your say 'Who are we to believe? Five reporters from Bernama or the countless reporting of the other journalists, including the ordinary folks?'

July 9: Bernama journos' accounts of Bersih 2.0

AnakPinang These Bernama 'journos' must be really ‘jaga periuk nasi' (protecting their rice bowls), because their accounts are so skewed - "...they were obviously aggressive in ignoring police orders", "...a handful of them turned abusive", "... police starting to arrest demonstrators who tried to provoke them".

Such nebulous statements without elaboration must be taken with a pinch of salt. What is even more surprising is that in their view, the Bersih 2.0 rally had become a show of force against the country's institutions, the police especially.

The police were the aggressors and the ones with weapons, not the public on that day. If these journos conclude that the police were the victims and agents of peace, then it really shows the quality of Bernama reporters.

EFF: Their time-line is pretty suspect as well. The flow of events, especially the part where the march to Menara Maybank took place, did not jive with what really happened.

The protesters were all gathered around Menara Maybank listening to the updates of what happened that morning and they were clearly chanting for electoral reform - the bulk of the chants there being about the Election Commission (EC).

There was no chaos up until the police started firing tear gas into the crowd. If they gave dispersal orders, the people in the middle and back of the crowd definitely did not hear a thing the police.

And why did the Bernama account not mention the chants of "Hidup Rakyat!" and "Hidup Bersih!" and the singing of "Negaraku"?

There were some "dispersal" orders that could not be heeded because the protesters, for example on Jalan Pudu, were - quite literally - trapped by the police and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU).

But is it any wonder why people were chanting "BN Zalim"? Does it make sense that people would willingly subject themselves to tear gas if they actually did have somewhere to run to? This article is a sham.

Oh My God: How much I wish I could believe these reports by Bernama and Utusan Malaysia . There has been too many misreporting by these reporters that even the truth has become questionable.

Bernama and Utusan can continue reporting whatever they want. We have seen the other version of the story in YouTube.

Disbeliever: Bernama and Utusan ? Their testimonies are probably made to cushion the bashing the police and the government received from the online and international media.

Who are we to believe? Five reporters from Bernama/Utusan or the countless reporting of the other journalists, including the ordinary folks, who were in the thick of the action?

Also, why are they only now coming forward? Only one answer: These Bernama/Utusan testimonies are to help the government and the police in their damage control.

Karma: For the first time ever, a journalist's report is so badly written, and sometimes, overly-repetitive assertions about how the police were acting professionally and without brutality.

The reporter at Tung Shin Hospital also never confirmed whether tear gas was fired directly into the compound. Instead he refers only to a "clear area" and vaguely repeats that 'wind' carried the fumes, short of mentioning to where, fearing a violent rebuttal.

In conclusion and coincidentally, none of the Bernama reporters saw any police brutality, despite pictures and videos proving otherwise.

How can one say it was "provocation" when someone threw a 'fired' tear gas cannister back to the police? It is a justified reaction because nowhere they can escape the gas except by throwing it back.

Ferdtan: You may not have lied directly (all of you are too smart for that); but by omissions, padding untrue words and misinterpretations, they amount to that. We leave it to your conscience to reflect.

Dood: These reports are either deliberately misleading, are inaccurate accounts of the rally, or the "journalists" were at an entirely different gathering.

I also wonder why it took them so many weeks to come up with their accounts of the incident. In any case, just reading the first few paragraphs is enough to convince any level-headed person that the report has a biased agenda.

Kee Thuan Chye: This is such obvious propaganda. Shame on Bernama and on those who wrote the reports, for they are not journalists but stooges.

The rally marchers were not violent towards the police. Although they did chant "Reformasi!" and other things, they also chanted, "Hidup Bersih!" and "Hidup rakyat!" Report that too lah , Bernama .

The Bernama reports are a deviation from what really happened on the ground on July 9, Malaysians.

Rubystar_4037: After reading the first few lines, I knew that Bernama journalists had to make a living and write not from the journalist's viewpoint as a witness to this event, but write what their bosses wanted written to prop up the weak government in dealing with this peaceful protest.

This is done so as to drum into the readers' mind that Bersih is illegal in whatever it stands for. However, I read most of the comments from Malaysiakini readers, which are more authentic, genuine and reflective of the aspirations of most rakyat.

Lin Wenquan: It is pointless to get emotional with these Bernama journalists. It is their 'rezeki' to write slanted news to keep Umno-BN's propaganda machinery running full steam.

To keep my blood pressure normal, I have completely stopped reading the MSM (mainstream) papers and watching the local channels for a long time now. This is the state of affairs in Malaysia today. The MSM are a tool to disseminate falsehood to demonise any organisation that has the courage to speak up against the failures, deceit and shortcomings of the government and its agencies.

The editors of likes of Utusan , Star and NST have no compunction at all for the part they actively play in fallacious reporting. These reporters will find themselves jobless in due course as readership and audience ratings continue to fall and slide. Mark my words. Expecting them to change is like wishing the sun to rise from the east.

Lexicon: It would be insulting to real journalists to call these Bernama mouthpieces 'journalists'. Real journalists are bound by a code of ethics. These Bernama reports appear to have been dictated by the public relations office of the police.

Malaysiakini publishes Bernama reports in an attempt at journalistic balance, but Bernama could never make a pretence that they know anything about journalism or balance.

Anonymous : I don't know why the accounts of the incident is so much different than mine. Are we in the same Bersih 2.0 walk?

The walk that I was in, we, the participants, were continuously reminded by the leaders to be peaceful, not to provoke and not to retaliate. Either I am lying or you are. But I definitely know that I am not.

 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .