malays?

How do such demands make the Chinese participants ‘kurang ajar’ (rude), automatically DAP supporters and must be taught by the Malays that they are only ‘squatters’ in Malaysia?

Things become clear if you understand how a certain May 13 narrative is framed (never mind the factual omissions and errors here and there):

1. DAP Chinese forgot who the hosts were and who the guests were,

2. DAP Chinese marched after their 1969 election to humiliate the Malays,

3. The Malays retaliated and taught the Chinese who the hosts were and who the guests were,

4. The Malays’ position was strengthened after the May 13 riot.

Now you can reconstruct the meaning of Bersih 4 from this narrative

1. DAP Chinese have once again forgotten who the hosts are and who the guests are,

2. Through Bersih 4, DAP Chinese marched to demand reforms and Najib Abdul Razak’s resignation,

3. The Malays must show the Chinese who the hosts are and who the guests are,

4. The Malays’ position will be strengthened after the red-shirt rally.

What will success be for the reds?

The red-shirt rally was originally intended as a scarecrow to deter the Chinese from joining Bersih 4. If the Bersih 4 turnout was low, it would have been a victory for the reds.

When the Bersih 4 rally concluded peacefully, orderly and in a patriotic mood despite the disproportionally high Chinese turnout, the ‘dignity fighters’ would have no choice but to make the red-shirt rally a success.

But what is success? How is success defined?

Originally, it seemed to be fear. If non-Malays are fearful of the Malays, then it would be a victory of the reds.

One of the leading reds, Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos advised the non-Muslims to avoid Kuala Lumpur today “to prevent provoking the red-shirted participants”.

Jamal was effectively urging a hartal, a call which has been ironically echoed by others, amongst others, the anti-racist predominantly Malay youth group Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM). Many non-Malays caution each other from getting into Kuala Lumpur.

But what would it prove if the reds manage to turn Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Petaling a ghost town today?

It would prove that the government is partially right in accusing rallies can damage economy. Partially, because it applies only to the reds, not the yellows.

Businesses from hotel, restaurants to hawkers all made good money during Bersih 4.

With the latest twists, where the rally is now adopted by the BN government, with the police declaring it legal (forgetting that illegality is now out of the question with the Peaceful Assembly Act) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) providing toilets, the measure of success is now seemingly the number.

And so we hear stories everywhere that Malays are paid RM200 to RM300 to wear red and participate in the rally.

Saifuddin Abdullah’s dubbing the success of Bersih 4 as “a new normal” seems prophetic now. Following the footsteps of Dr Mahathir, the Najib government is now embracing street rallies.

The Najib government is basically announcing: rallies are part of Malaysia’s culture now. Lest you forget, ‘right to dissent’ is Bersih 4’s third demand. With the help of the reds, the Najib government has come around to unwittingly affirm this demand.

Will it still go out of hand?

Despite the latest developments, conspiracy theory that Najib is out of Malaysia today so that something ugly may happen is still going around.

The theory was based on false claim that Dr Mahathir Mohamad was out of Malaysia when the 1985 police-Islamists fatal conflicts in Memali took place, which his then deputy Musa Hitam has denied last year.

I would never rule out isolated incidents in any mass event but for an orchestrated riot to take place, one must ask, who stands to gain?

The May 13 riot led to deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein taking over power from prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

While some accuse Razak of having a covert role in the riot, the instigator was clearly Harun Idris ( photo ), then-Selangor menteri besar whose position was called into question by the election result.

If Razak also played the role of Harun, he wouldn’t have had any legitimacy to lead the post-riot National Operations Council (Mageran).

Now, if ‘916' turns into ‘513' 2.0, won’t Najib be the new Tunku? Why would he want to expedite his own exit?

The next question: if any untoward incident happens, can Zahid Hamidi as the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister benefit as the new Razak and not get the blame as the new Harun?

I really cannot see how a riot will benefit anyone in the government. This is a different Malaysia after all, unlike 46 years ago. For that, we should celebrate, notwithstanding the physical and political hazes.

When today ends peacefully, let’s celebrate our nation’s coming of age, freed from the ghost of May 13.

Selamat Hari Malaysia.

WONG CHIN HUAT earned his PhD on the electoral system and party system in West Malaysia from the University of Essex. He is a fellow at the Penang Institute, and a resource person for electoral reform lobby, Bersih 2.0.