The British police refused to indulge the Najib government's demand that they ban Bersih-linked protests in London during the Malaysian premier's visit.
LONDON: The massive Bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur has made Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak an embarrassing guest for the British premier and the Queen this week.
Their respective briefing teams have made both, PM David Cameron and the Queen, well aware of the issue – that Barisan Nasional has been in power for over 50 years, achieving their current status as one of the world’s longest-lasting regimes.
They have also been told that the people who have been criticising the BN regime have ended up being beaten in the streets and locked in jail without charge under the so-called Emergency Ordinance and are without access to their lawyers.
They were also told that in Malaysia people are hauled into detention and treated like “enemies of the state” for wearing the colour yellow and for politely requesting an end to electoral corruption.
It was bad enough having Rupert Murdoch turn up in the middle of the biggest scandal in years over media corruption but entertaining Najib must have been even more uncomfortable for Cameron and the Queen.
Malaysian sympathisers in London have not made it any easier for Najib.
Throughout the week Najib’s British hosts have been constantly reminded of the real nature of their guest. “Flash demos” by demonstrators have sprung outside his various key engagements.
These hardcore demonstrators weren’t going to go away easily and infuriatingly for BN, the British police were less pliant and refused to do anything to budge the demonstrators.
In fact, the local Westminster police acknowledged to the demonstrators that they are constantly pestered by the Malaysian High Commission, who have been asking for information about the locations of the protests and details of the organisers.
Najib’s administration have also tried to demand that the British police ban the protests from taking place.
But the UK is a free country and the police have politely told Najib’s people that they are not prepared to harrass citizens or remove their freedom of expression in order to spare the blushes of a visiting “dignatory”.
1 comment:
I’m sure that there are several reforms that Malaysia should undergo. Let’s at least get one thing reformed: education. As it is, there are three language streams in Malaysia. That, is, there are Malay-medium, Chinese-medium, and Tamil-medium schools currently operating in Malaysia. Then somebody decided to teach maths and science in English in all these three school systems. Next, somebody decided to flip-flop and remove the teaching of Maths and Science in English. What’s going on? They introduce English and then they remove it. There are too many flip flops.
Therefore, I read something interesting as a solution. Let me share it with you.
Firstly, lets leave the three language school system as it is.
Let’s focus on kindergarten schools. Let’s allow private kindergarten schools to have total autonomy from political intervention. If private kindergarten schools are allowed to teach the 3R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) in English, then it may solve the problem.
Hopefully, the next generation of Malaysian children will firstly go for three years to an English kindergarten. After completing a stint in the English kindergarten, next the children will enter primary school. In primary school, they have to choose between Malay, Chinese, and Tamil medium schools. Eventually, they will complete secondary school education.
These students will be more multi-lingual and therefore will be an asset to the nation in a globalizing world.
In any case, almost all the universities (both government and private) use English language text books. Therefore, we have to connect English kindergartens on the one hand with English language text books in universities on the other hand. Do you see the connection now?
In any case, it is better than flip flopping.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
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