‘A fascinating countermovement’

Dr Khoo: When there is a movement, it is natural for a countermovement to emerge.

UNIVERSITI Malaya senior lecturer Dr Khoo Ying Hooi thinks it is still too early to judge the sustainability of the Red Shirts as a countermovement.

The presence of Red Shirts before the Bersih’s Nov 19 rally did indeed create fear among potential protestors who doubted whether it would be safe to actually be on the street, she concedes. But the fear somewhat dissipated when the expected violence did not exactly materialise at the rally.

“People generally anticipated there could be more repression and perhaps to some extent violence on the day of the rally itself,’’ says Dr Khoo, who specialises in social movement and democratisation and teaches at UM’s Department of International and Strategic Studies.

Calling the Red Shirts a “fascinating” counter movement, Dr Khoo says their strategy is big enough to grab attention because they are aggressive.

But she points out that post Bersih 5, there has not been much action from the Red Shirts except for several small episodes like the Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos’ towel drama.

For her, this to some extent has fortified the argument that the Red Shirts are “merely there to create some form of disturbance” and as they are anti-opposition in nature, they try to ensure that they continue to receive media attention.

Dr Khoo says the challenge before the Red Shirts now is how to evolve into a successful or a more concrete countermovement.

“The recent drama by Jamal on Selangor’s water issue has reaffirmed the argument that a countermovement likes this will be difficult unless it can articulate an ideology that can arouse public enthusiasm and create long-term commitment.”

She points out that from a political movement perspective, a movement is usually launched by groups “below” and goes against the established order; while a countermovement is just the opposite and to protect the interest of the establishment.

“When there is a movement, it is natural for a countermovement to emerge. That is a very common thing and perfectly okay.

“It just depends on how strong they are going to be. And this goes back to how much resources they can get to sustain themselves.”

She says the level of “recognition” in society is normally one of the main factors in the availability of resources.

Dr Khoo points out that have been other countermovements in the past to counter Bersih like Perkasa’s Gerak Aman in 2011 that came out and made demands but they never lasted in an organised way.

With the Red Shirts this time, she says, they seem to have more staying power because they have been grabbing the media attention everyday, creating fear. They also use aggressive speech and tones and they do not seem bothered with their seemingly hostile tactics.

“What I can say is that the actions and reactions of the Red Shirts is highly politically motivated at this point of time.”

For her, the country’s political environment is tense. She says those in power know the grievances of the people so they are trying to make sure they hold on to power by eliminating possible threats.

“That’s why the Red Shirts are so outspoken.”

She says for there to be a countermovement, it means that the movement it is countering, had to have actually achieved something.

“If not why should people counter you? Who would challenge you if you achieved nothing?”