Malaysia should consider not celebrating Merdeka Day and International New Year

My letter titled Malaysia should consider not celebrating Merdeka Day and International New Year in Lim Kit Siang's Blog .

My letter featured in Letters section of Malaysia Today .

My letter titled Lawyers march: Permit rejection mind-boggling in Malaysiakini .
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Letter content

I would like to refer to Malaysiakini reports, Human rights march: 5 lawyers arrested and PM warns public safety is top priority. In the latter report, the PM apparently warned that "public safety takes precedence over public freedom".

I am not sure how our prime minister's brain works but if Abdullah Ahmad Badawi thinks the International Human Rights Day celebration requires a permit and jeopardise the national safety, I would like to remind the police and him to consider banning the up-and-coming Hari Raya Haji, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Aidiladha and most important of all the 51st Merdeka Day in 2008.

Hearing so many calls from his government and himself on the possibility of using the Internal Security Act, I hope our PM is just joking to Malaysians. After all, from my understanding, less than 10 person coming together without a permit is already a gathering and if police has its way, those assembling can be under detention without trial.

International Human Rights Day is not a protest or having any intention to upset national security. It is an annual celebration to commemorate, to remind us, humans, of the freedom we are supposed to have. Similarly, Merdeka or Independence Day falling on Aug 31, 2008 is to remind Malaysians on the freedom that we have achieved and to commemorate the effort to gain Independence as a human right.

If International Human Rights Day is considered to be unsafe, then perhaps, Merdeka Day should not be celebrated as well. There should be no marching. If 200 people walking on the street with some banners, without parang or guns for the Dec 9, 2007 celebration is considered not safe, it is in my opinion the Aug 31 celebration, which has more number of people marching, could be potentially dangerous to national security.

Maybe, Malaysians should reconsider celebrating the up-and-coming International New Year 2008 in places like KLCC or Bukit Bintang. If a small number of people celebrating International Human Rights Festival 2007 in a less than 15 minutes walk require a permit, a bigger turnout of people watching fireworks will probably require permits especially if these places display big ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’ banners.

It is certainly mind-boggling that the police force had rejected a permit requested by Bar Council to hold the Sunday event. It is mind-boggling that a lawyer can be arrested for stopping some outsider from taking down a banner in the Bar Council compound, of which he is working in. There is nothing seditious with the banners.

It is perfectly strange, people having stroll (a basic human right) can be arrested as well. Maybe, the police force should enlighten the public on these matters. Otherwise, it would also be wise for police to reconsider giving any permit for Merdeka Day 2008, which is also a celebration of human rights.

Last but not least, Happy International Human Rights Day to all Malaysians. Good luck and wish you all the best!

Black Sunday, Human Rights, Malaysian-Style

( Picture from Mob's Crib : Under Siege: Our Rights )

Welcome to Malaysia. The picture is apt. The peaceful dove lying dead on the ground with gore. As for who "killed" it? It is not hard to guess. Ask Pak Lah and his government ....

This is the originally planned schedule to commemorate Human Rights Festival, an annual celebration. 2007's was supposed to be held on Sunday, 9th December. Note the word "supposed" was used . The venue was subsequently changed and unfortunately cancelled later.

Here is the outcome ( taken from Malaysiakini ):
1) Human rights festival: 9 charged . Eight people, including five lawyers, were charged today with participating in an illegal assembly yesterday. They also faced a further charge of disobeying the police order to disperse. ( P.S. Why is it illegal? That is because police did not grant them a permit. Why didn't police grant them a permit? I am not sure. Get the police to explain .. why ? )

2) Gov't marked human rights day with arrests . A letter by Alina Rastam .

3) Surely the marchers could be given 15 mins . A letter by Jonson Chong. Great, isn't it? I mean, the status of human rights in Malaysia.

Other major happenings on days around the "Human Rights Festival":
3) Vexed MPs stage walkout . Sixteen opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat in protest of the arrests of 24 BERSIH petitioners this morning. BERSIH is campaigning for electoral reforms which is good for the nation. Nothing racist, anti-religion, whatsoever.

4) Siege of Parliament - 'the ultimate shame' . Opposition MPs have roundly condemned the police for blocking access to Parliament House this morning, to stop polls reform group Bersih from submitting its protest memorandum.

5) Gov't begins crackdown against dissent . The authorities marked the day by clamping down on dissent, rolling out three separate legal actions against organisers of protests that have rocked the country in recent weeks.

and many more.......

What I have retrieved are only a few examples. Perhaps there is no point of saying too much about the Black Sunday. This letter taken from Malaysiakini describes it all :

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I walked with Bar Council for two years by Vizla Kumaresan

I had taken part in the Bar Council’s Festival of Rights march for the last two years. On both occasions, it was a peaceful and colourful march with participants singing songs and chanting human rights slogans. Sadly, the tradition could not continue this year. Worse still, the lawyers and activists who came together on Sunday to commemorate International Human Rights Day were arrested and may face charges.

What we see happening is a tremendous denial of civil liberties, not only of the nine arrested but the liberties of all Malaysians. The people of Malaysia have been denied the right to assemble and to express themselves freely. Those who marched on Sunday were exercising their rights as guaranteed in our Federal Constitution and were also making fellow Malaysians aware of their rights.

It is deplorable that Malaysia, as a member of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, has chosen to act in this way against its citizens. As a member of the council, the government should act in a way that is respectful of human rights. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The government instead chose to crack down on peaceful gatherings. The authorities’ heavy-handed action is an indication that an informed public is something to be feared. It is my hope that the government will re-think its stand on freedom of assembly and act in a fair and just manner to all Malaysians wanting to express their views and opinions.
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In my opinion, Pak Lah is not a weak man. We cannot "cabar" him. Do not judge a book by its cover. It is not hard to guess why.

Wait a minute. I remembered people saying the Human Rights Day is an annual celebration. Nothing to do with protests whatsoever. If there is no protest, then there should be no one challenging / "cabar" anyone. If there is no protest and meant to be peaceful, I mean it is like celebrating Hari Raya Haji or Christmas annually, why are they not allowed to gather? Strange isn't it? How can public safety be compromised by a commemorative peaceful celebration?

If there is anyone who is equating this with "public safety is valued over public freedom", then I think it is crap. It is a peaceful celebration just like Hari Merdeka, just with more people being together, that's all.

Good luck, Malaysians. Happy (whoops) celebrating Human Rights Day ! Malaysian-style I mean. Or rather, someone's preference but not all Malaysians

Anyway, in the atmosphere of fear, I would still choose to write.

BERSIH: We Do Not Want Representative, We Want Tuanku (To Tell Us)

Malaysiakini recently reported King: No royal support for Bersih rally ( Nov 16, 07 1:34pm )

Excerpt of the news:
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abdidin in a rare press statement said neither he nor Istana Negara had directly or indirectly supported the massive rally held over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur.
-> Don't get involved in illegal activities
-> Build a better nation together

I was actually shocked when I read that piece of news. If it is really the truth, it will still come as a "no surprise" to me. After all, striving for electoral reform, a clean election as a civil rights is nothing simple. It is a long and painful Struggle.

The African Americans took decades to obtain proper civil rights. Most of the time, in the midst of their journey faced many obstacles that make their struggle looked seemingly impossible.

The most important thing is, they thrived and hold on to their beliefs, have faith in God that one day they will get what they want : to get the fundamental human rights that they have always aimed for. That provided they took actions in the likes of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

In the case about Malaysia, I think with or without Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, the Struggle for a Clean and Fair Election must persist. Of course, if the Monarch is participating, it will definitely be good. Inevitably, we have to react accordingly.

Which brings back to the original story of Malaysiakini. Immediately after reading that piece, I searched through the internet to obtain more updates. Have found a lot of articles.

After reading those, I felt more angry than remorseful. Angry at Yang Di-Pertuan Agong? No, no, no, of course not. Why? That is because I found out that it was claimed by other articles on the net: the statement was made by a person called Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja . It is not coming directly out of the mouth of Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. It is through a runner in the Palace. Purportedly, the runner is said to be someone from a certain ruling party (hope you catch the drift). Is there a conflict of interest here?

For more information on some conspiracy theories on the subject of runners doing something extraordinary, please read these articles. It would be best to make sure these are distributed to the public so that Malaysians will be able to judge and comprehend what is happening.

Read these:
Malaysia Today : What the eye does not see (Raja Petra Kamarudin)
Merah Tinta MSO : Respon Cepat, Penjelasan Pengelola Istana Negara Tidak Mengejutkan (Mohd Sayuti Omar)
Malaysia Today : Bohong! Bohong! Bohong! (Kamal Amir Menulis)

I echo the decision made by Mahaguru58, a famous blogger himself. He said : Agong's 'Statement'. Won't believe it till I see and hear His Majesty on live tv!

To date, our Monarch has not made any direct statements albeit by himself on the Memorandum for Electoral Reforms by BERSIH. There are some possible powerful hands (not Agong's) at works, although I cannot say it for a fact.

There are certain quarters that claimed the BERSIH rally is about freedom to assemble and not about electoral reform. That is certainly weird, I would like to reiterate this point :

BERSIH , the organisation is for Freedom to Assemble AND / FOR Electoral Reform. Been that since day one.

Besides that, it should be made known that we need Agong to support a clean and fair election through electoral reforms proposed by BERSIH in the memorandum. He does not have to support the rally and gathering. It is merely symbolic.

In the meantime , one of the heroes of our nation did this: Mind your own business, Syed Hamid tells foreign Human Rights groups . I was wondering whether this is the professional way to respect Human Rights as well as the best way to handle public foreign relations. I find that approach quite impolite.

Anyway, Freedom to Assemble and Clean Elections are Fundamental Human Rights in Any Democratic Country. That I cannot regard as applicable with nations of Communist Governance, Dictatorship or Autocracy.

Regards and best of luck Malaysians. When the going gets tough , the tough gets going.