We would like to know what S K Devamany meant by “we have to see what type of people( Al Jazeera/ 25 Nov)came for the assembly” Is he talking about class , caste or race.
Either way the statement is uncalled for and smacks of racism,this coming from a MIC parliamentarian. This is why we Indians are in such a horrible state. It’s clear the MIC is no more relevant. We should unite and send a strong message to the UMNO led BN.
Come join us STOP THE ROT- Vote for Change.
There is a good statement by Parti Sosialis Malaysia [HERE]
Media Release24 November 2007
BERSIH Condemns Crackdown on HINDRAF Leaders and Planned Rally
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) condemns the arrest of Hindu Rights Action Front (HINDRAF) leaders (two of whom were later freed on bail) under the Sedition Act and the police prohibition of the planned HINDRAF rally on Sunday. Both actions are clear violation of key civil liberties and basic freedoms guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
BERSIH stresses that when citizens want to peacefully assemble, the police’s responsibility is to ensure order and security, and not to stop the assembly. The roadblocks set up to stop both the BERSIH rally three weeks ago and the coming HINDRAF assembly which cause massive traffic jams, inconvenience and economic losses are completely unnecessary and unjustifiable.
The Government should instead do some soul-searching to look into the causes of such intense discontent amongst marginalized Indian Malaysians. Suppressing or demonizing such discontents will only harm rather than help the nation-building process.
BERSIH’s defence of HINDRAF’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly is entirely on principled grounds. For the record, HINDRAF is not an endorsee of BERSIH and its coming rally has no connection with BERSIH. A coalition of 70 organizations from all cultural, ideological and geographical backgrounds, BERSIH champions political reform for the benefit of all Malaysians regardless of creed and class.
BERSIH believes the marginalization of communities, like the Indian working class, is largely the result of a flawed electoral process which has resulted in unresponsive and irresponsible governments at federal, state and local levels. Joining forces with other Malaysians to demand for democratization would serve their interests better than a communally-articulated cause which can be easily demonized by the state.
Coalition For Clean And Fair Elections (BERSIH)
4A Jalan Sepadu, Taman United, Off Jalan Klang Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (03) 79806571 Fax: (03) 79802697 URL: www.bersih.org Email: info@bersih.org
Aliran is concerned about the arrests of leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) - P Uthayakumar, P Waythamoorthy and V Ganapathy Rao – ahead of a planned gathering on Sunday, 25 November at the British embassy.
Many Malaysians are likely to view the police action as being politically motivated.
The restraining order from a magistrate’s court obtained on a Friday is unprecedented and does not give the affected party time to challenge it or set it aside. It is obvious that these actions are aimed at blocking Sunday’s assembly.
It is also ironical that the people put in charge of law and order should be creating chaos and making the lives of Malaysians miserable. This is what the police are doing in KL and the surrounding districts with their road blocks and blockades.
Through their actions, many perceive the police as being partisan and playing a political role to protect the interests of the Barisan Nasional. They are bent on denying any opportunity that could reveal to Malaysians that the number of those with grievances is far larger than what we have been led to believe.
The police should have given the organisers the permit they had requested and then played a low-key role in helping to control traffic and maintain law and order.
The Big 10/11 demonstration, in spite of the mammoth crowd involved, was an example of an orderly, peaceful gathering that was carried out responsibly. After the petition was handed over to the palace, the organisers’ team even cleared the debris and made sure that the roads were free from any rubbish.
This Sunday’s gathering is not a demonstration but a peaceful gathering in front of the British Embassy to hand in a petition addressed to the Queen bearing 100,000 signatures. The people who are proposing to assemble are not rabble-rousers. On the contrary, they appear to be marginalised people who have lost faith in the political process.
The BN government should respect the democratic rights to freedom of assembly and of expression. It must not suppress these rights through the use of oppressive, undemocratic and violent tactics.
Aliran Executive Committee
23 November 2007
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
November 22. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia –
I support HINDRAF’s right to peaceful demonstration and therefore reiterate my appeal to the Royal Malaysian Police to approve a permit for their rally to take place on 25 November 2007. The right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the Malaysian Constitution and the November 10 BERSIH rally has demonstrated conclusively that the Malaysian people can act responsibly and in accordance with the best traditions of civil society.
However I must appeal to HINDRAF to consider a more balanced and responsible approach to addressing its grievances, which have been incorrectly attributed to the Constitution, and in particular Article 153. HINDRAF’s complaints should be directed towards the corrupt UMNO-led BN coalition government that is guilty of serious abuses of power and which continues to marginalise and neglect the plight of poor Indians, and has also failed to take into account the problems of all Malaysians, irrespective of race, colour or religion.
The HINDRAF movement is symptomatic of the fundamental problems that remain entrenched in our country and to stoke the flames of racism would only exacerbate racial tensions and animosity among Malaysians.
Malaysians of conscience who are committed to reforming this nation must recognise that a viable opposition is essential and now is the time to support it. For the pro-reform parties in society to work together effectively, they must find common ground, be open to communication and collaboration, and resist the temptation to scapegoat other races for their problems and frustrations.
Divided our voice is weak. But united and enlightened, we can together build a nation that we all can be truly be proud of, and one in which we can live in peace and harmony.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
*******************************************************************************
November 22. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia -
Saya menyokong hak HINDRAF untuk berhimpun secara aman dan ingin mengulangi rayuan saya kepada Polis DiRaja Malaysia untuk memberikan permit agar perhimpunan mereka dapat berlangsung pada 25 November 2007. Hak untuk berhimpun secara aman telah termaktub di dalam Perlembagaan Malaysia dan Perhimpunan Aman Bersih telah membuktikan bahawa rakyat Malaysia dapat bertindak secara bertanggungjawab sesuai dengan amalan masyarakat madani.
Tetapi saya saya menyeru kepada HINDRAF agar mereka mengambil pendekatan yang lebih sederhana dan bertanggungjawab di dalam menyuarakan ketidakpuashatian mereka, khususnya di dalam soal Perlembagaan, khususnya Perkara 153. HINDRAF sepatutnya menumpukan perhatian mereka kepada kerajaan BN yang bertanggungjawab di atas salahguna kuasa yang telah menindas kaum India yang miskin, dan juga pada masa yang sama gagal menyelesaikan masalah semua rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum, warna kulit ataupun agama.
Gerakan HINDRAF menggambarkan masalah asas yang terus menular di negara kita dan membakar api perkauman yang hanya mengeruhkan lagi ketegangan kaum dan permusuhan sesame rakyat Malaysia..
Rakyat Malaysia terus komited untuk melaksanakan pembaharuan di negara ini mesti sedar bahawa pembangkang yang berwibawa adalah penting untuk Malaysia dan masanya telah tiba untuk menyokong pembangkang. Parti-parti yang menyokong Reformasi mesti bekerjasama secara efektif, dan menekankan isu-isu bersama, terus bekerjsama dan mengelakkan menyalahkan kaum lain untuk masalah mereka.
Apabila kita berpecah, suara kita lemah. Tetapi bersatu, kita boleh hidup secara rukun dan aman damai di negara yang boleh kita banggakan bersama.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:32pm IST
By Mark Bendeich
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is living under an effective state of emergency, an EU envoy said on Tuesday, after police used tear gas and water cannon at the weekend to break up the biggest anti-government protest in a decade.
“Today, this country still lives under emergency,” the European Commission’s envoy to Malaysia, Thierry Rommel, told Reuters by telephone on the last day of his mission to Malaysia.
Rommel’s remarks, extraordinarily blunt for a diplomat, chime with a chorus of criticism from opposition parties and some non-government groups about the way the government handled the protest, which it called an illegal assembly of troublemakers.
Police had set up road blocks around the capital to prevent protesters converging on Kuala Lumpur for Saturday’s rally, but despite these measures and heavy rain, around 10,000 people thronged the city centre to call for electoral reform.
Police later moved in with tear gas and water cannons, which fired jets of water laced with a chemical irritant, to break up the crowd. There were no reports of any serious violence.
Rommel, who has spent four and a half years in Malaysia, said many Malaysians felt that their voices were not being heard and agreed that the electoral system should be reformed.
“It’s not a secret that elections are not fair,” he said, noting complaints from electoral reform group Bersih, organiser of Saturday’s protest, that election campaigns were too short and that the media was biased toward government campaigning.
“There’s a significant part of the population that feels their voice is not really heard because of the way elections are managed,” he added. “They feel locked out.”
The Belgian noted that several emergency-style laws were still in use, such as the Emergency Ordinance, born in 1969 to deal with race riots, and the colonial-era Internal Security Act (ISA). Both allow detention for years without trial.
None of these powers were used to quell Saturday’s protest, and the ISA has not been used against opposition politicians and activists for several years. But the chief minister of central Pahang state, a member of the main ruling party, has said the ISA should be used if necessary to deal with future protests.
“They (emergency laws) all very clearly establish the legal framework for the executive to take measures in cases of unrest — as the executive defines them,” Rommel said.
PAINTING AN UGLY PORTRAIT
Rommel, a career diplomat, is not new to controversy in Malaysia. He created a storm in June when he gave a speech likening Malaysia’s affirmative- action policy to a trade barrier.
That remark brought a swift backlash and formal protest from the government. The trade minister even complained publicly that Rommel had an attitude problem, and his name started to disappear from the government’s invitation lists.
But Rommel, who spoke to Reuters on condition that his comments be published after his departure later on Tuesday, said he was unrepentant about his criticisms and denied he was trying to superimpose Western values onto Malaysia.
He said Malaysia’s “Bumiputra” policy of affirmative action, which favours majority ethnic Malays, distorted trade because it allowed the government to award state contracts to Malay businesses without clear, competitive tender procedures.
It also fostered corruption, he added.
“The extension of Bumiputra-based discrimination and preference in public procurement — which is massive in the Malaysian economy — has worked to the disadvantage of foreign players in particular and has become a vehicle for officially acknowledged corruption.. .,” Rommel said.
“It is public knowledge that local Malay vested interests, with powerful political or administration connections, want to see this mechanism maintained.”
By Philip Bowring International Herald Tribune
Monday, November 12, 2007
Malaysia is in a political cul-de-sac, resulting in an erosion of national institutions and the entrenchment of corruption. Recent events show that awareness of these problems is growing, but Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is politically too feeble to implement his good intentions, increasing the difficulty of reconciling the interests of the Malay/Muslim majority with the non-Muslim Chinese, Indian and indigenous groups that make up 45 percent of the population.
Public disquiet and Abdullah’s own weakness were on display in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday when some 40,000 people, headed by the leaders of the three opposition parties and including former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and representatives of a wide range of NGOs, defied a government ban to march to the palace of the king, the titular head of state, to petition for clean and fair elections.
This peaceful multiethnic event followed an equally unprecedented speech two weeks earlier by Sultan Azlan Shah, a respected former chief law officer who is also one of the nation’s nine hereditary rulers.
Azlan referred to a loss of confidence in the judiciary as a result of questionable appointments and judgments perceived to be driven by politics and money. He noted that its once high reputation had sunk dramatically, quoting a recent World Bank survey. Azlan is believed to be behind a revolt by the sultans against approving - normally a rubber stamp process - the appointment as chief justice of a legal adviser to the governing party with little experience on the bench.
Among current cases that have raised questions about the legal system is the conduct of the trial of Razak Baginda, a close associate of Defense Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and two of Najib’s bodyguards for the murder of Baginda’s former mistress. Baginda was closely involved in arms deals with France.
The publicity given to the Azlan speech and the Baginda trial point to the greater openness of Malaysia under Abdullah compared with his authoritarian predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad. But though Mahathir was much-criticized for politicizing the judiciary and institutionalizing money politics, he was able to get things done. Abdullah, on the other hand, is seen to have largely - though not entirely - failed to deliver on his promises of cleaner government.
The fault lies less with his personality than with the structure of politics. Abdullah argues that the ballot box and Parliament are the places for political action, not street demonstrations. However, neither is likely to deliver change while race-based politics ensures continuation of the 50-year rule by the United Malays National Organization, which feeds off the economic privileges that the Malays accord themselves.
To keep the loyalty of Malay voters UMNO has both to outflank the Parti Islam and to divert attention from the enrichment of a small Malay elite at the expense of the Malays. Parti Islam is prone to stomach-churning speeches about Malay dominance and hypocritical displays of Islamic fervor that offend Malaysia’s plural reality and its secular Constitution.
Nothing can change as long as most non-Malays continue to grudgingly support UMNO rule for fear that the Parti Islam alternative would be worse, or while the non-Malay capitalist class remains wealthy enough to pay tribute to a Malay elite. In its own behavior this elite is liberal and internationalist, but for political purposes encourages the lower-income Malays to think in communal ways.
Judging by their attendance at the rally on Saturday, lower-income Malays may be becoming disillusioned with policies that mostly benefit the elite. But UMNO’s grip is strong.
Abdullah might in principle want to reform UMNO, bring in more of the Malay professional middle classes who rely on their own abilities rather than the patronage system, and give more senior government jobs to non-Malays. But he is proving to be a prisoner of the party, its money politics, its dynastic tendencies and its desire to occupy the higher reaches of the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the many quasi-government businesses.
Meanwhile, for all their ability to join together in a demonstration against the government, the two largest opposition parties - Parti Islam and the mainly Chinese Democratic Action Party - are at either end of the race/religion spectrum. The multiracial middle ground now occupied by Anwar’s party has thus far had limited appeal.
None of this may seems to matter too much when the economy is expanding, thanks to record prices for oil, palm oil and other exports. But income inequality is bad and getting worse. Malaysia’s political stability may be threatened the next time there is a recession, and there is reason to worry about Malaysia’s ability to become a developed country when its institutions are corrupted by a stagnant, race-based political system that may have outlived its time.
EXCO (Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri) Selangor
Health, Plantation Wokers & Poverty and Caring Government
