A member of grassroots assembly movement Occupy Dataran Merdeka opined that Bersih must create strategic disruptions to the system so that their demands for clean and fair elections will be loudly heard and addressed by the authorities.

NONE Commenting on the Bersih coalition’s way of staging a rally, Boon Kia Meng said that the modus operandi of having a crowd to gather at a venue, chant slogans and return home is unlikely to affect the ruling government.

“My contention is that a protest is not a protest if it does not disrupt a thing in life.

“For the authorities to address the demands, Bersih must disrupt the status quo, as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr had shown in the past,” he said during a forum themed ‘Behind the Barricades: A Critical Analysis of Bersih 3.0' in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The forum, which was attended by around 200 people, also featured speakers such as Suaram executive director E Nalini, Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee chair Syahredzan Johan, Centre for Independent Journalism executive officer Masjaliza Hamzah and former Off The Edge editor Jason Tan.

NONE Boon ( right ) said King was successful in his pursuit for African-American civil rights because he had led supporters to boycott the public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama in the United States for a year.

He mooted for Bersih, in its possible next rally, to call on its supporters to tactically boycott highway toll fares and display yellow stickers on their cars.

“Maybe they can even set up a fund to collect donations to help those people who get fined for not paying toll. It tells a clear message that ‘when you got fined, the rakyat will back you up’.

“It will disrupt the cronies of the government at the same time,” he said.

The activist however stressed the importance of having non-violent resistance because the ordinary public only has two fists, compared with the sophisticated weapons of the authorities.

NONE Meanwhile, Tan ( left ) reminded the public to “keep their eyes on the ball”, by which he meant elections, and make sure that the upcoming general election is winnable by any party.

He likened the development of events in the aftermath of Bersih 3.0 rally to a “public relations war”, in which different quarters are passing the buck around regarding minor incidents that took place during the rally.

“We need to keep an eye on the government’s policies that bar polling agents from monitoring the election, and also the granting of citizenship to foreigners in order to get votes,” he said.