Jalan Raja Laut
Emptiness
FRU fellas
"Scary..."
‘We don’t solve problems on the street. That is not us, nor our way.’ NST – 7/7/2011.
Not that our tendency to let problems slide is better, but I have to agree, we as Malaysians are not used to solving problems on the streets. Even for a thorough bred KL-ite, the streets of our capital seemed foreign to me on the 9th of July 2011 (or commonly known as 709). The presence of the police has never been more apparent, and the emptiness of the inner ring-roads stand testament to their effort.
Our entourage arrived on foot at Jalan Raja Laut, one of the busiest bazaar streets in KL; As if in a post-apocalyptic horror movie, the eerie silence juxtaposed the usual hustle and bustle that has come to define that street. Only the caws of crows interjected the silence (really!), and then the occasional growls as police officers hunt down their wayward prey. A man approached us hurriedly, and as I’m about to greet him, he grabbed my hands and warned against proceeding towards the rally. He looked thoroughly horrified, limbs shivering as we bid him goodbye and thanked him for his advice. For a person born in the 80s, this is darurat out of the history texts!
*****
The excessive use of force by the police in their crack down of the Bersih rally baffles me. Of all the possible ways for the government to engage Bersih, they chose the worst of the lot – smack-the-cow-out-of-the-way approach. A week after the rally, I think we can all agree that the ruling party’ stupidity had cost them yet another defeat in the ongoing media war for the hearts and minds of the people. And what is the justification for their heavy handed tactics? – Arbitrarily wielding the wand of bureaucracy by declaring Bersih to be an ‘illegal’ organisation, bulldoze their way through with ‘legitimacy’, then finish off with a ‘not our culture, not our way’ as the cherry on top of the icing.
Is disproportionate police enforcement our ways if street protest is not our culture? The people are the lifeblood of a country, and they have spoken. Smacking the cow out of your way is lesson 1 on how to commit political suicide. Matthias Chang wrote in guest column on Malaysia Today (10/7/2011):
“All these so-called advisers and political pundits can do a better service to the nation if they just spend 24/7 for an entire month, watching the Chinese historical epic “The Three Kingdoms” on sale in any DVD shop in Malaysia. They may just be able to learn some basic lessons on Political Strategy 101.”
In fact, the government could have employed a typically (just as counter-productive but less suicidal) Malaysian way in engaging Bersih – Setup an ‘electoral reform task force’, give them a task so enormous nothing could have ever come out of its pipeline. Let them berdebat till the cows come home, or in this case, move aside. Publish their findings and further berdebat in the parliament, pretend to make some changes that don’t really matter. In the mean time, conjure another sex scandal and give the finger right back to the opposition.
*****
Our entourage proceeded towards Masjid Jamek with heightened alert, but Kate Hodal, a freelance journalist was more courageous, running headlong into the action as a particularly brutal arrest happened in front of our eyes. I suppose her ‘gwailoh-ness’ gets her a get out of jail card. The rest of our afternoon went on as you would see on YouTube – tear gas, water cannons, arrest and the works. We participated in the rally, basking in the camaraderie rarely seen in Malaysia, vented some anger and then left unharmed, a little shaken, but with a renewed vigour in combating our common enemy.
*****
A week after 9/7/2011, a few of us sat down to reminisce on what has transpired. The only thing the government seemed to have done right is releasing all the arrested on the same day, everything else had been a PR catastrophe.
What is most glaring is that despite the massive blockade and threats of arrest, tens of thousands turned up for the rally, united in spite of colour, creed, and credential. The spirit of camaraderie is bolstered by the hundreds of emotion stirring video montages and the speed of social media in which they were disseminated. I’m sure many Malaysians cried a little inside while watching the video on Bersih 2.0 Website – The thunderous roar of Malaysians shouting “Hidup Rakyat”, a crippled man donning yellow marching in crutches, Lady Justice of Malaysia drenched and defiant, and our brothers overseas who stood in solidarity singing the national anthem.
Even the most politically stoic person I know commented: “Malaysians generally are a lazy bunch. When they get to their feet in droves, something really, really wrong has come to pass.”
Mr PM, I’d hate to be you now. It is irrelevant to debate whether taking to the streets was the right course of action because the people have spoken and it would be foolish of you to ignore. Your party likes to give history lessons on 513, hope you also learn something from 803 and 709.
But the question we have to ask ourselves is this: What is the true message that the people conveyed on 709? Was it just about electoral reforms? I doubt so; the people are venting their frustration at the corruption of our democratic institution. The people want change, and electoral reform is the language they chose to speak with because they refuse to play the racial segregation game anymore.
Electoral reform is convenient because it is uncontentious, it sidestepped the racial and religious lines which has been the cause of disunity in Malaysia. However, the true test of our democratic maturity comes not from uniting against a common enemy, but from our ability to stand as one even when we disagree amongst ourselves.
Democracy is about respecting the voices of dissent. To quote Justice Jackson in the case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) in the US supreme court:
“... Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing orders.”
Can we still stand in solidarity in the face of inconvenient issues that touch the heart of our social fabric? Would we tear ourselves along racial and religious lines debating equality before the law and freedom of religion?
We have a long way to go, and 709 is not the beginning of 1Malaysia. We haven’t started yet.
Lua Bo Feng
17/7/2011
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