From Rama Ramanathan, via e-mail
Umno-BN has begun the process of railroading into law a Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly Act ((ROFA)) – which they are calling the Peaceful Assembly Act (PA 2011). ROFA is patently about further limiting the avenues for people to provide public, proportionate feedback to national leaders.
Umno-BN’s reasons for the Act are obvious: thanks to the Reformasi, Hindraf, Abolish ISA, VT Lingam and Bersih street protests, the warts in the Umno-BN government’s autocratic, patronage-based form of government have been glaringly exposed; therefore, Umno-BN reasons, street protests must be banned. (I do not have space to discuss the role of protests in publicising the Perak constitutional crisis.)
Public outrage over the wrongsdone to Anwar Ibrahim – including selective, false prosecution and witness tampering – prompted many Reformasi street protests.
The result was the breakaway of a significant portion of Umno and the formation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and Pakatan Rakyat, the Opposition Alliance. Street protests were one of the tools used to reveal the abuse of power by Umno princes – who can forget the charges against Anwar were amended multiple times?
The results of the Hindraf street protest include Thaipusam becoming a national holiday and Umno-BN’s loss of it’s two-thirds majority in the 2008 General Election. The consequences of this are enormous: the presence of a significant opposition in state assemblies and in parliament has made ‘tough questions’ more frequent and has revealed much embarrassing information about Umno-BN.
The abolish ISA (Internal Security Act) street protests brought into the public eye the abuses of the ISA. More people learned that people are often detained for political reasons, on fictitious charges. One example: Hindraf leaders were falsely accused of being agents of Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers.
The VT Lingam street protest revealed to the common man that his perceptions of the judiciary are also shared by lawyers. And, it helped the public see that not all lawyers are as bad as they are made out to be – the march revealed there are some upright lawyers. As I said to one lawyer after the march, a criteria many now use for selecting lawyers is “did he or she join the VT Lingam march?”
The Bersih street protests have resulted in the formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee – a most rare event in Malaysia. If not for the Bersih street protest, the public would have a lot less knowledge of the Election Commission, how it is supposed to work, how it has actually worked and how it proposed to continue. It’s use by the government to manipulate votes and voters is now public knowledge.
I have focused on street protests because these were previously permitted under the Police Act, but are now expressly forbidden under the Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly Act (ROFA), which defines a street protest thus:
“street protest” means an open air assembly which begins with a meeting at a specified place and consists of walking in a mass march or rally for the purpose of objecting to or advancing a particular cause or causes;”
Article 2 (a) of ROFA has this to say about street protests:
“A person commits an offence if he organises or participates in a street protest.”
There are many other things wrong with the Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly Act. These include prohibiting non-citizens from organizing or participating in assemblies and bringing or admitting persons 15 years or younger to assemblies.
I fail to see why foreigners should not participate in protests which draw attention to their exploitation by persons in power, e.g. police and immigration officers who collude in the trade in humans; employers and agents who make false promises and/or abuse their (foreign) workers, etc. I also fail to see why parents should not bring their children to protests: PAS members often bring their children to ceramahs.
My family and friends are wondering if this will be the last roar for Umno-BN. We are committing to participate actively in GE13 to expose and minimize cheating in the next election, and to help remind all voters about the arrogance, belligerence and corruption of Umno-BN. To us, Umno-BN’s unholy haste in enacting ROFA is the brazen challenge of a beast. Will this be the beast’s last roar?
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