Death
Threats. Bomb Threats. Warning on Revocation of Citizenship.
Preventive detention. Arrest of hundreds for wearing Yellow T-Shirts.
Banning of Organisations. Prohibition of Peaceful Marches.
Is
one describing Burma? Or Zimbabwe? No, this is Malaysia in July 2011,
in its 54th year of independence. Has paranoia gripped the
decision-making elite in Kuala Lumpur? But for its grave repercussions,
one would have to laugh at the disproportionate overreaction and
incompetence of government agencies in recent weeks. Has Malaysia become
a police state, with no place for the Rule of Law? So what is the
problem that has attracted the ugly, heavy hand of the Executive. It is
only a call by ordinary voices for electoral reform so that future
elections are conducted freely and fairly, that is, on a level playing
field, with no political party or candidate having an in-built advantage
over its rival parties and candidates, very much, like all runners in a
100 metres race starting at the same point with the same distance to
run. Is that not a laudable objective that should receive the support of
everyone who truly believes in the democratic process?
When
Malaya achieved Merdeka in 1957, it chose the parliamentary democracy
style of government under a constitutional monarchy, with the Federal
Constitution as the supreme law. In order to elect a government, general
elections are to be held at least one in every 5 years under the
supervision of what was intended to be an independent, impartial
Elections Commission to act as a neutral referee or umpire in electoral
contests.
In
the actual conduct of general and bye-elections since 1957, the
Election Commission has failed miserably, with the result that no right
thinking person would describe it as being fair or neutral in the
discharge of its duties. The actions of governmental agencies such as
widespread gerrymandering of constituencies, the total domination by one
political party of television, radio and print media, a brief campaign
period of between 7 to 10 days, the blatant granting of gifts, money and
other benefits to voters, other corrupt electoral practices and the
abuse of postal ballots have resulted in the ruling coalition having a
tremendously unfair advantage whenever elections are held. Accordingly,
by any yardstick, elections have never been conducted in Malaysia in a
fair and free manner, consistent with the spirit of true parliamentary
democracy.
It
is against this background that Bersih, a coalition of organizations
interested in electoral reform, announced its decision to organize a
peaceful march in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 9th July 2011
to call public attention to the ills of the electoral system, and to
present a memorandum to His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Is the
Government seriously contending that as a sovereign nation which has
enjoyed over 5 decades of independence, Malaysia cannot tolerate or
survive the exercise by thousands of its citizens of their entrenched
fundamental liberties of free speech, assembly and association on a
Saturday morning!
It
must be recalled that in the 12-year sunset period of British
imperialism over Malaya from 1945 to 1957, the British colonial rulers
permitted the holding of public rallies which were brilliantly
exploited, first by UMNO in 1946 in leading the opposition to the
Malayan Union proposal, and subsequently by the Alliance coalition from
1954 to 1957 in its campaign for Merdeka. Bearing in mind that those
rallies, marches, demonstrations and assemblies were held during the
Emergency declared to fight the Communist insurrection, and would result
in the ending of colonial rule, the British Government did not ban such
rallies, even if it was in its self-interest to do so. For Merdeka to
be meaningful, surely every Malaysian must enjoy greater and better
rights in independent Malaysia in 2011 than his or her forefather
enjoyed under colonial rule in 1946!
Demonising
Bersih and its outstanding leader of courage and conviction, Ambiga
Sreenevasan brings great discredit to the Government. It smacks of a
witchunt, McCarthy style. For the Prime Minister to describe Ambiga
Sreenevasan as being anti-Islam shows his true commitment to his own
1Malaysia philosophy - it is just window-dressing!!
I know of no law in Malaysia which prohibits a person from wearing yellow clothes. Thus, there is no Colours Act or Clothes Act
under our law which empowers the police from arresting persons because
of the choice of garment colour. Even totalitarian North Korea does not
act in such a high-handed, mean and petty way.
When
the streets of Kuala Lumpur are no longer safe with the massive
increase of crime, and an apparent breakdown of law and order, the
police are allocating their resources to preventing ordinary law-abiding
Malaysians from exercising their constitutional rights of free speech,
assembly and association.
Compounding
its mishandling of the entire situation was the abdication by the
elected Government of resolving the problem, apart from a crude outright
ban against Bersih. For His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as
constitutional monarch, to enter the political fray – probably
unprecedented in 54 years – is an indictment of poor governance by the
Najib administration. The Prime Minister is elected to lead : what has
been displayed hitherto has been dithering leadership reminiscent of the
Badawi administration.
The
fascist elements of the state, whose main aim in life seems to be to
protect and serve the interests of the ruling party, must be reminded
that Malaysia does not belong to the Prime Minister. Neither does the
nation belong to the political party that happened to win the most seats
in the last Parliamentary election in March 2008 thereby forming the
government of the day. Just as the electorate gave it a mandate to rule
temporarily, it can withdraw that mandate at the next general elections
which must, by law, be called by mid-2013. No political party has a
divine right to rule continuously. Malaysia, on the contrary, belongs to
the people, whose interests may often not coincide with that of the
ruling party. Not allowing the people of Malaysia to express their
opinion on a matter of vital public interest, viz, the electoral system,
by assembling peacefully in Kuala Lumpur is wholly unacceptable. It is
neither right nor proper.
The
behavior of our leaders indicate that they are desperate to hold on to
power by all means, and every measure must be taken by the state to
prevent what they perceive as a threat to their own position. It is an
iron law of history that besieged, desperate leaders who believe they
are indispensible or identify themselves with their countries ultimately
lose power : it is always only a matter of time.
I
urge my fellow Malaysians to attend the rally on Saturday in droves,
and to behave in a peaceful, civilized manner with a single-minded focus
on calling for a reform of the badly marred electoral system so
structured in favour of one party. Malaysians must, with pride and
dignity, exercise their fundamental rights of free speech, association
and assembly on 9th July 2011 so that the executive branch of government
can be shown to have totally underestimated the good sense of the
people. The shameful conduct of Malaysian politicians and bureaucrats in
the past weeks must be wiped clean by the actions of the citizenry on
Saturday. See you there.
Tommy Thomas
6th July 2011
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