Manipulation of Statistics ...

Yesterday was 9 July 2011 ... It's the day of Bersih Rally.

I am not going to touch on the rally as I was just "landed" at KLIA at about 2.40 PM and was told that downtown Kuala Lumpur was in the thick of action ... I just wondered how many "rakyat" were involved in the rally and resigned to the conclusion that I have to rely on the news for the answer....

On the way home, I heard the 'Berita Ringkas" @ RTM at 3.00 PM stating that about 300 people were demonstrating at Jalan Pudu. This was again reported at 4.00 PM by RTM stating that about "200-300 penunjuk perasaan cuba membuat kacau berhampiran sebuah hospital swasta di Jalan Pudu" ...

The 5.00 PM news at RTM also echoed the same report and concluded that the demonstration was not participated by the masses... At about 5.30 PM it was reported that about 800 Bersih people had been arrested.

By 6.45 PM, it came out in the news that about 1,400 people were arrested and it was confirmed over 8.00 o'clock new @ TV 3 that 1,667 people had been arrested.Now now ... there must be something wrong with the statistics ...

Today, Sunday @ 10 July 2011 I bought almost all the mainstream newspaper and I found the following statistics:

Mingguan Malaysia @ 10 July 2011 reported amongst others:

1. about 1,401 were arrested;
2. about 500 people were demonstrating under the umbrella of "Patriot" ie mainly from the UMNO Youth members and a few from Persatuan Silat Linchah;
3. about 30 people from Perkasa - wondering aimlessly & loitering - at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa;
4. about 6,000 people participated in the Bersih Rally and the concentrations were at Jalan Petaling, Sogo, Dayabumi, Jalan Pudu & Masjid Jamek.

All in all, Mingguan Malaysia stick to about 6,000 people were involved in the Bersih Rally.

Let's look at the chronological events as reported by Mingguan Malaysia:

12.50 PM - about 3,000 Bersih people were marching from Jalan Petaling towards Stadium Merdeka;

1.43 PM - 3,000 Bersih people were at the vicinity of Dataran Maybank;

2.00 PM - 1,000 were trapped at KL Sentral. [Note; This 1,000 were trapped till about 5.00 PM as the train service was stopped. So, this number is unchanged and fixed!!!!}

Meanwhile, Sunday Times @ 10 July 2011 reported the following:

1. About 6,000 people were at Pudu Raya;
2. Estimated about 5,000 to 6,000 people were involved in the Bersih Rally;
3. 1,667 were arrested and 16 of them are children;
4. 1 died ie Allahyarham Baharuddin 59 years old.

Sunday Times put the chronology amongst others as follows:

12.33 PM - FRU fired 22 rounds of tear gas at about 2,000 Bersih people at Lebuh Pasar Besar;

1.18 PM - 4,000 Bersih people gathered at Menara Maybank;

1.19 PM - large crowd (no statistics given) were reported at Petaling Street;

1.37 PM - Bersih people from Jalan Pudu and Petaling Street joined together at Hentian Puduraya;

1.40 PM - Tear gas were fired at the crowd near Menara Maybank;

1.45 PM - Crowd gathered at Masjid India;

2,22 PM - another round of tear gas was fired at the Bersih people at Menara Maybank;

2.41 PM - 2,000 people marched from Masjid Jamek to Dataran Merdeka;

2.45 PM - two group of crowds marched towards Jalan Raja Chulan;

2.49 PM - FRU dispersed crowd at KL Sentral;

2.57 PM - 2,000 were dispersed from Merdeka Stadium by the police;

3.45 PM - 3,000 people marched towards KLCC;

Please also consider this, Sunday Times @ 10 July 2011 reported that:

at 4.00 PM about 3,000 people were at Masjid Jamek and joined by another 2,000 at about 4.15 PM and all of them marched towards KLCC. They eventually dispersed at about 4.45 PM.

Again please take this into account, it was also reported by Sunday Times that at 2.25 PM about 2,000 Bersih people converged in the areas of Olympic Hotel,Petaling Street & Masjid India which will then swelled to 4,000.

If we care to look thoroughly at the time & places, the statistics appeared to be "massaged" (read as manipulated!!!) for certain reason which I would not bother to explain.

In contrast, the "alternative media" such as Malaysiakini reported that at about 12.40 PM about 500 Bersih people gathered and the number swelled to 20,000 in just about half an hour. All in all it was estimated that about 50,000 people had attended the Bersih Rally....

So which is which? Going by the past experience, you have to do this;

Take the estimation as given by the mainstream media and multiply it by 5 then you would get the correct figure!!!

But I am not going to argue on this as statistics are meant to be manipulated. However, the following is certain and could not be rebutted:

1. ONLY 30 Perkasa members were roaming Tasik Titiwangsa aimlessly without their leader .. U know who!!!;

2. Patriot were outnumbered even by those Bersih people who were arrested by about 3 fold!!!!!

Till we meet again and to those who are good in numbers please analyse the above statistics ..... and al Fatihah to Allahyarham Baharuddin.