EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

Let sense prevail

WITH six days to go, can the wheels that have been spinning towards the old city centre stop in time?

Bersih 2.0 is now a banned organisation. A statement released by the Registrar of Societies yesterday said the home minister had invoked his powers under Section 5 of the Societies Act 1966 to declare Bersih an unlawful organisation, making those associated with it liable to jail terms and fines.

Police, meanwhile, continued their crackdown on those intending to organise illegal rallies on Saturday, detaining more people, including Sungai Siput member of parliament Dr D. Jeyakumar and five other Parti Sosialis Malaysia members, who were re-arrested under the Emergency Ordinance shortly after they were released from remand in Penang.

While these firm actions are lauded, the matter is continuing to escalate into what some have described as a frightening degree.

The organisers have remained defiant, and pledged to proceed. All rallies on July 9 had been declared illegal, even before Bersih was banned, but all groups have remained stubbornly determined to "exercise their democratic right" -- come hell or highwater.

So, short of any two groups backing down, demonstrators next week seem set for a collision course. For, unlike in a sports marathon, where everyone is there for the same purpose, has a common objective, and are all moving in the same direction, the three July 9 rallies have different intentions, different objectives, and different directions.

It is, therefore, too naive for one group to claim that they would be "assembling peacefully" (and, therefore, everything would be alright), when there are other groups in the picture, all aimed at thwarting each other.

In a tense environment, all it takes is just one small spark -- heckling, trading of barbs or the throwing of water bottles -- to ignite an uncontrollable inferno.

The police must prepare themselves for a bruising; they must keep themselves between the different groups at all times and become human buffer-zones in order to protect citizens from injury -- even if these citizens are breaking the law.

And even though it would be very challenging to maintain order, the police's actions must always be within the law.

At the same time, the police must make good their promise that they will be impartial and clamp down hard on those who take part in any rally on July 9; there must be no compromise on this. And all politicians must not aggravate the situation with their opinions and grandstanding.