February 27 - A Big Day For Malaysia And Racism

On the 25th of November 2007, a bunch of relatively unknown activists took to the streets of KL.

They were severely abused as the government went no-holds-barred on trying to quell their voice of dissent.

I lost count of the number of times they were sprayed with chemical-laced water, much less fired with tear-gas.

I had mixed feelings about this group; unable to decide if they were extremist or if they had legitimate concerns.

This time, their cause is straight forward and legitimate. It is a walk against RACISM - not specific to any race or creed.

And tomorrow, on the 27th of February 2011, people from all walks of life will come together again to speak out against the use of the novel 'Interlok' for school examinations and also against government-propagated racism in general.

It won't be a walk in the park, I assure you. The government is understandably nervous.

Protests in the Middle East have toppled regimes so they will take no chances. Instead, they will come down hard on the planned gathering.

And yet, coming down hard on these peaceful protesters in 2007 led to widespread international attention and managed to fuel the anger of otherwise apathetic citizens.

Even now, Human Rights Watch has issued a statement to the home affairs minister to allow the march to go on as planned.

"Malaysian government opposition to peaceful marches results in three big losers: the rights to free expression, freedom of association, and peaceful assembly," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The home affairs minister should respect Malaysia's international legal obligations and permit the march to proceed, and the organizers should ensure that the march is orderly and peaceful."

It would be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow, since it is expected that Perkasa and other deplorable elements of UMNO will also be present to cause trouble.