It's a pity the illiberal Malaysian government, until recently, used such sweeping police powers - since boasting its police and other intelligence is among the world's best - to root out Islamic terrorists and fascists who had holed up in Malaysia for more than a decade and who had used Malaysia as the regional center for their cowardly acts. It's far easier for the government to deploy state-terror on political dissidents, especially these days when the police are used to doing the ruling party's political dirty work. Moreover, pusillanimous state action is easily justified and legitimated nowadays by the cover of the war against terrorism, and backed by repressive laws.
Malaysia has learned little from history, including its own. And most UMNO members either remain blissfully complacent or ignorant of increasingly ugly political developments or they are scared by ruthless state power. And that's just how UMNO and the government like it - rule by law. The latest Hindraf 5 detained under ISA surprises given previous crackdowns on political opponents and dissidents since the race riots of May 13, 1969. May 13 institutionalized, probably forever, the racial codification of Malaysian politics. It also entrenched a reworked bargaining arrangement among political representatives of the three main ethnic communities by which "consensus" is reached on policy matters. But all these have only bastardized notions and practices of justice, freedom and equality.
Abuse of power has become a fundamental part of the Malaysian state system, and repressive laws mete out oppression by which successive regimes have governed the nation in the name of Malaysian democracy - one that is only as good as the valueless five-year cycle of general elections amid charges of gerrymandering and voting frauds. Democracy, freedom and justice died in 1969. The image of Malaysia's economic successes - rising national income and export-oriented industrialism - belie the dark underbelly of unequal politics and socio-economic development, and disguise a litany of power abuse by the political elite and the ruling class.
Since 1969, human-rights abuses by successive Malaysian governments have been rife. Press freedom was among its early victims. So was Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, then the chief nemesis of the Malay right-wing nationalist Mahathir Mohamad. Although press freedom was later relaxed to allow the growth of media outlets, their owners consistently exercised self-censorship as part of the new deal. In Mahathir's time, mainstream media is owned and controlled either by sections of the political elite or by its business cronies.
It's nonsense that UMNO should fear a letter written by a reader. So what really frightens UMNO? To be sure, it fears a growing backlash against the government by educated Malay and non-Malay voters, many of whom, in various ways, could easily influence other voters, particularly in ethnic-party heartlands. Already, one of the ruling coalition's partners, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), is deeply split by protracted brawling and Chinese voters have punished the party by backing the opposition parties, i.e. pakatan rakyat.
None of the mainstream media is willing to run hard-hitting and investigative stories, exposing the rise in government shenanigans after the late-1990s economic crisis. Disgusted by the mainstream media's gutless journalism, and their status as no more than government mouthpieces aimed at dumbing-down Malaysians,most educated Malaysians and others have turned to internet for their sources, alternative media. Malaysia's press freedom was shot to pieces a long time ago, but what has truly been shredded here, once again, is Malaysia's image abroad and at home.
PEOPLE'S POWER
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