Demo here demo there....
I'm just starting to wonder why of late our Malaysian activist have been so fond of taking to the streets and having demonstrations. If you have been following what has been happening in our beloved Bolehland recently, you will have know that there were 2 major demonstrations in the city centre over the weekend in this past one month. Just google the words BERSIH and HINDRAF and you will get all sorts of news...
The first one was organised by this bunch of people, mainly from the Malay opposition party, who wanted to hand over a petition to our beloved Yang Di-Pertuan Agung, requesting that he make sure our next General Elections be clean... and BERSIH, hence the name. There were rumours that the gathering amounted to almost 40 thousand people. But throughout the entire weekend there were road blocks practically everywhere leading into the city, leaving us innocent peace loving people stuck in hours of traffic. The Federal Reserve Unit were brought in with their helmets, shields, tear gas and water canons and arrest and chased away as many of the protestors as possible.
The second one, just last week were organised by this group calling thenselves Hindraf; supposed to be championing indian rights in Malaysia. Now here's the scoop; officially (if the government controlled press is all you read) Hindraf wanted to send a memorandum to the British Embassy, requesting a Queen's Council to oversee them file a lawsuit against the British government. Basically, in a class action suit, they want to sue the british for forcibly bringing all the indians from India to Malaysia as labourer, hence violation their human rights. They are suing for US$1 million per indian, or US$1 trillion in total. (i can see you shaking your head right now). But read BBC and other news and they will say that was only the 'ostensible' reason; implying that there is a deeper, unspoken reason. Come one, the whole idea of it is outrageous. How will the Queen of England consent to appointing a council on behalf of the Indians in Malaysia to sue her own government for almost 2 trillion British Pounds? The 3 leaders of the group are lawyers and they were not stupid, and as we like to say here in Malaysia, its all just 'buat wayang saje'. The entire nation continues to talk about it, and if you ask any Indian in the know, they will tell you that what they were trying to do was to highlight to the world the injustice the local minority Indians are suffering due to the favouratism of the government to Bumiputra's. They say they are being marginalised; left out in education, job opportunity, economic development and rights as a citizen. Of course, the Chinese face these same questions too. but the Indians have it much worse, since economically, they are not strong. To said it as it is, in many ways, those of us who do not enjoy Bumiputra status are Second Class Citizens.
The organisers insisted that their gathering was to be peaceful. All they really wanted to do was to hand over a memorandum to the British embassy in jalan ampang. But if you ask me, the government digged themselves into a hole, made a mountain of a mole hill and attracted all the wrong sorts of international attention. 2 days before the assembly, they arrested the 3 leaders, charging them with uttering 'insidious' words that will evoke racial disharmony. Come the day of the demonstration, over 200 people were arrested and the thousands of indians gathering around Jalan Ampang were confronted with batons, tear gas and water canons. When the leaders were brought to court, they judge could find no reason to hold the chargers since the government failed to produce and evidence to back up their allegation against these men. How big can you screw up anyway?
First, you arrest the leader and created a furore for half the indian community in Malaysia, then you drag them to court only to fail to provide any transcript of the insidious words they allegedly made. The court needing proof to prosecute, could not hold them. But you dont need proof to have an opinion, and by now all the nation will have some sort of impression and judgement against these group of activist, whether fair or otherwise. Now, some Malays are going to think these Hindraf people are trouble makers trying to stir up racial issues. Many Indians are going to feel that the government is doing all they can to shut them up and prevent them from fighting for fairness and equality. The Chinese will just shake their head and migrate abroad the minute something goes wrong in Malaysia. Lines have been drawn and the damage is done, though who is the bigger looser remains unknown.
Secondly, what is with the excessive show of force by the government? About BERSIH, they wanted to have over a petition to the King. As unhappy as they were with the government, they respected the King enough to go to him for arbitration. If the government is so clean and good, just let them hand over the petition I say. Its just a piece of document for goodness sake. Same goes for HINDRAF. If these 3 guys think the Queen of England will back them in their trillion dollar lawsuit against herself, let them hand in the memorandum to the British Council then! It is just a piece of document! Let her read it, and have a good laugh by all means. But nooo. the government had to deploy the FRU, all geared up and ready to handle some sort of riot. I was in Singapore watching the news as it happened, and if I didnt know better, I would think Malaysia is in pieces now. What kind of impression are we giving others? Barely a month after proudly sending our first 'Angkasawan' up to space, touting that we are taking our first steps to being a modern first world country, we find ourselves showing the worlds that we have absolutely zero tolerance for opinions that contradict the government. We'd rather arrest hundreds of our people, attack them with batons, tear gas and water canons then to let them have some freedom for expression.
Of course, we can argue that they gathering was illegal since they failed to get a proper permit for gathering. All over the news, they will repeatedly use the words 'illegal gathering'. The front page of The Star said DO NOT BREAK THE LAW... the Law.. But did you know that according to the Law... any public gathering of people above 5 numbers of requires a permit? That means that strictly speaking, when I go out with my mates and buddies in a group and meet at Dataran Merdeka, we need a police permit, otherwise its an illegal gathering. Puts in in different light doesn't it? Selective enforcement of the law amounts to manipulation by the government and that piece of legislation sounds more for the convenience and benefit of those in power to call anything they do not approve to be illegal.
The landscape is changing, and policies and privileges formed 40 years ago are starting to become inadequate in dealing with our new generation of Malaysians. No one has an answer as to what is the best route to take.. what stand to take in our multicultural society. How long more will the Malays cling on to their Bumi privilages? How long will the rest tolerate, and if so to what extent? If economic standing is the issue, does poverty not cut across all races and ethnicity? For us non-bumi's who grew up here and call this place our home, how can we be convince that we are not second class citizens? To continue accepting the status quo would preserve the peace for now.
But not doing anything about it does not make the problem go away. We are going to have to deal with these issues one day....
posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 5:34 pm
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