After the sledgehammer treatment by Home Ministry and Police, Ambiga's audience with the King has given back Bersih and its planned rally the necessary recognition and legitimacy despite being made illegal.
The over-reactions by the PM, Home Minister and the Police have given Bersih much more free publicity than what the organizers had expected. The message has been successfully disseminated to the public at large. Bersih and its supporters will be allowed to gather in a stadium without fear of being arrested. This is better than what could have been the prospect of marchers facing harsh police actions and arrests. It would avoid further deliberate police actions by way of harassment in the form of arrests and deliberate road blocks to inconvenience the public in the hope that it would turn the public to hate the organizers and supporters.
BN leaders will have to decide to what extent the demands for a cleaner and fairer electoral system will be met. They can ignore them at the risk of losing further support by the voters at the next general election.
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