Condolences Over The Death Of Freedom & Democracy

This country is screwed three ways to Sunday.

You do not manhandle lawyers and peaceful protestors and trash up private property on Human Rights Day of all days.

Of course, the phrase "Human Rights" itself is sheer blasphemy if used in Malaysia. What freaking rights??

Polytikus sums it up:

- No free speech.
- No free and fair elections.
- No proportionate representation.
- No free press.
- No freedom to assemble.
- No equal rights.
- No freedom of religion.
- No right to life, liberty and security of person.
- No freedom from torture or from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
- No fair trial.
- No freedom from discrimination and equal protection of the law.

Yes, woman. There is NO reason to celebrate.

And like Susan Loone says, "we are not on the road to dictatorship, we have already arrived." Heartbreaking, but so absolutely true.

At some point, we may be forced to ask ourselves, "When and how did we let this happen?" but for now, it's time to get down to the crunch.

Get out your stationery, folks. It's time to write letters.

I found a very good sample at the Suaram site:

[Letterhead of your organisation]

Prime Minister of Malaysia
Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Prime Minister's Office Malaysia
Perdana Putra Building,
Federal Government Administrative Centre,
62502 PUTRAJAYA,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Tel: + 60 3 8888 6000
Fax: + 60 3 8888 3444

Dear Sir,

Re: Continued Assault on Freedom of Assembly - 8 Arrested in Lawyers’ March

We are writing to express our outrage over your government’s latest round of assault on the freedom of assembly. On 9 December 2007, eight individuals were arrested by the police for attending a peaceful march intended to celebrate the International Human Rights Day, a day celebrated across the globe, including United Nations.

We question the need to resort to such actions, especially when the organisers of this peaceful march had tried to negotiate and shown willingness to cooperate with the police. We view this as yet another attempt by your government to intimidate Malaysian citizens from participating in any form of public assembly.

We demand that all those arrested be released immediately and unconditionally. We further demand that your government stop the assault on freedom of assembly. We condemn the repeated threats to use the ISA and the ridiculous charges pressed against demonstrators recently.

We strongly urge you to stop shaming Malaysia, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. We would like to remind you that freedom of assembly is guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.


Yours sincerely,

[Name]

I appreciate that we're not a nation that writes letters. We never dissent. We rarely protest publicly. In the name of peace and stability we have kept our mouth shut. And at what price?

The price of FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY.

And the idiot who sits in the Prime Minister's seat has the nerve to op-ed The Wall Street Journal on the topic of democracy. He's not even qualified to say the word!!

Nathaniel Tan also shares my penchant for dissecting articles and pieces. Go read his take on "Malaysia’s Democracy Is Strong".

Be prepared to share our common disgust.