Light, heartwarming moments in Ambiga’s chat with public

By Ida Lim

June 14, 2012

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Electoral reforms activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan had some light and heart-warming moments with the public during an online chat hosted by Yahoo! Malaysia this afternoon.

Ambiga responded to comments ranging from her belief in God to her prediction on the Euro 2012 football champion, besides answering questions on the Bersih movement pushing for a cleaner election process. Other questions included how to obtain Bersih t-shirts and what she considered a dream holiday.
"Hi, wh
o do you think will win Euro 2012? On elections, what are your ideas on (sic) having technology involved? Cameras in the voting room (excluding the voting booth)?" asked Internet user Satyromaniaman.

"Whoever plays clean! Technology is very useful…and we should draw on the experiences of several countries who have used them (technology) successfully," Ambiga (pictured, left) replied.

When asked if she felt safe after the Bersih rally, Ambiga answered, "I feel relatively safe but I am always careful."

To a question on how she coped with the negative attention after the rally, Ambiga said, “I believe in peaceful responses to harassment and intimidation. Ultimately it always works out worse for those who harass and intimidate.”

In the same one-hour long chat, Ambiga pointed out that "there is a difference between a protest in front of a person's house and in a public place. What is the point of a peaceful assembly act and the constitutional provision upholding freedom to assemble if it cannot be done in a place which is accessible to the public? By the way, the protest in front of my house was harassment and intimidation."

This was in response to the comment: "I noticed you are unhappy people (are) protest (sic) in front of your house. What makes you think KL residents are happy with your rally?"

The "harassment and intimidation" Ambiga referred to was when veteran soldiers performed “bum exercises” and petty traders gave out free burgers in front of Ambiga's house. Other disgruntled members of the public had also carried out protests targeted at the civil society leader.

"Did you buy any burgers from the stall outside your house?" a curious netizen asked. Ambiga said, "No. I am a vegetarian. They were giving them out free anyway."

Ambiga, together with Bersih co-chair national laureate Datuk A. Samad Said, had led a sit-in protest for electoral reforms last April 28, which the movement claims were attended by 250,000 people.

Ambiga is currently being sued by the federal government in an unprecedented civil court case initiated against Bersih leaders for damages to public property worth RM122,000.

Search engine Yahoo! Malaysia had kicked off the hour-long live chat with Ambiga at 3pm today, giving Internet users a chance to ask her any question they wanted.

Yahoo! Malaysia has previously hosted public chats with opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and even popular pop artiste Datuk Siti Nurhaliza.