As the people rally behind Bersih 2.0 in the call to clean up the putrid mess the Putras have made of Malaysia, the Umno/BN regime and its goons have gone into panic mode.

And with very good reason, as they've witnessed one Umno/BN-style regime after another in North Africa and the Middle East fall prey to the power of their formerly oppressed people.

NONE So, terrified of a similar fate, Malaysia's Putras are using their police force - or, more accurately, farce - to mount pre-emptive strikes on rally organisers and supporters, and to drag the likes of poet laureate A Samad Said ( right ) in for questioning about allegedly ‘seditious' writing.

And motor-mouths and kotor -mouths like Hishammuddin Hussein, Rais Yatim, Ibrahim Ali, Khairy Jamaluddin, Datuk T and Umno Youth members are spewing out vast quantities of Putra propaganda.

Hishammuddin - who, following the infamous desecration of a Hindu temple with a severed cow's head, defended the Umno/BN-sponsored culprits' right to protest - is once again demonstrating his treacherous, two-faced style by firmly declaring his opposition to the Bersih 2.0 rally for clean and fair elections.

Claiming that the planned assembly "now seems to have a hidden agenda," he declared that the rally "could jeopardise peace and lead to chaos in the country."

"The police have said that no permit will be issued for any gathering on July 9," he continued, adding that "any gathering on July 9 is illegal and the participants will have to face the law."

Arrests before action

But apparently the forces of Hishammuddin's version of the law cannot wait patiently until any ‘illegal' gathering actually occurs, as at the time of my writing, they have already pre-emptively arrested 81 ‘suspects' on various inventive or outright invented charges.

Some have been detained for nothing more than wearing Bersih T-shirts, others for allegedly offending against the Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act, and still more on the ridiculous suspicion of "waging war against the King."

NONE The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has responded to these travesties of justice by correctly citing that, under Article 10(1(b) of Malaysia's constitution and Article 20(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, members of the public have the right to assemble and to express their views in a peaceful manner.

Meanwhile, the Putras' pet, racist rabble-rouser Ibrahim Ali ( left ), has loudly asserted that it is perfectly legal for him and his gang of Perkasans to disrupt the planned Bersih rally. Khairy Jamaluddin expressed similar sentiments and intentions on behalf of Umno Youth.

And since the news that death threats had been made to Bersih 2.0 chief S Ambiga, Khairy has seized the opportunity to further inflate his sense of self-importance by claiming that he too has received death threats.

When it comes to telling a pack of pernicious lies, however, it's hard to beat Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim, who recently claimed that "desperate parties" are making use of "communist ideology" to "stir-up dissent and seize power."

"Spreading communism is against the law. It is evil and illegal," he raved. Leading me and many others to wonder whether communism is any more evil and illegal than a cabinet minister resorting to such extremes of misinformation in defence of the massively kotor and criminal government of which he's a member.

But as putrid as Rais' performance might be, the Putras are capable of even filthier lies. Like the claim that has already been made by Umno/BN's very own Putra propaganda sheet posing as a newspaper, Utusan Malaysia : that Bersih 2.0 is secretly funded by sinister and shadowy Christian organisations.

Putra police put on a show

Besides an endless fund of lies, the Putras also have boundless talent for engineering dirty deeds - like the demonstration on Monday night by several hundred youths threatening to burn down the PKR headquarters and warning Ambiga and Anwar Ibrahim of dire personal consequences if the Bersih 2.0 gathering goes ahead.

NONE These people's red shirts apparently identified them as "patriots", but given that some were observed to be waving Umno flags - and that their leaders included Putra stooges like Umno Youth's Lukman Adam and ex-youth chief of Perkasa, Arman Azha Abu Hanifah - they were clearly not patriots, but Putriots.

Especially in light of the fact that, while eyewitnesses reported seeing more than 20 heavily armed police lurking at the scene, there were no attempts to disrupt the demonstration, and no arrests were made.

Of course the culprits have denied that they issued or intended threats of arson and violence, and their Putra masters are very likely to take them at their lying word.

But if there's a loud enough public outcry, the powers-that-be can always stage a few token arrests in an attempt to deny the disgraceful double standards practised by Hishammuddin Hussein and his Putra police.

Just as Ibrahim Ali was recently ‘questioned' about possibly seditious speeches after weeks, if not months, of getting away scot-free with outrageous threats against non-Malays.

And just as the so-called ‘Datuk T' trio recently received token slaps on the wrist after pleading guilty to petty, lesser charges instead of being indicted for the massive damage they attempted to inflict to Anwar Ibrahim's reputation with their fraudulent sex DVD.

No wonder the Umnoputras are so panic-stricken at the prospect of the populace's rallying to the call by Bersih 2.0 for clean, free and fair elections. Clean, free and fair elections will spell the end to their kotor careers.

 

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he mentors creative writing groups. Already published in Kuala Lumpur is a third book of his columns for Malaysiakini , following earlier collections 'Mad about Malaysia' and 'Even Madder about Malaysia'.