Wednesday, 24-Sep-2003 5:25 PM

An unlevelled playing field

Malaysia is unique – it is the only country in the world with a ‘well-balanced’ racial composition. And the second unique thing, there is peace and harmony amongst all the different races, unlike other countries that are war-torn. And all this is due to the ruling party, Barisan Nasional, and its wise policies such as banning public rallies and arresting and detaining people without trial so that this peace and racial harmony can be maintained.

So say our political masters.

How can a country that has roughly 60% Malays, 30% Chinese and 10% Indians and ‘others’ be regarded as ‘well-balanced’ is beyond me. I would imagine ‘well-balanced’ would mean 50:50.

But then, the powers-that-be are not talking about the arithmetical balance here, they are talking about the political balance. Barisan Nasional, the ruling party, balances one race against the other. They tell the Malays that only Umno can ‘defend Malay rights and privileges’ against those other races who are trying to deny the Malays these rights and privileges. Then MCA tells the Chinese that only it can protect the Chinese and guarantee their place in society. The MIC then tells the Indians that they would remain as estate workers and third-class citizens if not for the ruling party.

This tactic is not new. It is called ‘divide and rule’, and it was started by the British to divide the races and prevent them from uniting where they would start getting ideas of seeking independence for British Malaya.

But only the ruling party is allowed to organise public rallies and shout this message to the masses. In fact, Umno can even hold up a keris (curved dagger) at these rallies and threaten to ‘bathe it in the blood of the Chinese’ if they ever got any ideas of questioning or disputing Malay rights and privileges. If the opposition tries this, they would be arrested under the Sedition Act or detained without trial under the Internal Security Act.

Public rallies require police permits. The ruling party does not need one. The opposition must apply for one but will not get it, and woe to them if they try to organise one without a police permit.

The reason the opposition is not granted a permit or allowed to organise public rallies is to prevent them from ‘inciting the people to hate the government’. Hating the government in democratic Malaysia is not allowed and is a crime. You are only allowed to love the government and must only incite the people towards love for the powers-that-be, which would include the ruling party, political leaders, police, sultans, and anyone in positions of power.

“Proponents of mass election rallies should first consider the delicateness of the country’s multi-racial society,” said the MCA president, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, yesterday.

He said there were some issues that could be aired openly in other countries but considered sensitive here.

“We are a multi-racial country and some issues are sensitive. If we give a free hand to everyone to speak as they like, then nobody can guarantee something we do not want will not happen,” he said.

He said not having mass rallies did not mean the country was less democratic than others. “We just have to be more careful. All the good work we have put in since independence, we should continue doing.”

“Don’t introduce something that might invite problems,” he added.

“We are not worried about people getting angry with us. We are more concerned about the harmony and stability of the country,” he said.

He said the opposition was bound to oppose the Government over the issue. “The opposition wants more freedom to provoke, slander and incite,” he said.

V. K. Chin, in his column in The Star entitled ‘Public rallies may disrupt peace and stability’ said:

….law and order must prevail and it had been shown that such a method of campaigning could disrupt political stability and security.

The May 13 racial riots should be a good lesson as the trouble had been the result of unfettered campaigning in the 1969 general election with public rallies staged every day throughout the country.

After the riots, the Government had no choice but to ban all public rallies to avoid further trouble.

It is quite clear some of them intend to make use of the rallies for other purposes, such as trying to undermine the ruling Barisan Nasional and its leaders and perhaps fan anti-government sentiments or to make personal attacks on their opponents.

In any case, the voters are mature enough to know which party to vote for and the majority of them would not want any proposal aimed at sowing racial discord and disturbing the peace and security being enjoyed by the people.”

What Chin failed to mention is, the racial riots erupted during a ruling party organised post-election rally and not during an opposition organised pre-election rally. Who then is detrimental to the peace and stability of this nation?

Anyway, if Malaysia is such a peaceful country and, if, according to what the ruling party claims, this peace is all due to Barisan Nasional, why would a mere thing like a public rally succeed in turning Malaysia into a war zone? If public rallies are enough to spark unrest and race riots, then Malaysia is far from peaceful. It may, on the surface, appear peaceful. However, below the surface, there is tension, distrust and dissatisfaction waiting to explode. And the only reason it cannot explode is because the government has put a gun to the peoples’ heads.

By the government’s own admission, Malaysia is a time bomb waiting to go off. But it cannot go off because the government has its hands on the trigger. However, once the government adopts a hands-off policy, like allowing public rallies, then all hell will break loose.

Malaysians should take note of this. We are reminded that May 13, the infamous race riot of 13 May 1969, can erupt again, anytime. And it is because the government has put a lid on it that it cannot happen. Therefore, no public rallies should be allowed lest the lid come off.

If this is true, then Barisan Nasional has failed miserably to bring the different races together. This is testimony to Barisan Nasional’s racial politics where it pits one race against the other, openly and blatantly.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad blames the opposition for inciting hatred. But is it not Dr Mahathir who makes anti-Jew speeches? Is it not Umno that distributes anti-Jew books at its Annual General Assembly? Is it not Umno Youth that threatens to bathe its keris in Chinese blood? Is it not Umno that threatens to burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall if the Chinese continue to talk about Chinese language?

The National Justice Party (keADILan) talks about justice for all races and the creation of a Malaysian race. And Umno calls it a traitor to the Malay race.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the minute it came into power in Kelantan in 1990, called the Hindu leaders for a meeting and offered them land to build a temple in the state – something they had been asking for over two decades but was disallowed by the previous Umno state government.

The slaughtering of pigs, which was not allowed in Kelantan under the Umno government, is now allowed since PAS came to power.

Kelantan also has the largest Thai Buddhist temple in Malaysia.

And the list goes on. And all this is testimony to the opposition’s liberal policies and Umno’s narrow-mindedness.

The real reason public rallies are not allowed is to prevent the opposition from winning the hearts and minds of all races, not that they would incite the races to hate each other. If the opposition were allowed to reach the people via public rallies, they would be able to convince the people it is fairer and that there is more justice under the opposition than under the ruling party.

The government has the TV stations, which reach 97% of the population. And the TV stations slander the opposition every hour on the hour. The opposition only has its fortnightly party newspaper that reaches 5% of the population, and it is not able to rebut this slander. Public rallies will increase the reach of the opposition, so it cannot be allowed. In fact, if the government could, it would also ban the opposition newspapers, which used to be published twice a week and now can only be published twice a month.

That is the real issue here, not that public rallies threaten the peace and stability of Malaysia, but that it would give the opposition an advantage it does not yet have, and which the ruling party more than has. In short, it would level a most unlevelled playing field.

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