Though the Kita Lawan (We Fight) public rallies have been quite small so far, at least they have provided a ray of hope to those of us who believe Malaysia can be cured of the rot of the Umno/BN regime. And the more people that this gang of crooks punishes for participating in these protests against it, the more promising.

So here’s hoping that the rally planned for this Saturday March 28 is the best-attended yet, and that there are many more and much bigger such public gatherings to come.

Granted, the hopes of a great many Malaysians were dashed by Umno/BN’s stealing of the 13th general election, and that the state of the nation has become even more dire since.

But while the old cliché that “it’s always darkest before the dawn” may be trite, it is nonetheless often true. And there are countless historical causes for optimism, among them the storming of the Bastille and the so-called Boston Tea Party that respectively triggered the French and American revolutions with much smaller numbers of fighters than have been mustered by Kita Lawan.

And the revolutionaries of France, the United States and countless other countries that have overthrown oppressive regimes since, were faced with odds even more apparently daunting than the present-day citizens of Malaysia are.

Malaysians, however, very wisely indeed in light of the slaughter that has followed most of Arab Spring revolts, clearly prefer to follow the example of their fellows who used peaceful people-power to topple the Marcos and Suharto regimes in the Philippines and Indonesia.

And, though the Reformasi movement of the late 1990s failed to get the job done for Malaysians, maybe Kita Lawan might just do it.

Admittedly Malaysia’s hopelessly corrupt and incompetent ruling regime, having long falsely promised to repeal its anti-constitutional Sedition Act, it is employing the thing more severely, not to mention selectively, than ever.

But this is arguably less likely to discourage people from protesting than it is to inspire them to join the fight in ever-increasing numbers, as it clearly reveals that the regime is running scared.

As it has every reason to be, in the face of growing public awareness of, and consequent resentment and rage at, the shameless and remorseless rapacity of its members and cronies.

There’s nothing new about Umno/BN greed instead of promotion of the public good, of course, or lies, dissembling and deceit despite proclamations of dedication to transparency and truth, or racist and religionist divide-and-rule tactics disguised as a quest for unity.

But Malaysians, or more of them than ever, far from any longer being fooled by such falsehoods and frauds, are increasingly offended if not outraged by them.

And, let’s face it, they’d be idiots if they weren’t. Having witnessed former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad allegedly make himself, his sons and cronies filthy-rich through countless crooked schemes, Suharto style, people would be stupid beyond the wildest dreams of the regime to tolerate, let alone keep silent, at seeing Najib Abdul Razak and Rosmah Mansor doing a double act in apparent emulation of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.

So if the first couple and their cronies imagine they can get away with their jet-setting lifestyle funded not only by misuse of public funds but also financial frauds as blatant as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), they’re even crazier than they and Mahathir have taken the Malaysian people for.

Another think coming

And if Umno/BN imagines the populace will meekly tolerate the goods and services tax (GST) it has designed to replenish sufficient funds to buy and bribe itself to ‘victory’ in the 14th general election just as it did in the 13th, it has another think coming.

If Kita Lawan has any say in the matter, that is. And I’m hoping and betting that it will have a very big say indeed. Recalling the immense gatherings Bersih attracted in support of its single issue of clean and fair elections, it is predictable that Kita Lawan could be an even bigger and in the end more successful drawcard if it comes to represent a coalition of causes.

In fact it seems to be organically growing this way, having originally been inspired by opponents of the latest unjust jailing of Anwar Ibrahim, and now already grown into a movement not only protesting against the GST, 1MDB scandal and abuse of the Sedition Act 1948, but also urging the resignation or removal of inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself.

And every day, it seems, the regime attracts more recruits and adds more issues to the Kita Lawan cause by committing or condoning fresh crimes like the killings of even more ‘suspects’ in police custody, or reopening old wounds like Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim did recently.

In response to a question in Parliament from Teo Nie Ching (DAP-Kulai) as to why Hishamuddin Hashim is not only still employed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) but promoted to state director level despite the finding by the Court of Appeal last December that Hashim and others must be held responsible for the death in 2009 of ‘witness’ Teoh Beng Hock, Razali replied that the MACC man “had his rights, too.”

A statement that reminded us all that Teoh Beng Hock has never been accorded his rights, or his family and supporters satisfaction, since a royal commission of inquiry found not only that interrogation tactics by Hashim and two other MACC personnel had caused Teoh to jump to his death from the 14th floor of MACC headquarters, but that Hashim was an “arrogant leader” and “dishonest person.”

Further giving the lie to Razali’s claim that there is nothing amiss about Hashim’s subsequent promotion to director of the Negri Sembilan MACC and now of Sabah MACC, was the ruling by the Court of Appeal following re-investigation of the case, in which all three judges agreed that Teoh Beng Hock’s death was “a result of or which was accelerated by an unlawful act or acts of persons unknown, inclusive of the MACC officers who were involved.”

This ongoing gross injustice, along with the even more notorious and long-running case of the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, plus of course the dozens of unsolved and even largely uninvestigated suspicious deaths in police ‘shootouts’ and custody, will of course also always add fuel and fire to the wider cause of Kita Lawan.

A cause that, if or rather when the BN regime’s crimes, injustices and cretinisms finally alienate and outrage enough Malaysians to inspire them to fight back in overwhelming numbers, could eventually proudly rename itself Kita Menang.

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia', ‘Even Madder about Malaysia', ‘Missing Malaysia', ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.