RPK, Government and the Army

 

(Saturday march is not a small “fry” for the Government to ignore - Photo source: MSNBC)

It seems there has been a police report lodged over Raja Petra’s article titled “What the eye does not see”. It is an interesting piece written by RPK on the Saturday’s march organized by BERSIH – you should read it but what caught my eyes was this paragraph:-

When the first volley was fired on the assembled marchers around the Masjid Jamek-Masjid India area, word was passed down the line that the 19th Brigade of the Royal Malay Regiment or Regimen Askar Melayu Di-Raja (RAMD) was on stand-by, to move in if there are any fatal casualties. Fourteen armored cars (kereta perisai) had earlier arrived from Sungai Petani and were parked at the Sungai Buloh military camp, ready to roll at a minute’s notice. It would take them ten or fifteen minutes to arrive at the scene of any violence against the rakyat.

Panic buttons were pressed and alarm bells rung. This had happened once on 13 May 1969 in Kampong Baru. The Royal Malay Regiment is not one to mess around with. The Agong is their Commander-in-Chief and soldiers are trained to obey their Commander-in-Chief at no consequence to their own lives.

The police backed off. They were reduced to traffic control where those positioned at junctions stopped cars to allow the marchers to safely cross the road. The RAMD remained on standby and the next morning the fourteen kereta perisai quietly slipped out of Sungai Buloh and went home.

This has worried the government. The Agong did not say he did not wish to meet the representatives of the 100,000 marchers. He in fact asked for their names. And when the government issued threats of violence against the marchers, the 19th Brigade of the RAMD was brought into Kuala Lumpur with fourteen kereta perisai. This was The Agong’s way of saying that if you shoot the marchers, just like you did in Batu Burok in front of The Agong’s palace in Kuala Terengganu, then all hell will break loose.

So the government backed off. They had no choice. The 100,000 rakyat wanted to meet The Agong and His Majesty had said yes. And the 19th Brigade of the RAMD came to town to ensure that yes means yes.

This sounded like Bruce Willis leading a team of commandos to help out on the march – RPK has a way to putting down his words and it feels good to have the Army on our side (even on paper). Perhaps this is the statement that prompted one guy to lodge the police report since the statement seems to say that there is a conflict between the police (government) and the army (royalty). It all depends on how one interprets the statement and the scenario.

(Photo source: Defence Talk)

It could have been a mere coincidence but when I was travelling back from Taiping couple of days later, I did see a long column of CONDOR armored personal carriers travelling from South end of the highway – after Ipoh. Could this been the “kereta perisai” that was on standby on last Saturday? Or they just happen to be passing Ipoh on Monday morning after some “exercise” in some “jungle” for they were in full battle gear. One can only imagine and it would have been interesting if more things come out in the open.

Read RPK’s post again and ask yourself whether it promotes disunity and fear?

Had the police in the first place granted the relevant permits and allowed the marchers to march in peace and organized way; it could have been less dramatic. The organizers just wanted to submit a memorandum calling for a fairer election. So, why the government looked so worried and started to issue threats to the marchers? The police was there anyway for crowd & traffic control. After all isn’t justice and fairness is something worth promoting?

Don’t you think it is kind of stupid to think that there is nothing wrong with this country as what the “businessman” who lodged the police report against RPK is saying? Sigh, I can only think of the ostrich with it’s head in the ground when in trouble.