Small minds think alike
When the Hindraf leaders took tens of thousands of Indian Malaysians to the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25, 2007, I was attending a regional forum at a hotel in Jalan Ampang.
There were participants from several neighbouring countries, including Indonesia, South Korea, India, Hong Kong and the Philippines – all stable democracies to varying degrees. Naturally, the foreign participants were accustomed to street protests as an embodiment of freedom of expression.
During the lunch break, all the guests lurched towards the window on the 11th floor for a close look at the chaotic streets in the KLCC area, and were amazed at the scenes of protesters clashing with the riot police.
That the Indian Malaysians – having been dispersed with teargas and chemical-laced water – quickly regrouped to make their voices heard impressed the curious foreigners rather deeply.
“There must be at least one or two protests of this scale in Jakarta every month, but our police are only there to maintain order, not to baton-charge the crowd,” remarked an Indonesian.
A Filipino said what he was witnessing reminded him of the situation in Manila two decades earlier, and that “I feel like I am revisiting my country’s history”.
The Hong Kong guest was most succinct, saying: “Funny, why can’t the police just allow them to gather peacefully? They would disperse in peace too, and this is what we do in Hong Kong.”
I shall not mention remarks made by other guests who are used to peaceful assemblies home. My only misgiving at that very moment was that there was no one from Myanmar, China or Singapore to lighten my embarrassment.
Despite the hurdles and tight security by Malaysian police who are selectively efficient at best, some 20,000 people turned up for the anti-ISA rally last Saturday, making it the first grand celebration of democracy since the March 2008 general election.
Judging by the resoluteness of the participants, the organisers could easily have mobilised 50,000, if not the 100,000 originally targeted, had it not been for intimidation by the authorities and the police. Public disgust for the notorious ISA is now too strong to be deflected.
It was hence ludicrous of MCA Youth secretary-general Chai Kim Sen to issue a disjointed statement in the aftermath of the protest, criticising both the police (for excessive use of force) and the protestors (for “illegal assembly”). He even called on both sides to apologise to the whole country because “the farce has humiliated Malaysia”.
But I guess Chai was barking up the wrong tree, for it was the police who turned the entire situation into a shambles. Just as with the Hindraf rally, the petitioners were not to blame, as was rightly noticed by foreign observers who were not even familiar with the country.
Petty inconveniences okay
I am not sure what planet is Chai from. All I know is that anyone who has been to a democratic country should know peaceful assembly is part and parcel of the fundamental human rights, and no one will point the finger at the protestors over traffic jams.
People in a democracy are willing to put up with the petty inconvenience because they do not want their fundamental rights to be denied. Freedom means nothing if it comes cheap.
Nations that pride themselves for being a genuine democracy also proclaim their countries to be the land of the free. Only pseudo-democratic regimes that covet dictatorship or authoritarianism seek to safeguard jealously ‘internal security’ for fear that the fig-leaf of democracy may one day fall, making them the laughing stock of the world.
Prior to the rally, Chai had cautioned in a statement that such action could deter foreign investment, which of course can only come from someone who is politically retarded.
The Kuomintang of Taiwan, Suharto of Indonesia and Marcos of the Philippines had all resorted to the same old rhetoric to fend off their domestic detractors, yet it did not obscure the fact that corruption within these tyrant regimes was also at its worst then.
By contrast, Hong Kong has arguably developed the most civilised culture of protest in the Chinese-speaking world. Quite often, protestors hold trouble-free rallies and then disperse without even leaving a trail of garbage behind. This is only possible when the police honour the people’s right to peaceful assembly. In return, the public rewards the police with confidence and respect as the latter demonstrate professionalism and impartiality in carrying out their duty.
Today, public rallies are common in Hong Kong, with the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and anniversary of the return to Chinese sovereignty often being marked with relatively large-scale marches by those concerned for the future of democracy.
In December 2005, the Chinese territory even witnessed a massive international rally against globalisation. Still, Hong Kong surges ahead as one of the most competitive economies in the world.
In the same vein, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland and Canada are well-known for their high income and healthy social development, and they continue to see at least one or two huge public protests every year.
This may be strange to the enslaved mind, but virtually no one worries about social disorder or decline in foreign investment. Instead of spin-doctoring clumsily for the powers-that-be, Chai and the host of BN-friendly bloggers had better spend their precious time on finding out why this is so.
Real culprits
If truth be told, erosion of the judiciary, rampant corruption, deteriorating public security and the haphazard manner in which policies are made and amended have all increased the cost of investment in Malaysia, which are the real culprits that shame the nation.
Don’t believe me? Just ask any foreign tourist who has not been conned by our world-infamous taxi drivers.
If those like Chai honestly believe that, by keeping the people away from street protest and creating a false peace, the government can delude globe-trotting and shrewd foreigners to invest in Malaysia, they will only end up making a fool of themselves.
Politicians from a remote planet should really take some time to travel in progressives part of the world in order to understand where real competitiveness comes from, rather than locking themselves in the room and churning out statements that are an insult to the people’s intelligence.
While there is no definite correlation between economic prowess and full rights to freedom of speech and assembly, a government that derives its authority from force and intimidation will only ruin the entire nation in the long run.
Politicians are entitled to stay aloof if they so choose, but it does not mean that they can say or do things that are not conducive to the public good. I am not at all surprised that a good many BN leaders share the same view as Umno when it comes to public protest. After all, small minds do think alike.
Josh Hong/Mkini
