Ambiga, a Malaysian woman of courage

Ambiga. Who is this woman who launched thousands of people to the streets of Kuala Lumpur and some other towns in Malaysia, yesterday, April 28, 2012?

She is not a minister in some government department, or, a priest with a huge following or something. But she is someone alright; someone, with some standing. A highly qualified lawyer by profession, 56 years old Ambiga Sreenevasan is the active organizer of Bersih 3.0, the name given to the huge, ‘peaceful’ rally, in remonstration for a clean and fair 13^th general election, which is just around the corner. This was indeed a mammoth assembly which took all Malaysians by surprise.

 ‘Took by surprise’, because, despite all the sorts of anti-rally propaganda meted out by the government authorities, from the very top, to dampen and to discourage the attendance of people to the rally, still thousands of citizens were seen gathering around the prohibited Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, or Dataran Merdeka, as is known locally.  

The supposed to be peaceful assembly of the citizens turned into chaos later on, with fights between the police and some groups of good citizens, suddenly, turned to mob-like characters, with water cannoning and tear gas firing by the police.

Currently, news has it that the police and the organizers of the assembly are blaming each other as to who started the ruckus first. Same old! Same old!

Well, back to Ambiga. She is actually Dato’ Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan. She was conferred the title Dato’ by the sultan of Perak in 2008. She obtained her honorary doctorate in Law from the University of Exeter in 2011.

In March 2009, she became one of the eight recipients of the International Women of Courage Award from United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the presence of the famous first lady, Michelle Obama. Now, that's strong American connection. An enviable link, that would make the Malaysian government authorities to think twice before they decide to take any negative action against her.

Yes. Be her action correct or wrong, Dato’ Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan has truly become a woman of courage. And a charming one at that!