The 'Janji Ditepati' theme has left the people
confused, wondering why Merdeka Day is being misused to achieve
objectives that go against the grain of 'independence'.
COMMENT
There
is nothing more precious than “independence”, be it that of a nation or
of self. In this respect, Malaysia has yet to savour both, as evident
from events of not too long ago.
The 55 years of Merdeka or freedom from British rule have yet to
teach the leaders of this country a thing or two about not taking
independence for granted.
The theme for this year’s independence day celebration is “Janji
Ditepati”, one which has been condemned by the opposition and even the
public as it gives no hint of the significance of Aug 31, the date when
seven chants of “Merdeka” reverberated at the city’s Royal Selangor Club
field in 1957.
As far as the thinking person is concerned, this year’s theme smacks
of a political agenda, a harbinger of the coming general election. The
“Janji Ditepati” theme has also left the people confused, wondering why
Merdeka Day is being misused to achieve objectives that go against the
grain of independence.
In the face of such frustrations, the Barisan Nasional government
celebrates Merdeka Day today, hardly fazed that its trickeries have left
the people unhappy.
If that is the fate that has befallen Aug 31, why then blame the
people for hitherto not being enthusiastically patriotic in
commemorating the country’s independence day?
Can the BN leaders give the people a reason to believe in “Merdeka”
and why Aug 31 deserves their utmost attention, instead of being looked
forward to merely for its PH (public holiday) status?
Merdeka lost in political cesspool
The date for the next general election has yet to be determined by
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration, but the desperation in
wanting to win big time in the 13th general election has left BN
attempting desperate measures, the latest being the “Janji Ditepati”
propaganda.
The move to drag political pursuits into a historical event has
earned the BN government brickbats but as always, BN refused to pay heed
to the rakyat’s dissatisfaction.
Seen from a bigger picture, Merdeka Day is lost in a political
cesspool created by BN. A sad day indeed when Malaysia’s independence is
remembered through the “lip services” paid by the federal government.
Five decades later, the people are left wondering just for whom the
Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day are meant for. Promises unkept, the plight
of the poor and needy dismissed and fundamental rights of the people not
respected – this is far from what Merdeka stands for.
From Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak, the helping hand of
the BN government has failed to reach those crying for aid. In fact,
Najib has no shown no interest in recognising the native customary
rights (NCR) land of the indigenous people of Sarawak.
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Amar, in his
capacity as the Selangor Umno deputy chief, had chided urban voters for
being ungrateful for the initiatives implemented by the BN government,
as seen from their refusal to vote for BN in the Sarawak state polls
held on April 16, 2011.
In August 2011, Sarawak State Land Development Minister James Masing,
labelled the Penan NCR landowners as thieves, accusing them of stealing
oil palm fruit bunches from four major government-linked oil palm
plantations, costing the Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) and
its joint-venture partners some RM33.6 million in losses.
Masing further humiliated the Penans by tagging them as “good story
tellers” when the Penan women and girls cried rape at the hands of
timber loggers.
The people of Sabah are just as heartbroken with the empty promises
made by the federal government. With its “poorest state” status, there
is no reason for Sabahans to rejoice vis-à-vis the Merdeka Day or Malaysia Day that was formed on Sept 16 and the abstruse “Janji Ditepati” theme.
To Chua Soon Bui, the Tawau MP, the federal government has a lot of explaining to do.
“What promises have been fulfilled in Sabah when, despite being an
equal partner of the Federation of Malaysia and once the richest state
in Malaysia, with rich natural resources including oil and gas, it has
been reduced to the poorest state in Malaysia?
“What promises have been fulfilled for Sabah in term of 20-Point
Agreement when Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, 49 years ago?
“It is a shame that Sabah is the most impoverished state in Malaysia
today, with poverty rate of 19.7% as compared to Perlis – the second
poorest state with a poverty rate of 6%. Sabah is 5.5 times poorer
compared to the national poverty average of 3.6%,” she lamented.
Marginalised communities ignored
What does today hold for the marginalised communties whose plight the
Najib-led government is far from listening to, what more reaching out
to them.
An annual forum held for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and
transgenders last year took a severe beating after it was declared
illegal by the authorities. Seksualiti Merdeka’s sexuality rights
programme came under attack by the BN government which alleged that the
event was a deviationist activity that could destroy the practice of
religious freedom in the country.
In December 2009, Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahim
Othman said a Malaysian transsexual fighting deportation from Britain
would be punished for bringing “great shame” to Malaysia.
Mohamed Fazdil Min Bahari, a pre-operative transsexual known as
Fatine, married a British man in a civil ceremony but was refused
permanent visa on technical grounds.
Is Merdeka exclusively for a certain strata of society instead of all regardless of their backgrounds?
If yes, how then does the Najib administration go on claiming that it
has “kept its promises” or “janji ditepati” so much so that Aug 31 has
been given a connotation so misleading, all because BN has much at stake
come the 13th general election?
If BN claims otherwise, then can it give the rakyat reasons to believe in “Merdeka”?
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