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- Malaysia: Struggle For Democracy Intensifies – Analysis
- The ‘politicised’ civil society
- Who should lead Pakatan after Anwar?
| Malaysia: Struggle For Democracy Intensifies – Analysis Posted: 26 Jul 2011 08:16 PM PDT
A notable feature of the Malaysian electoral system is that the electoral system favours the electorate in rural areas. And the rural areas are predominantly inhabited by the Malays. This legislation was introduced on the eve of the formation of Malaysia in 1963. EURASIA REVIEW On July 9, 2011, thousands of Malaysians defied the government ban and marched through the streets of Kuala Lumpur demanding democratic rights for the people. The march was organized in response to the clarion call issued by Bersih – 2, a coalition of 62 non-governmental organizations, who have been demanding a level playing field and free and fair elections. The unprecedented demonstration was in defiance of the Malaysian Government which had detained many Bersih leaders in the false pretext that they were planning the violent overthrow of the Government and were preparing to wage a war against the Agong (Head of State). The Government declared Bersih-2 to be an illegal organization and, what is more, banned the use of yellow colour (the followers of Bersih wear yellow shirts). The access roads to Kuala Lumpur were closed, private buses were prevented from transporting passengers to Kuala Lumpur and those wearing yellow shirts and scarfs were detained before they reached the city. However, the people in a rare display of courage and determination marched hand in hand and were singing "we shall overcome". They were greeted with tear gas shells, chemical laced water cannons and police batons. The use of force, according to international human rights organizations like the Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch was "excessive". The unprovoked attack resulted in 1670 arrests; one demonstrator, a Malay leader, Baharuddin Ahmad, died in the hospital. Never before in the history of contemporary Malaysia has such a demonstration taken place. The demonstration represented all ethnic groups – Malays, Chinese and Indians. The only comparable show of peoples' strength took place on November 25, 2007 when the Hindraf mobilized the Indian community in a demonstration before the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. It was an exclusively Indian gathering and they were protesting against the marginalization and impoverishment of the Indian community since the dawn of independence. Anwar Ibrahim, the charismatic Malaysian leader, warned the Government of a "hibiscus revolution" (hibiscus is the Malaysian national flower) if the government did not heed to popular demands and introduce far reaching democratic reforms. Bersih stands for Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. The July demonstration was called Bersih – 2 because the first was organized in 2007. The Bersih is headed by Ms. Ambiga Sreenivasan, a leading lawyer and former President of the Malaysian Bar Association. Ambiga is the recipient of the US State Department's International Women of Courage Awards. Recently Ambiga was awarded the honorary doctorate by her alma mater, the University of Exeter. She dedicated the award to the "brave people of Malaysia" who had overcome "fear of intimidation and harassment". In her acceptance speech she referred to the July 9 rally and underlined the truth that "while it brought out the worst in some, it brought out the best in others and this is where our hope lies". Malay Political Dominance In order to put the present crisis in perspective, it is necessary to keep in mind certain basic political realities of Malaysia. When the British extended their political influence in the Malay Peninsula in the 19th and 20th centuries they introduced Direct Rule in the Straits Settlements and Indirect Rule in the Federated and Non-Federated Malay States. As far as the Malay states were concerned, the fiction of sovereignty was still vested in the Sultans, but the Sultans had to seek and administer the State on the advice of British Residents/Advisors whose advice was binding on all matters "except Malay religion (Islam) and customs (adat)". What is more, the Malays were recognized as the Bhumiputras (sons of the soil). The British encouraged large scale immigration of the Chinese and the Indians for the economic development of Malaya. Before the Second World War, there was not much of an anti-British feeling; politically the country, unlike Vietnam and Indonesia, was a backwater. As the British novelist Somerset Maugham has written "Malaya was a first rate country for third rate English men". However, the political awakening of the Malays following the introduction of the Malayan Union proposals and the unity that they forged under the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) had far reaching consequences in the political evolution of Malaya. Not only did it compel the British to withdraw the Malayan Union proposals, but it also clearly revealed that the Malays will never surrender the pre-eminent position in Malaya. While in later years, the Malay leaders did take the co-operation of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) in the larger interests of Malaya as a whole, the dynamic leadership of Malaysian nationalism had always come from the Malays. The ruling Alliance, later expanded into Barisan Nasional, was not an alliance of equal partners; it was an alliance in which the UMNO was the dominant partner. The Malay political supremacy continued unabated until Anwar Ibrahim raised the banner of revolt against the undemocratic and high handed policies of Dr. Mahathir. After the split in the UMNO, the non-Malay votes have become extremely important in coming to power, but unfortunately this has not resulted in any dilution of Malay pre-eminence. Two important changes in the political system should be highlighted. While, in early years of independence, the leaders of the Chinese and the Indians – Tan Siew Sin and Sambanthan – accepted the political supremacy of the Malays without any reservation, the new generation of the Chinese and the Indians has started questioning the basis of Malay political supremacy. These Indians and Chinese – third or fourth generation Malaysia born – resent the special rights enjoyed by the Malays and ask, with certain amount of justification, for how many more years they should live in Malaysia to enjoy equal status with the Malays. What is more, they have started questioning the rationale behind many undemocratic features of the Malaysian political system. Equally important are the leadership qualities of Malaysian Prime Ministers. While the first three Prime Ministers since independence – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn – had overwhelming support of Malays and non-Malays, the same cannot be said about Dr. Mahathir and his political successors. The long spell of Mahathir's rule brought about a fundamental transformation in Malaysia. From being a producer of primary commodities, Malaysia has become an industrialized country, virtually an economic power house in the ASEAN region. But the negative side of the story was increasing authoritarianism and pro-Islamic policies. The unfair trial of Anwar Ibrahim and the third degree methods employed against him by the police officials have given a bad image to Malaysia. What is more, the fruits of development have not percolated to the poorer sections of Malaysian society, especially the Indians. The cumulative result was the political Tsunami in the 2008 election and the Barisan Nasional suffered unprecedented reverses. Not only it lost its two thirds majority in Parliament, it failed to regain power in Kelantan and lost power in Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor. The victory of the opposition parties had been a morale booster to pro-democratic forces in the country.
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| The ‘politicised’ civil society Posted: 26 Jul 2011 03:05 PM PDT
The Malaysian civil society seems to pick and choose the issues which it wishes to champion, while its leaders prefer to be followers of politicians. Some critics estimated that the EO detention figures would cross 30,000 over the years while police sources revealed that at least 60% of the detainees currently were Indians, including teenagers. Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today The civil society has suddenly voiced its grave concern over the draconian Emergency Ordinance (EO), wanting the security law repealed or at least reviewed. The detention of six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists under the EO, which provides for detention without trial, was the wake-up call. The six are Sungai Siput Member of Parliament Dr Michael D Jeyakumar, 56, PSM national deputy chairman M Saraswathy, 58, national Youth chief R Sarath Babu, 25, central committee members Choo Chon Kai, 33, and M Sukumaran, 50, and Sungai Siput branch secretary A Letchumanan, 49. In the past, only a handful of civil society groups have voiced out against the EO but this changed with the latest arrests. In other democracies, civil rights groups launch regular campaigns against bad laws but in Malaysia, it appears that the civil society needs a political boost to get cracking. According to observers, civil society leaders seem to be contented with being mere followers of politicians. "It's an unhealthy trend," said BK Ong, national coordinator of election watchdog Malaysian Election Observers Network (Meonet). "Civil rights movement should never be politicised," he added. The fact remains that the civil society here failed to educate and galvanise people on human rights and civil liberties. The civil society hardly organised regular human rights campaigns without any political inclination or involvement. This could be the reason behind the civil society's failure to garner strong public support for the candlelight vigils across the country to secure the release of the PSM six. "Civil society NGOs lack grassroots touch and support. They seem more inclined to political popularity rather than real civil liberties for ordinary people," explained Ong. Even the crowd at the recent Bersih 2.0 rally was mostly mobilised by political parties and not by the civil society. Playing to majoritarian gallery The EO was enacted by the National Operations Council as part of the state of emergency declared following the May 13 race riots. It remains in force given that the state of emergency had never been revoked to this day. The law was supposedly used to detain those deemed to be subversive by the government, and is in fact used far more frequently than the the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA). But the civil society had been more vocal against ISA because it was used against politicians. Though figures for those detained under the EO are not released by the government, Human Rights Watch estimated that there were 712 detainees in 2005. Some critics estimated that the EO detention figures would cross 30,000 over the years while police sources revealed that at least 60% of the detainees currently were Indians, including teenagers. Deaths among EO detainees under custody had also been reported. One such case involved S Tharmarajen, 19, who died in a police lock-up in Sepang in 2003. Police sources said a few petitions or police reports against an individual might result in them being detained under the EO. But civil society groups hardly uttered a word compared to the noise generated over the death of former DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock. "Malaysian civil society is only keen to play to the popular bi-racial majoritarian gallery under the disguise of pseudo-multi racialism," claimed Human Rights Party leader S Thiagarajan. He recalled the "deafening pin drop silence" among the civil rights champions on Tharmarajen's death. Even when five Hindraf leaders were detained under the ISA in 2008, the civil society did not pro-actively campaign for their release. Thiagarajan said they were released due to constant pressure from the working class poor Indians. Even though four of those arrested were practising lawyers, the Bar Council merely issued a statement condemning their detention. But the council took a strong stand against the ISA detention of popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, DAP parliamentarian Teresa Kok and Chinese newspaper journalist Tan Hoon Cheng.
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| Who should lead Pakatan after Anwar? Posted: 25 Jul 2011 05:28 PM PDT Nizar Jamaluddin The truth is Pakatan needs Sabah and Sarawak to win the upcoming General Election and PKR is not helping by making mistake after mistake in these two states. I would say that the most suitable leader to replace Anwar if he is found guilty in the sodomy trial as Pakatan leader should come from either DAP or PAS. The opposition needs a good politician as its leader and currently in my humble opinion PKR has none of them.
Of all people, it was legendary American footballer Joe Namath once said,""To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going." In the context of Pakatan Rakyat, the current leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is currently facing heaps of challenges to the point of hinting on the possibility that he might have to face incarceration yet again. I'm very sure that Pakatan is seriously considering a name to replace their charismatic leader in the event that he is found 'guilty' in his second sodomy trial. Nik Aziz and Kit Siang The tricky part is actually to find the most suitable candidates to fill in Anwar's shoes, a leader who is one hundred percent sure of his political direction. They are only a few that meet this requirement, DAP parliamentary leader and Ipoh Timor MP, Lim Kit Siang being one of them. But bear in mind that Kit Siang is not getting any younger, he is 70. Then there is PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who is 80 this year. Other then these two prominent veterans, who else would be the most fitting person to become Pakatan chief? We are not just talking about being an MP, state assemblyman or a minister. We are talking about the possibility of naming the next Malaysian Prime Minister if ever Pakatan manage to take over Putrajaya. Lim Guan Eng DAP seems to have a few adept candidates. Number one is its Secretary General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng. With his leadership Penang has become the No. 1 state for total capital investments in 2010 attracting RM12,238 million, up nearly five times as compared to RM2,165 million In 2009 and comprising 26% of Malaysia's total investments of RM47,177 million for 2010. This is based on a report by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA). A commendable achievement since that it is a known fact that Penang has been experiencing budget surpluses for 2007, 2008 and 2009. Tony Pua Then there's Tony Pua who is the Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara. Pua who graduated from Keble College, Oxford University is definitely one of the most prominent MPs from DAP in Dewan Rakyat. Pua currently is one of the most aggressive in pressuring the government on the issues of high profile defense budget. Mat Sabu There are also a few names from PAS that could make the list. The leading name is obviously its new deputy president Mohamad Sabu who is also known as Mat Sabu. Mat Sabu is very well known for his public speaking abilities which would be a big advantage for him. The man who had been detained twice under the Internal Security Act (ISA) had recently caused a stir when he claimed he was intentionally rammed by a police car during the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9. The police then screened a video which showed that the motorcycle which Mat Sabu was riding pillion, was not hit by a police Land Rover as alleged, but when the motorcycle was making a "U" turn, it hit the Pajero's (not Land Rover as Mat Sabu had claimed) fender which caused the motorcycle to go out of control before skidding in the Seri Persekutuan housing area. Khalid Samad Then there is former Perak Mentri Besar and Bukit Gantang MP, Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. Nizar is especially popular with his ability to speak Mandarin since coming from a half Malay and half Chinese parentage – a perfect combination for a leader of multiracial Malaysia. Another popular name from PAS is Shah Alam MP, Khalid Samad. Khalid is known for his unconventional approach. In my opinion Khalid has taken actions that merit praise, like visiting a church after his win during the elections. And yet he was criticized by Umno leaders for it earning the nickname 'Khalid Gereja'.
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