Malaysia Turns Adult in the Festival of Lights: The 21st Anniversary of Operasi Lalang
Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) wishes all Malaysians a happy Deepavali which shall soon usher in a new era of light over darkness. This year’s Deepavali is especially meaningful for all Malaysians, and not only the Hindu faithful, as it is also the 21st Anniversary of Operasi Lalang, the darkest moment in the Malaysian history for a generation.
In 1987, 106 socio-political activists – of all ethnic and convictional backgrounds – were detained without detention under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) while three newspapers were suspended under the authoritarian Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA). All these were done in the name of preserving national security and inter-ethnic harmony.
Same Law, Different Reactions
While the law is still intact two decades later and has produced new prisoners of conscience such as Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the Hindraf 5 and other political dissidents, Malaysians now have completely different reactions to such political crack-down.
Rather than engulfed by a climate of fear, Malaysians of all ethnic, religious and political backgrounds are now calling for the abolition of the ISA and the release of all prisoners of consciences.
This shows that Malaysians have come out age as a nation and a people. If we were a baby easily intimidated and traumatized 21 years ago, this Deepavali marks the attainment of our political adulthood. The outcries against ISA and other draconian laws have never been louder.
The public now squarely reject the flawed argument that a multicultural country can only choose between different forms of darkness: an authoritarian government and communal conflicts. Instead, we seek the lights endowed in ourselves as humans: rationality, free will, and the wisdom to strive for common goods.
It may cost you freedom, wealth and happiness to be an outspoken opposition leader in Singapore, a much more “effective” and “efficient” electoral one-party state than Malaysia. This man however had never surrendered. He died a fighter at 82.
http://www.benar.org/memo.htm (this one addresses the root cause of the suppression – all draconian media laws and not only ISA. If you feel strongly against the show-cause letters to the newspapers (under the Printing Presses and Publications Act), the frequently used Sedition Act, the equally hazardous Official Secrets Act, this is the one you must support.)
What else you can do for RPK and others? Read Susan Loone.
The October issue of the Off The Edge magazine carries an article by this blogger titled “Divided we stand: how electoral systems make ethnic politics viable”.
Some of you may be familiar with my argument there: ethnic politics persists not because people are evil or ignorant but because they are arguably rational. It is reinforced by incentives provided by the political system, the electoral system in particular.
So, while some see cultural diversity as a threat to national unity, I actually think the solution is – counter-intuitively – to have more divisions. Let us break up our water-tight ethno-religious identity rather than striving for more commonalities and uniformity.
As the magazine is not online, and to respect its copyright, I cannot and shall not publish the article here. If you are interested, grab a copy from news stand. Its main issue is on the MCA, featuring interviews of Ong Tee Keat, Chua Jui Ming, Chua Soi Lek and Fong Chan Onn.
Would transition within Umno bring an end to the political stalemate since 8 March? We have not had a government since then because it was busy worrying about its own survival. And neither have we had much of an opposition, as they, too, have been constantly dreaming and plotting to be the next government.
MINISTER of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin says Umno needs to reform or it, and by extension the Barisan Nasional (BN), may perish by 2013.
He is spot on, but what kind of reforms does Umno need to undertake? What has gone wrong with Umno and the BN?
For people like Muhyiddin, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and most critics of prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the problem is the individual in power. Change the person in charge, and the party will rejuvenate. Nothing can be changed without a change in leadership first.
This writer begs to differ.
The electoral one-party state that Umno has built and defended virtually since Independence is the disease, the leadership only its symptom.
