History was created when hundreds of thousands of Malaysians had participated in the Bersih 4 rally to register their concerns about the problems faced by the nation and to demand the prime minister’s resignation.

The rally has proven, among other things, that large scale rallies could be held peacefully in Malaysia. Commendation must go to the rally organisers, participants and the police for having made the great people’s movement a peaceful event.

Bersih 4 will definitely go down in history as a great event where the patriotic and courageous decided to send a strong message to the prime minister and the government.

Instead of running down the rally or being in a state of denial, the prime minister and his ministers should listen to the people.

Najib Abdul Razak can go on denying, and even criticised the participants as shallow-minded, and his ministers can play down the crowd size or claim that the majority of the participants were Chinese, the fact is that the mammoth rally represented and reflected the ground sentiment.

Many who did not turn up supported Bersih 4's demands.

The prime minister ought to know that the people want answers and change. And he cannot continue to lead the government with his ‘ostrich burying head in the sand’ approach.

This goes too for the new Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi who had yesterday, when opening the Umno Puchong division meeting, asked the vernacular media to convince Chinese and Indians to vote BN in the next general election.

Since when has it become the role of reporters to help convince voters to vote for BN?

Was he implying that the vernacular media ‘are expected’ to play the role of helping BN?

It was also reported that Zahid has also promised Selangor’s Barisan Nasional leaders two seats on the federal cabinet if they manage to regain the state from the federal opposition.

“If we win Selangor in the next PRU, I will offer two full cabinet ministers to Selangor Barisan Nasional,” he said when opening the Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno division meeting, referring to the Malay acronym for general elections.

Why was the deputy prime minister himself able to offer ministerships when it is the sole prerogative of the prime minister to appoint ministers?

Is Zahid going to be the prime minister soon?

TERESA KOK is DAP national vice-chairperson and MP for Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur.