As much in favour as I am of the Bersih 4 rally this weekend, as I am of any sign that Malaysian citizens can summon-up the collective spine to criticise and confront their criminal misrulers, I have to confess to some concern as to the purpose of this particular exercise.

Earlier Bersih marches expressed a clear, concise and single-minded demand for clean and fair elections, but the aims of this one seem somewhat diffused and even outright confused.

Many seem to see it as a long-overdue public declaration of no confidence specifically in Malaysia’s current con-man-in-chief, Najib Abdul Razak, the man who replied to previous Bersih protests with a perjured ‘Electoral Integrity Pledge’, then proceeded to steal the 13th general election anyway, thereby contriving to continue his thieving, squandering career unabated.

But, as contemptible as Najib may be, I fear that all those who see Bersih 4 as simply a rejection of him personally are once again setting themselves up as suckers for that even more consummate confidence man, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Because by concentrating his condemnation for the state of the nation on Najib, as previously in his political assassination of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir is clearly conspiring to divert people’s attention from the fact that it is not who heads the rotten Umno/BN regime that is the problem, but the rottenness of the entire system that he himself was so instrumental in creating, and is hell-bent on sustaining.

Long enough, is as likely at his age, to protect himself from prosecution for his myriad crimes against the nation, then subsequently to ensure the safe passage of his ill-gotten gains to his heirs, and eventually, if possible, for his son Mukhriz to inherit his miserable political legacy.

In short, if Bersih 4 is only intended to rid the nation of the personal curse of Najib Abdul Razak, then it is falling for yet another con by Mahathir, who is said to be behind the lawsuit that an unnamed Umno member recently brought against Najib in an attempt to distance the party from its leader’s misdeeds.

But what the nation is crying out for is not the dethronement of Najib and his replacement with yet another, similar stooge that Mahathir can later pretend to apologise for, as he recently did for both Abdullah and Najib, or yet some kind of fake ‘unity’ government that has been mooted in which opposition members are somehow absorbed and then neutralised, but the total destruction of the entire Umno/BN regime.

In any event, who can it offer as a credible leader who won’t turn out to be another bleeder? The recently-appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Zahid Hamidi, is apparently as much of a crook, congenital liar and all-round con man as Najib, despite his recent declaration that his achievement of high office was fated by Allah.

And every single other Umno/BN cabinet member, crony and accomplice is similarly implicated, at the very least as an accessory, in the regime’s countless crimes, corruptions and deceptions.

All are as guilty as Najib of conning the Malaysian people with mainstream media as mendacious as even such totalitarian nightmares as China and North Korea can manage, and of betraying the people’s trust by co-opting the police, judiciary and every other civil institution in support of their criminal enterprises.

Commission that are conmissions

All are equally guilty in staging royal commissions that, like the Election Commission (EC), are nothing but conmissions, and committees that are clearly conmittees, like the one Najib is currently setting up to keep the ‘con’ in the Malaysian economy, not to mention the constitution, while striving mightily to pin the blame on any factor he can think of, from financial unrest in Greece and China to that perennial favourite the Jewish conspiracy.

And, indeed, to Bersih 4, which sundry Umno/BN con men keep claiming is causing unrest in the country, and thus uncertainty among nervous foreign investors.

In fact it’s crystal clear that the Umno/BN robber-regime is prepared to blame anyone or everyone but itself for the parlous state of the nation, including, if necessary, its current leader.

That is why it is so vital that Bersih 4 resolutely resists Mahathir’s attempt to treat it like a flock of sheep that can be misled into his project to make a scapegoat of Najib so as to ensure that the rest of the pack of Umno/BN predators stay in power.

Bersih 4 should condemn all these con men and criminals along with Najib, and Malaysians should keep walking the talk against these unconscionable crooks until every last one is exposed as not only deserving of no confidence, but also deposed from their positions, dispossessed of their loot, justly tried and convicted, and banned from politics for life.

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’.