Policing The Police

I had loads of ex-classmates from high school who went on to further their education in the United States. A few years later in the workplace, many of my co-workers had come back to Malaysia to work after graduating.

Many do stay on and work in the USA, but most of them did come back, though with moans and groans about the inefficiency of Kuala Lumpur, civil service, internet broadband and numerous other grouses.

Those who came back were the lucky ones, whether or not they know it.

They may be subject to Malaysia's village idiot brand of racism from the BN government and its stooges, especially the middle-class Chinese.

The Indians occasionally get looked down upon by the lower-class Chinese (those who think they are a bit superior than the rest, and who really, ought to be the victims of the BN government, instead of the middle-class). And a rather alarming number of under-class Indians have been killed by the police while under custody for "questioning", which, by the way, we should constantly be monitoring.

And the Malays? They're forced to conform to peer pressure and social convention on how they should dress, talk, and whom they should spend their time with.

Extremely annoying for those 3 main races - I did not go through the other races from East Malaysia because they generally fall under the Chinese and Malay categories - occasionally fatal, but for the most part, not stressful on a daily basis.

I have ranted against the BN government for this, and called Malaysia a third-world country for its miserably counter-productive mentality.

But nothing compares to the stress that African-Americans go through, living in the USA.

If you ever thought that the US was the bastion of liberty, please end that thought this very minute, for nothing is further from the truth.

Everyday, a black or brown person is harassed and abused, simply because of the colour of their skin.

In Malaysia, for the most part, the cops are able to tell what social class one comes from, based on how one dresses, talks and carries oneself.

But the white American cops seem devoid of this skill. For them, a black person - regardless of social class, income, profession - is considered a criminal. And they are treated as such.

If you were stopped once a year and questioned by the police, you would not display a defensive attitude towards being under suspicion. But if it happened almost everyday, you would grow weary and start exerting your rights.

A case in point is this black man in Minnesota who was asked to produce an ID for no reason at all.

He very clearly states that he was sitting on a public bench waiting for his children to come out of their daycare.

He was not causing any trouble at all, and was simply minding his own business.

There was absolutely no reason for him to be questioned.

I am unable to see his face because the camera does not point at him, only the female thug in uniform who is trying to interrogate him. Respectable-looking woman, but nevertheless a thug.

Based on his voice alone, I am able to tell that he is an educated man, and he has a clear purpose for being there: he is waiting for his children.

Despite explaining all this to the female officer, he is still asked to produce identification without being told what his offence was.

Take note here, that if he had indeed committed an infraction of the law, the police officer is duty-bound to inform him at this point.

She does not.

He is then accosted by a male police thug and subsequently arrested with unnecessary use of force.

Later on Facebook, the St Paul police department claim that the man was trespassing.

This is clearly bullshit as there were no signs put up, because the man verbally pointed that out and the female thug did not correct him.

Yet, the police department have brazenly posted "their side of the story" (a complete lie) and blamed a non-infraction on the victim.

At no point was the man trespassing. At no point in the video do I detect any disorderly conduct. The only obstruction of the legal process was committed by the thugs in uniform.

So why are the thugs in uniform doing this? What purpose does this serve?

You know what apartheid is? Segregation? It was alive and well until the 60s. What a depraved society.

What is even more repulsive is that the white majority does not want the black minority to have access to the same privileges that they do. So whenever a non-white person is found in a "white" area, the police are called to remove the "nuisance".

For that reason, submissively complying by producing one's identification is pointless, because they are never interested in who the black person is; otherwise, they would be observing his dress and mannerisms to assess if he was genuinely a threat.

It is all about bullying.

The United States of America is nation that is severely in decline. To be fair, it's the entire western civilisation that is nearing its end.

People have been too obsessively materialistic to concern themselves with how the police behave. And the police think they are above the law.

To call them law enforcement would be to describe them incorrectly, because they break the law, not enforce it.

A lot of Asians who want to live in the US think, "Ah well, that only happens to black people, it won't happen to me."

Think twice.

The former Chief Operating Officer of Napster, Milton Olin Jr, was killed when a police patrol car collided with the bicycle he was riding.

Olin was in his bicycle lane, but the police officer was using his computer while driving and got distracted. He ran over the man, killing him instantly.

However, he was not charged for his reckless behaviour because "prosecutors noted that a state law banning drivers from using wireless electronic devices while driving exempts police officers and other emergency professionals."

Right.

But check out what the police officer claimed at first: "Wood initially said that Olin had swerved from the bicycle lane on Mullholland Highway into the path of his patrol car."

That's a blatant lie because the district attorney's office concluded that “evidence examined in this investigation shows that this tragic collision occurred as a result of Deputy Wood crossing into the bicycle lane.”

The police officer could have stopped his car or parked at the side of the road to attend to his computer. But he didn't, and that resulted in the loss of an innocent man's life.

And the whole time, he was protected by the police department. The people who are supposed to serve and protect the citizens are protecting themselves. Woe betide those who go against them; more so if you're a black police officer.

The US of A is fast becoming a failed state. It is no longer a place to go to fulfill your dreams or raise your children.

We need to make Malaysia that place. We have awoken from our slumber and are more politically aware and sensitive.

It is now just about taking responsibility and bringing out the best in our fellow citizens, regardless of race, religion or creed.

Happy Merdeka!

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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization (HBO)

Are They Really Listening When It Comes To Oppressive Laws?

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch once said, "It’s a fallacy to suggest Malaysia needs laws that violate basic rights in order to maintain a peaceful and harmonious society. Malaysians have time and again proven themselves capable of exercising the basic democratic rights to which they are entitled. It’s time their government listened."



For Hari Malaysia today, the PM Najib promised to "abolish" or "repeal" the Internal Security Act (ISA). The question is, was he listening to the citizens he serves?

Now the ISA is the most popular of Malaysia's draconian laws. Most of the detainees are high profile politicians and other opponents of the government, along with a sprinkle of genuine terrorists.

While the ISA may not be used anymore, nothing has been said about the Emergency Ordinance which has been abused far more than any other law.

It took at least 2 weeks of candlelight vigils around Kuala Lumpur to get the government's attention. The PSM6 were in custody for over a month.

To begin with, Najib's promises are not something I take very seriously. I believe this is basically posturing for the international scene. After all, the Sydney Morning Herald appears to have bought his claims in Malaysia to abandon its harshest laws.

What the SMH also has missed is the fact that two of the laws that are purportedly being repealed are merely being replaced by two other differently-worded laws but with potentially same consequences.

So did we really gain our basic democratic rights? Has the government listened?

Strange Way Of Dealing With Refugees

I am confused.

The Malaysian government has been trying to entice Filipinos and Indonesians to become citizens of Malaysia in the hope that these migrants would vote for the BN government come the next general elections.

Personally, I don't know if this will work, but Malaysia has agreed to accept Muslim refugees from the Middle East in exchange for sending non-Muslim Myanmarese refugees to Australia.

This led me to believe that the BN administration was selecting Muslims for their vested interests.

But it looks like I was wrong.

I had not previously heard of the Uighur people of China. These people hail from Xinjiang and are of Caucasoid (European/Turkish) and Mongoloid (Chinese) ancestry.

You may be forgiven for thinking that people from China would be either Taoists or Buddhists. That was what I previously thought.

But the Uighurs are Muslims.

Only today, the BN government deported 11 Uighur people to China.

KUALA LUMPUR — A human rights group criticised Malaysia on Tuesday for sending a group of ethnic Uighurs back to China and urged an end to such deportations over fears of mistreatment and even torture.

The UN refugee agency also said it had sought access to the 11 people deported on August 18 as well as five others still in custody in Malaysia but had been denied by Malaysian authorities.

A senior Malaysian police official defended the government's actions in comments to AFP, saying the Chinese nationals, all members of the Uighur ethnic minority, were involved in a human-smuggling syndicate.

"This group has nothing to do with any political group or asylum-seekers. They are all involved in people smuggling," he said.

Announcing the deportations on Saturday, police said they had busted a Chinese people smuggling ring which was falsely trying to claim UN refugee status for its victims after smuggling them into Malaysia.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch denounced the deportations and urged they be halted, saying Uighurs faced "grave risk of torture" in China.

It also called on China to make known where the 11 deportees were.

"The treatment of these Uighurs is a litmus test for Malaysia?s commitment to basic principles of refugee protection," it said in a statement.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim minority in China's remote northwestern Xinjiang region, allege decades of political and religious repression by China.

Their anger -- and China's resulting tight security in the region -- has triggered sporadic bouts of unrest.

The deportations come amid a refugee swap arrangement between Malaysia and Australia, which has been put on hold by a Canberra court.

Rights groups moved to block the deal, citing concerns over Malaysia's record on handling refugees.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Yante Ismail said the agency had sought access to all 16 Uighurs. She said the five in detention had all previously applied for refugee status with the agency.

"We very much regret that the 11 individuals were deported without the opportunity for us to have access to them," she said in a statement.

The police official said there were no immediate plans to deport the five but that they could face criminal charges over fake Malaysian passports found on them.

The US-based Uyghur American Association called the deportations a "flagrant violation of international law" by Malaysia.

"(The deportations) follow an extremely disturbing trend of Uighurs deported from countries with strong trade and diplomatic ties to China," it said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said other countries such as Thailand and Pakistan had recently deported Uighurs back to China, adding that it revealed "the bullying hand of China".

I would derive two conclusions from this:

1. While the BN government tries to bully its Malaysian-Chinese citizens, it has a profound fear of China, with whom it has business dealings.

2. While the BN government is seeking more Muslims to form a bigger Muslim majority, it is still wary enough of increasing the Chinese population in Malaysia.

3. The BN government will happily ditch the Muslims when it suits them.

I guess all those protests against atrocities in Palestine are just grandstanding.

HRW Speaks Out Against Harrassment of M'Kini

Excerpts from Human Rights Watch:

Malaysia: Don’t Censor or Harass Independent Website

(New York) - The Malaysian government should drop its order to a popular news website to remove videos of a recent protest and of a government minister's reaction, Human Rights Watch said today.

The website Malaysiakini has refused to comply with a September 3, 2009 order by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to remove a video showing an incident where protesters in Selangor state marched with a severed cow's head to oppose the building of a Hindu temple and another in which the home minister stated that the actions were legal. The minister later reversed himself and police charged some of the protesters.

"The government wants to make the problem disappear by taking the videos off the internet," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But Malaysians have a right to see for themselves what happened and hear what was said - the government shouldn't be suppressing this information."

According to the Communication and Multimedia Commission, the videos are in violation of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which prohibits "content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person." Violations carry fines of up to RM50,000 (US$14,325) and up to a year in prison.

The commission's letter ordering Malaysiakini to remove the videos from its website stated that the videos "contain offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians."

"The government's investigation of Malaysiakini is nothing short of media harassment and it needs to stop," said Pearson. "Malaysians are entitled to know all sides of a story. It is not up to the government to approve what news is fit to air, print, or post."

I genuinely feel embarrassed for the BN government. It puts its foot in its mouth so often that the foot ought to start paying the mouth some rent for taking up permanent residence there.

It screwed up royally when it rounded up the pseudo-Muslim gangsters to protest the relocation of the temple.

UMNO probably hoped it would garner Muslim sympathy and comradeship. It did not.

Then Hishamuddin Hussein attempted to calm trouble waters by pooh-poohing the whole issue. It backfired in his face. Literally.

He was caught on tape spouting rubbish. That move earned BN an all-time political pariah status.

Muslims were quite embarrassed (the poor things) and quick to disassociate themselves from those munafik imbeciles.

So he quickly changed his tune and ordered that those protestors be arrested and tried in court. Of course, you and I know they will be out in no time at all.

But he couldn't change the video in which he was caught making a fool of himself.

The smart thing (for any other normal being) would be to lie low and lick one's wounds in quiet.

But no. He gets a running dog, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to force Malaysiakini (who videoed him and uploaded it to its website) to remove those offending videos.

That sort of stupidity can only attract a whole new level of attention.

But BN has been around for ages. They haven't learned anything thus far, and they never will.

Drop Sedition Charges Against Karpal Singh

Malaysia: Drop Sedition Charges Against Parliamentarian

(New York) - Malaysia's attorney general should immediately drop politically motivated sedition charges against Karpal Singh, a prominent lawyer and opposition member of parliament, Human Rights Watch said today. His trial is to begin on August 12, 2009. Human Rights Watch also urged the government to repeal without delay the colonial-era Sedition Act 1948, long used selectively against the government's political opponents.

On March 17, the government charged Karpal, national chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, under Section 4 (1)(b) of the Sedition Act. He is accused of using "seditious words" in a February 6 comment to journalists that the legality of a decision to return control of Perak's state government to Malaysia's ruling coalition could be questioned in court. Karpal has pleaded not guilty and is free on bail. If found guilty, Karpal faces up to three years in prison or a fine of up to RM5,000 [US$1,400] or both. As of April, 45 prosecution witnesses were due to take the stand.

"These sedition charges against Karpal are utterly baseless," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Right Watch. "This is just an excuse to remove a powerful political opponent."

Perak was one of five states won, albeit by a razor-thin majority, by opposition candidates who worked in concert to defeat the ruling National Front (Barisan Nasional or BN) coalition in the March 2008 national elections. After several Perak assembly members crossed over to join the BN in January and February 2009, BN regained a majority. Rather than dissolve the state assembly and call for new elections, Sultan Azlan Shah decided in favor of BN, prompting Karpal's call for a court hearing. Suits related to the legitimacy of the newly constituted assembly are still in contention.

This is the second time Karpal has been charged under the Sedition Act. During his 2001 defense of Anwar Ibrahim against corruption charges in 2001, Karpal stated that Anwar's failing health in detention was "due to a high-level conspiracy to poison him with arsenic." The police charged Karpal with sedition, though then-Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail later withdrew the charges.

The Sedition Act defines "seditious tendency" as, "a tendency to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against any ruler or against any government ... to raise discontent or disaffection among the subjects of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong [the Malaysian monarch] or of the ruler of any state ... (or) to question any matter, right, status, position, privilege, sovereignty or prerogative established or protected by" certain articles in the Federal Constitution.

Article 181 of the constitution provides that no ruler may be charged in his official capacity in a court of law. Karpal did not suggest that charges should be brought against the sultan but suggested that his decision was subject to judicial review. The Sedition Act states that it is not seditious to "show that any ruler has been misled or mistaken in any of his measures."

BN, which has ruled Malaysia since independence, relies on the Sedition Act as well as the Internal Security Act to repress free expression and assembly to silence and punish its critics.

Human Rights Watch urges that such laws be repealed or reviewed to conform to international standards.

"It's a fallacy to suggest Malaysia needs laws that violate basic rights in order to maintain a peaceful and harmonious society," said Pearson. "Malaysians have time and again proven themselves capable of exercising the basic democratic rights to which they are entitled. It's time their government listened."

2009 International Woman Of Courage

I always knew Malaysian women were something to be proud of. Don't get me wrong, I love Malaysian men as well (and I don't want to start naming names because there are so many great fellows, both famous and relatively unknown).

But Malaysian women have the knack for being firebrands.

Ambiga Sreenevasan has yet to be jailed (as far as I know) but she has managed to promote what is right through her influence and standing as the president of the Bar Council of Malaysia.

I swell with pride when I see her standing next to Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton to be recognised for the courage that she has displayed.

Ambiga could possibly face what Irene Fernandez has been put through for the latter's expose on human rights violations on refugees.

Just soon after becoming president of the Bar Council, she organized the “March for Justice,” (or what we call the Penguin March) in Putrajaya, calling for judicial reform and investigation into V.K. Lingam's now infamous judge-fixing video.

For her efforts, she has received hate mail, death threats, and had a Molotov cocktail thrown at her house.

She organised a forum on religion, at the risk of incurring the wrath of religious fanatics and conservative members of government. They protested at the Bar Council building and called for her arrest.

Oh, she has courage indeed.

You see, in Malaysia, we need the intellectuals to speak up and put forward their opinions. Heck, even stand up for it. It's not an easy thing to do, to speak up against the establishment.

She did it and is rightly awarded Woman Of Courage.

I applaud her recognition and support it wholeheartedly.

But really, it shouldn't be considered something extraordinary. If you and I, and people like Ambiga don't do it, we will only have ourselves to blame for not standing up to the bullies.

Irene Fernandez Acquitted

I've been reading a lot of depressing news about Malaysia.

How yoga is banned, and how homosexuals are a shame. About those 7 individuals arrested at an anti-ISA rally. And some.

But I was happy to get some really good news today. Irene Fernandez was acquitted of the politically motivated charge of “maliciously publishing false news”.

Now if you have two brain cells to rub together, you'd know that the Malaysian government does treat its migrants in an inhumane and sadistic manner. Tenaganita is not the only one documenting such treatment.

Human Rights Watch does too.

Of course, her acquittal does NOT mean the Malaysian government has decided to come to its senses. Far from it.

Prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman said the prosecution decided not to oppose the appeal because typed records from earlier court proceedings contained "systemic errors."

The errors occurred when a court official typed up the judge's handwritten notes, Shamsul said. He told the AP he would have been "quite confident of fighting the appeal" had the records been in order.

I wonder if they know exactly how stupid they sound when they say that.

But there's an idiot born everyday, and I suppose there's one who would believe it hook, line and sinker. And of course, one who would spout it.

HRW: Citizens Denied a Fair Vote

Bias in Electoral Process Favors Ruling Coalition in March 8 Poll

(New York, March 5, 2008) – Government restraints on expression, assembly and access to state media will deny Malaysians a fair vote in the March 8 general elections, Human Rights Watch said today.

The authorities’ manipulation of the electoral process appears aimed to ensure that the ruling coalition maintains its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

“Once again, elections in Malaysia are grossly unfair to the opposition,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Malaysia’s ruling coalition is too comfortable with the status quo to allow reforms that would level the playing field.”

On March 8, Malaysians will vote for the national parliament. Since 1969, the ruling Barisan Nasional, a coalition consisting of 14 parties, has held a two-thirds majority in parliament, which enables it to amend the constitution at will. Opposition parties currently hold 9.6 percent of the seats in parliament.

Freedom of expression, association and assembly

Malaysian law and practice allow free campaigning for the ruling coalition while placing severe restraints on the opposition. For instance, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahman Badawi on March 1 was able to hold a rally of 20,000 supporters. But police have repeatedly blocked attempts by opposition parties to hold election rallies by refusing to issue the permits required for any gathering of four or more people.

In November 2007, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), a loose alliance of almost 70 civil society organizations and several political parties, organized an orderly march and rally by some 40,000 Malaysians. In response, police used excessive force, including tear gas and chemical-laced water on peaceful protesters.

The government has routinely used the specter of ethnic violence to deter public demonstrations and silence government critics. On February 16, three days after Abdullah dissolved parliament, police officers used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a peaceful crowd of some 200 Malaysian Indians from the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). Hindraf has not been permitted to register as a political party, and has repeatedly been denied permits when they sought, such as on this occasion, to hold a peaceful demonstration.

“When opposition leaders and civil society groups critical of the government try to organize rallies, they are blocked at every turn,” said Pearson. “Yet the usual excuses about unruly protesters and blocked traffic are never mentioned when the ruling coalition wants to get its supporters out on the streets. ”

The government has long threatened opposition politicians with provisions of the broadly worded Sedition Act. In addition, since the draconian Printing Presses and Publications Act places the burden of proof on defendants in defamation cases, opposition parties are self-censoring for fear of being hit hard by libel suits if they critique the establishment.

Curbs on the media

Government interference in media reporting is not new to Malaysia, but has become even more contentious during election campaigning. An election observer in Malaysia told Human Rights Watch that monitoring of state television and radio had turned up no opposition candidate presence. The state media are the two most important avenues for candidates to communicate their messages to voters, particularly those in rural areas.

In late January, Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency reported that Deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid conceded the lack of fairness in the state media. He said that the ministry would need to study “whether allowing opposition leaders to campaign through Radio Television Malaysia in the next general election will benefit the people.”

Freedom of the media is further hampered since all private free-to-air television channels are owned by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a founding member of the ruling coalition and Malaysia’s largest political party.

Because Malaysian law requires all publications to obtain permits to operate on a yearly basis, the state can easily shut down those that are critical of the government. The minister of internal security, who is currently also the prime minister, has discretion to grant, revoke or suspend any publication prejudicial to public order, morality or security, or that is likely to alarm public opinion. Newspapers such as the Tamil language daily, Makkai Osai, are self-censoring to avoid being shut down.

On February 15, the online Malaysiakini site reported that the Chinese-language Oriental Daily editor issued an election-related “guideline” to staff. The guideline suggested the newspaper should avoid placing opposition news prominently, mentioning the opposition’s campaign to block the Barisan Nasional’s goal of a two-thirds majority, or discussing any disputed issues in Chinese communities. The Oriental Daily has had difficulty renewing its license in recent years.

“The Malaysian government has ensured that state radio and TV only cover the ruling coalition and that newspapers report on the opposition at their own risk,” said Pearson.

Irregularities in electoral roll registration and certification of election results

Irregularities in the voter rolls and other elements of the electoral process raise concerns that the government will seek to manipulate votes in closely fought districts. While some individual problems may be simple error, they highlight the need for effective and impartial monitoring by the Election Commission and national election monitors.

Bersih, the coalition for clean and fair elections, has documented severe irregularities in the voter rolls. It found that in several areas a large number of voters were suddenly transferred en masse from one district to another. According to Bersih, some voters discovered that their electoral registration was changed without their knowledge to locales outside their home districts.

In one case, a voter found that her registration had been changed back to a residence she had not occupied for 14 years. Others have found that despite registering a change of address some time ago, they have not been reassigned to polling stations reflective of their new addresses. Still others, who had never registered, found that their names mysteriously appeared on the electoral roll. One voter in Penang went to register, only to find that she allegedly had done so when she was 17 months old. Some voters who used the mail to register to vote discovered registration procedures had not been completed in time for them to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election.

Other anomalies reported by Bersih involve multiple registrations, in one case 40 individuals are registered at a single address. In other cases, family members living together are listed at different addresses. Other registrations use nonexistent addresses. Almost 9,000 voters who were born more than 100 years ago (two were reported to be 128 years old) are still enrolled to vote, raising suspicions about phantom voting. No matter what the offense, the voter roll, once gazetted, cannot be challenged in court.

Bersih is also concerned with postal voting, limited to police and army personnel, and overseas students. More than 221,000 voters use postal votes, but the tallied votes are not necessarily counted among those from voters’ home districts. Although the Army Div 2 Base in Georgetown, Penang, houses only a security guard, some 500 voters are registered to that address. A lack of transparency raises questions about how votes are assigned, including concerns that they may be arbitrarily allocated to benefit districts where the vote is close.

“Voters in Malaysia deserve a chance for every vote to count and count equally,” said Pearson. “Given the vast array of anomalies in the electoral rolls, this looks increasingly unlikely.”

Human Rights Watch urged the Malaysian government to protect the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of expression and assembly for all parties. The government should not use laws to unfairly penalize opposition politicians, and it should ensure that all political parties have equal access to state media. Human Rights Watch called on national election monitors to thoroughly investigate any claims of electoral fraud and irregularities, and to provide for greater transparency by posting vote tallies outside polling stations before votes are transferred to the Election Commission.

Cultural Conundrums

By Jacqueline Ann Surin
The Other Malaysia

‘PLEASE do not use your handphone on the bus’, the pre-recorded voice extolled. I expected the voice to add, ‘It may cause technical interference with the bus’. Instead, we were told not to use our handphones ‘because it will annoy your neighbours’. Welcome to Japan where preventing individual distress appears paramount and everything from the toilet seat to personal behaviour is regulated towards that end.

I arrived in Tokyo on the night of Dec 9 with a fellow Malaysian for an international conference, and it didn’t take us long to appreciate what an organised and orderly society we had flown into.

The most impressive example of this was how the buses that departed from the airport terminal kept so exactly to their schedule. We had to wait 45 minutes before our bus arrived and in between that time, there must have been at least five other buses that came and left, with the precision of a Swiss watch, or maybe I should say Japanese precision.

Hard not to appreciate that kind of efficiency when I had just disembarked from a Malaysia Airlines flight where the stewards took more than an hour to figure out that they could not fix my video screen; my leg rest wouldn’t stay in place; and my seat wouldn’t recline.

Here in Tokyo, the toilet seat is pre-warmed so my bottom doesn’t seize up when I sit on the throne, and flushing sounds and a deodoriser emanate effortlessly from the commode. I can understand the deodorant but am not sure if the periodic flushing sounds do anything for my bodily functions.

Still, I am in Japan and the purpose of the conference I am attending is about moving towards an East Asian community ‘beyond cross-cultural diversity’. And as Professor Yasushi Kikuchi from the Institute of Asia Pacific Studies at Waseda University explained at our orientation session, undergoing ‘cultural struggle’ can result in resilience.

‘There is your own culture. And in Japan , you will experience Japanese culture. This process of cultural struggle will result in a third culture’, he said, adding that it is this that enables one to survive in any given situation. ‘You will know how to understand different cultures’.

Kikuchi added that Japanese society was actually heterogenous. ‘But they say we are homogenous so that it’s easier to control’, he added, obliquely referring to politicians. Within the context of control, however, it may actually be useful to understand homogeneity not just in terms of culture. In the Malaysian context, it would seem that there is also a growing tendency towards enforcing a homogeneity of ideas and values.

For example, exercising freedom of assembly and expression in a country that is supposed to be a democracy is viewed by the present administration as opposition that must be stopped.

The arrest of eight people, on the day I was flying into Japan, at a peaceful march to uphold freedom of assembly and mark International Human Rights Day is also bemusing because this is the same administration that signed, in November this year, an Asean Charter that, among others, aims to promote human rights.

What seems to be happening, for me, is a clash of cultures. While civil society groups try to push for a culture of openness and respect for dissent, the government remains strapped to the notion of a monoculture where everyone must think and behave in the way that the government wants.

Hence, the public expression of dissent is seen as defiance against the authorities that can lead to disorder, a threat to national security, or worse still, somehow linked to ‘terrorist’ groups or a Western agenda bent on destabilising Malaysia .

Thus far, it would also seem that the government has resorted to a homogenous set of conventionally harsh responses when dealing with differing views, including the use of tear gas, water canons, propaganda, arrests and the threat and use of the Internal Security Act.

But new strategies are clearly required to manage a heterogeneity of values and ideals that may not be reflective of the official mindset.

For example, the International Herald Tribune (IHT) ran on its front page on Dec 10 a report with pictures that had as its headlines: ‘A campaign of brutality: Foreign labourers hunted down in Malaysia’. The abuse of migrant workers and asylum seekers by Rela may not be viewed as a human rights violation by Kuala Lumpur and may not find its way into the Malaysian press, but there’s little that can stop the news from making the headlines elsewhere.

Notable, too, was the news item about the Dec 9 arrests in Kuala Lumpur on the second page of the IHT. While in Malaysia the government may think it is able to control what expressions are allowed, including through strict media controls, increasingly these controls are meaningless.

Homogeneity may indeed make control easy. But if heterogeneity is increasingly synonymous with resilience, those in power might do well to rethink their strategies and responses to opposing views.

Human Rights Watch On The BERSIH Rally

Malaysia: Allow Rally for Electoral Reform

Risk of Misuse of Force by Authorities Against Peaceful Protestors

(New York, November 9, 2007) – Police in Kuala Lumpur should permit a public rally and march organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (known as Bersih) to proceed as planned on Saturday November 10, Human Rights Watch said today. New elections, although not mandated before May 2009, are expected to take place early in 2008.

“The grounds for refusing the rally are nonsense,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “If Malaysia wants to count itself a democracy, it can begin by upholding constitutional guarantees of free speech and assembly. The way the system works now, only the ruling coalition can get its messages out.”

Current Malaysian law bans public gatherings of more than five persons without a permit. Kuala Lumpur’s police chief has warned the public that they risk arrest, fines and jail if they participate in the Bersih rally and march, adding that roadblocks and road closures would be in place. Police plans also include the deployment of some 4,000 officers and checks on all cars coming in from outside Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s inspector-general of police took the unusual step of reiterating the warnings.

“Organizers of the Bersih rally only want to create a level playing field for all in the coming elections, yet they are being denied the basic right of expressing their concerns in a peaceful demonstration,” said Adams. “Prime Minister Badawi claims to be a reformer, but when it comes to holding onto power, he and his party make one set of rules for themselves and another for everyone else.”

Approximately 70 nongovernmental organizations and opposition political parties have asked the government to implement a series of reforms to address widespread election irregularities. Bersih’s initial request to assemble in Merdeka Square in downtown Kuala Lumpur to march to the national palace to deliver a memorandum to the king was denied on the grounds that the organization was not a registered body, that City Hall had not approved use of the square, that the square would be otherwise occupied, that the march would inconvenience drivers, and that the march could affect public order.

The organizers disputed each of these points. Although Bersih is not a registered organization, the participating groups are registered. Organizers have pledged that Merdeka Square would be cleared in plenty of time for the subsequent event, and said that they chose this long holiday weekend to inconvenience as few drivers as possible. To address public safety concerns, organizers have asked participants to refrain from carrying anything that could compromise the organizers’ peaceful intent and have assured the police that 600 volunteers in addition to those from participating political parties would be on hand to ensure a nonviolent and safe event. Observers from neutral organizations have also been recruited.

Malaysia’s parliamentary elections have been characterized by vote buying, the use of public resources by the ruling parties, and gerrymandering. The Election Commission has been accused of bias. Bersih has asked that indelible ink be used to prevent voters from casting more than one vote, removal of alleged phantom voters from the electoral rolls, elimination of the widespread use of absentee ballots by government workers, and access to state-controlled media by all political parties. To date, the Election Commission has only agreed to using indelible ink.

“The government should not be afraid to allow Malaysians to raise very basic issues about the fundamental right to vote in Merdeka Square,” said Adams. “What is a democracy without public rallies by all involved, including civil society and opposition parties?”