Bersih 3.0 Raja Monyet

Bersambung dari ‘Bersih 3.0 — updates on open thread‘

Dalam posting semalam, saya memetik seorang penganalisa politik Dr Bridget Welsh yang telah membuat pemerhatian bahawa:

“… Bersih 3.0 highly emotive among many younger Malaysians, and their turnout will be a test for how the ground is moving. The second group is middle-class voters. Many of these individuals had never been to a protest before July 2011 [Bersih 2.0] and if they show up in high numbers, then it will highlight the challenge the government faces in winning over key opinion leaders in various communities.”

[dihuruf tebalkan oleh blogger ini]

‘Mobilization’ ataupun kehadiran penunjuk perasaan berkemeja warna kuning dan hijau, terutamanya golongan kelas pertengahan Cina bandar, telah dikerah melalui jaringan media sosial — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (lagu Bersih) dsb.

Tweet pada awal pagi D-Day, April 28

Baru-baru ini The Malaysian Insider ada mengulas fenomena aktivisme di kalangan orang Bangsar — puak yang saya gelar Bangsar Malaysia, yakni The Firsters.

Dina Zaman, dalam rencananya di TMI, menyatakan pendapat bahawa activisme in kota KL sudah layak dianggap kegiatan yang glamor dan seksi (dari kaca mata mereka yang Malaysian First).

Beliau menulis:

“Who doesn’t know of Loyarburok and Haris Ibrahim? The megawatt auras of elite activists and public intellectuals such as Malik Imtiaz Sawar, Art Harun, pack rooms when public discourses are organised. Uber feminists such as Marina Mahathir, Ivy Josiah and political heroines like Nurul Izzah and Hannah Yeoh have ramped up the political scene even more.”

Adun Subang Jaya

The ‘political heroine’

‘The Bangsar Bubble‘ ada mewawancara seorang blogger bernama samaran ‘Monkey King’ yang menginap di planetofthemonyets.blogspot.com.

Mencelup catatan temuramah e-mel TMI dengan Monkey King perihal “champagne activists” (aktivis dari kumpulan elit dan orang berada).

<Quote>

Monkey King menulis:

“Yes, most (not all) of the activism and discussion of politics is being done by the Bangsar-types (is there a Subang Jaya-type?). My main grouse is they claim to be the voice of the people when they are obviously NOT. Being loud doesn’t make you right nor does it mean you represent the people. …

“10, 50, 1,000, or even 20,000 Bangsar-types … cannot represent the 28,000,000 million Malaysians. [I am not saying that I do. I also don’t]. Activism in Malaysia now is so closely linked with politics, especially with Pakatan politicians. …

“Why do activists who harp on the bias of the mainstream media choose to be silent on the lopsided reporting of alternative media (including the Malaysian Insider that you frequently write for)?

“The rich, by virtue of being better educated, having better access to media, being closer to the corridors of power, are able to articulate and champion causes that are dear to them. Just look at all the recent ’causes’ that has attracted serious activist and media attention – elections, Lynas, seksualiti merdeka, tertiary education, MRT. These are all urban and middle-class issues. …

“You see, when (most of) the Bangsar type activists talk,

(a) they are only seeing problems and issues that are of concern to them; and

(b) they see poor people’s problems from their rich people lenses.

“Both often, although unintentional, lead to misallocation of resources. Hence one of the main reasons why the rich get richer, the poor poorer.”

<Unquote>

Pasti orang Bangsar, Damansara Utama dan Subang Jaya ada juga yang mengambil bahagian dalam aktiviti 428 kelmarin.

Walaupun Bersih 3.0 adalah perhimpunan jalanan namun si “political heroine” Hannah Yeoh sempat berlindung di bilik hotel. Beruntunglah dapat pasang aircon dan guna water heater. Saya rasa bukan semua pendemo mampu menempah bilik hotel.

Pun bukan semua pendemo yang mempunyai pembantu khas untuk membeli dan membawa segala barang keperluan yang harus disediakan sebelum menyertai rapat umum.

Hannah juga mentweet semula cercaan Shahrul Mahmood terhadap perdana menteri serta dakwaannya bahawa Bersih semalam membayangkan penyertaan masyarakat majmuk.

Warga-warga Republik Bangsar Sentral nampaknya begitu teruja dengan ide muhibbah mereka yang ala jalan cerita Sepet, sebuah filem arahan arwah Yasmin Ahmad yang terkenal dengan iklan-iklan Petronasnya.

Manakala seorang pemimpin Pemuda Gerakan Tan Keng Liang mentweet semula pengamatan bahawa politikus yang berjaya menonjolkan diri mereka di Twitter ada harapan cerah untuk dipilih menjadi calon PRU.

Pada hemat saya, “political heroine” yang sudah berjaya mengeluarkan 9,000 tweets memang padan digelar Ratu Twitter. DAP patut menjadikan ukuran 10k tweets sebagai KPI bagi politikus-politikus mereka yang media savvy (Look at me, look at me).

Berkaitan:

Bersih 3.0: Nampak retak dalam reaksi Guan Eng kepada Tunku Aziz