The Bersih March for Free and Fair Elections was held on Nov 10. [Tens of] thousands of Malaysians witnessed the submission of a petition to the King's private secretary.

Many more thousands who were unable to participate can be satisfied that this historic and peaceful expression of solidarity has taken place and that the administration of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi heard the loud and clear call for electoral reform.

The response of the government, via the mainstream media outlets that it controls, has been muted and muddled. Ministers, the police and public officials and their formidable spin machine have been working overtime with a reactive public relations campaign to demonise Bersih leaders and the marchers.

Since the event, our beloved Agong and his brother Rulers have been brought into the crossfire between the government and the people. This is an unhealthy development.

The Sunday Times ( Nov 18, 2007) carried a lengthy article by the premier's mouthpiece Kalimullah Hassan, entitled 'Reforms Yes, but not through violence in the streets'. The writer gave an historical account of past elections and took pot shots at opposition parties and recounted past events which had traumatised Malaysians due to brutal police and FRU actions.

One can only assume that there is a political motive behind his article. He failed to realise that Bersih consists of 67 NGOs who were concerned about the flawed electoral process and wanted the government create a level playing field for a truly a democratic elections.

What I find quite disturbing about the whole article is his attempt to justify the actions of the police and the FRU at Masjid Jamek and to put the blame on Bersih for the massive traffic jam that paralysed Kuala Lumpur.

The truth is that the jam was caused by the police who had set up roadblocks to prevent thousands more from entering the city and had cordoned off Dataran Merdeka. Some 4,000 personnel were deployed to prevent the march to the national palace.

The peaceful and orderly march, in fact, displayed the prevailing mood of a nation which seemed to have lost its trust in the government for its failure to ensure integrity of our constitutional guarantees. But Kalimullah sought to divert our attention away from the core purpose of the assembly of citizen marchers.

He talked about the conduct of the former EU Ambassador to Malaysia and Al-Jazeera's coverage of the incident at Masjid Jamek which he felt was biased and unbalanced. At least, we can say that his views are more measured and eloquent than those expressed by our minister of information during the interview by Al-Jazeera .

No other recourse

Much is expected of the government and the fact that thousands of perfectly law-abiding citizens were prepared to face water cannon, teargas and detention is a clear and irrefutable sign of the growing frustration which should be addressed not by a knee-jerk reaction, but a careful examination and serious consideration of the issues that had given rise to this unhealthy situation like the mismanagement of our economy.

Bersih and its supporters felt that they had no other recourse than to lay their grievances at the feet of the Agong. It was never their intention to draw the Agong and his brother Rulers into politics.

Recourse to the Agong is an action of last resort because the government of the day has been turning a deaf ear to all calls for serious reforms. If not, why are concerned law-abiding and peace-loving citizens denied the right to petition the Agong and show their solidarity for a cause of such national importance?

Why hasn't the prime minister, who received a resounding mandate in 2004 general election, heeded the call of voters? Why has he instead challenged them to take to the streets? This is the same person who once said "work with me, not for me", a populist-turned-demagogue at his party's annual convention. The response from the marchers was that they would no longer feared his threat of force. They were driven by the determination to demand change.

Kalimullah's conclusion rather inane: "Not everything in this world is free and fair".

It was anti-climax. First of all, we are not talking about the world over which we have little or no control. The issue at hand is about free and fair elections at home. The government has the full power to undertake electoral reform which is fundamental for a truly functioning democracy.

More importantly, Kalimullah may have overlooked the fact that we are concerned about our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as provided under the constitution, the supreme law of the land (in particular Articles 5, 8, and 10).

We want the Rule of Law and not rule by fallible men who have shown their utter disregard for the concerns and problems of Malaysians. In the eyes of the law, every man and woman are equal and their rights must be respected.

It is appropriate for me to quote an extract from a document dated Sept 15, 1998 signed by the late Suffian Hashim, Raja Aziz Addruse, Param Cumaraswamy, Chandra Muzaffar and 10 other prominent and concerned Malaysians in connection with the treatment of sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

In it, they said: "Democracy under our constitution is founded on the rule of law. The 'rule of law', reduced to its basics, requires everything to be done according to law; and such law must provide for recognised rules and principles which do not allow for the arbitrary exercise of discretionary power.

The rule of law has been contrasted with arbitrariness.Underlying the rule of law is an assumption of justice and fairness that should accompany its application."

When our elections are manipulated by those in power through fraudulent means, vote buying and other unconstitutional practices, Malaysian democracy is just wayang kulit, pure and simple.

Bersih and the thousands who marched to the palace want a functioning democracy founded on the rule of law.

DIN MERICAN is programme director of PKR.