Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang?

Isn’t it extraordinary to be living in this country? We inherited an established Westminster style of parliamentary democracy and British public service that places us a step ahead of the rest in Asia. We also started with a large citizenry who is well versed in English, our education system is one of the best in Asia and given our multi-ethnic and religion makeup, we have a good melting pot that testify to the uniqueness of Malaysia as a representative of Asia.

Source: www.malaysiakini.com

But as the years gone by, like new furniture subject to repeated usage and abuse, things begin to wear out. The pristine condition of a beige leather sofa will be replaced with shades of grey and glaring pen markings with fillings struggling to burst out from the sides of the cushion. Also, the bouncy feel of the cushion will probably be replaced with flat hard surface that provides discomfort and backaches to anyone who sits there for a mere 10 minutes.

Yup, Malaysia has become the used sofa suitable for the dumps. We have seen declining education standards, increasingly weakening command of English held by the successive generations, rising tension amongst the people and increasingly concentration of power in the executive arm of the Government. As if there aren’t enough indicators that it is overdue for an overhaul, we see today, yet again how a rally, deemed illegal by a selective application of a draconian law (contrast that with the rally held by UMNO Youth led by SIL), held by peaceful and largely Malaysians of Indian origin citizenry being crushed by the use of police force vis-à-vis liquid chemicals and tear gases.

The leaders of HINDRAF failed to send in the memorandum and decided to call it off indefinitely after gathering for about 7 hours. Would the government now be satisfied that by their own action they may have pushed these growing disgruntled people to perhaps consider the one last move which is unthinkable to a modern progressive civil society? I hope not and I certainly wish nothing of that sort will ever happen. I believe the Government should have taken the same stance as Anwar Ibrahim when he said it correctly that these grievances should be allowed public space for free speech expression and not be bottled up.

Democracy re-emerged in the last 3 centuries, since last seen and practiced in archaic form in ancient Greece and Rome, and became a popular mode of governance because the powers-that-be form of governance before democracy more often than not held absolute powers and tolerates zero defiance and dissent. Where the need to change the governing powers-that-be, it is often by means of bloodshed, suffering and great lost of property. Having seen the destructive and violent nature of humankind, many wise thinkers and leaders hope that by instituting democracy mode of governance, these bloodshed and suffering will be done away with once and for all, if not minimized, and everyone under the sun in whichever state where democracy is implemented will enjoy equal opportunity to utilise their God-given capabilities (whichever god they believe or not in part or entirety) to participate in a peaceful activities meant to better their nations, communities, friends, families and themselves.

With this style of governance to function effectively, universal human rights must be provided in each of these respective nation. Luckily for us, the United Nations have long ago prepared a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Included in this declaration is the freedom of peaceful assembly and association (one can also find it in the Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution) which today our government has successfully proven to mean nothing when it used its police to forcefully end a peaceful assembly today. When asked why the police used force vis-à-vis tear gases and liquid chemicals to end a peaceful assembly, the weak and aversive reply given by MP for Cameran Highlands, S.K. Devamany, begs the question as to whether the executive branch of this Government is cowering from the wounds inflicted by the same TV station, Al-Jazeera, on 11 November 2007 when our infamous Information Minister showcased the acceptable level of English proficiency one needed to occupy the ministerial position.

Also, in our own local media we read little about HINDRAF and what it stands for. One can only form sketchy perception of it based on the news article read from our local media. Predictably, the most coverage given clearly portrayed the 3 main organizers arrested as trouble makers of the seditious nature and it is all about a lawsuit against the British government. The prior rallies which include one held in Putrajaya on 12 August 2007 were not reported in any of our local government sanctioned media thought that rally clearly spelt out the actual reason why HINDRAF later, out of desperation, decided to raise an impossible suit against the British government and took to the streets today. By silencing the dissenting voices, the disgruntled growing number of people is being denied with another universal human right and that is the freedom of opinion and expression, which includes freedom to hold opinions without interference.

Is the call to “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang” a hollow sound spun to raise an empty hope? I foresee many, rightly or wrongly, increasingly share the same sentiments as the Jedi Master Yoda when he spoke in the final days of the Republic that too much have been clouded by the dark side, and the judgement of the Jedi order was perhaps sullied by complacency and arrogance.