BN and government figures may have painted a doomsday scenario in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday, but such portrayal is far removed from the actual reality as recorded by the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange.

NONE According to DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua ( left) , the language of authoritarianism boomed from the radios, television sets and across newspaper frontpages last week warning of loss of investor confidence if the coalition for clean and fair elections went ahead with its mass rally served only to reflect the BN-government’s attempt to preserve its “tenuous hold on political power”.

However, in the week leading up to the Bersih rally on July 9, the Bursa Malaysia Composite Index completely brushed off the economic impact of the rally, said Pua.

“The index had, in fact, increased from 1582.35 on Monday, July 4 to 1594.74 on Friday, July 8,” noted Pua in a statement today.

Pua, who is his party’s Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament, was responding to claims such as by Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen that the tourism industry suffered over RM100 million in losses due to the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday.

 

NONE MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek ( right ) went further by claiming the damage from the rally - estimated to have generated up to 50,000 participants - far exceeds RM100 million as the street protest would adversely impact investor confidence in addition to tourism.

Chua should stop trying to mislead the rakyat with tired tales and empty threats, said Pua.  

He also noted that in other developing as well as developed countries, frequent, peaceful and democratic rallies had not in any way dented their economic performance, citing the cases of South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

On the contrary, he added, the economies of such countries remain the envy of nations like Malaysia.

“Dr Chua Soi Lek should stop trying to mislead the rakyat with tired tales and empty threats.  

“He should instead embrace democratic principles and speak up for the man-on-the-street, instead of talking down to them, or he should be prepared to go down in history as the worst performing MCA President ever come the next general elections,” added Pua.

NONE He said the chaos that occurred in the rally on Saturday was not caused by the participants of the gathering but “the unnecessarily violent and aggressive tactics deployed by the police force against peaceful demonstrators.”  

“Chaos” was only created when the Bersih supporters needed to run helter-skelter for cover when the police fired rounds of tear gas and liberally showered them with chemically-laced water.

 

Pua also noted that protestors had only gone to the streets as a result of the rejection by the authorities of the organisers’ request for Stadium Merdeka.