THE house of Ambiga Sreenevasan in a leafy neighbourhood of Kuala
Lumpur looks ordinary enough. Getting into it, though, betrays a
different reality. A security guard greets visitors, who are then
scrutinised by newly installed surveillance cameras. A bodyguard hovers
somewhere inside the house.
The precautions are revealing. Ms Ambiga has become the target of
what she describes as “relentless attacks”, including death threats.
They have thrust a middle-class lawyer (she is a former president of the
Malaysian Bar Council) into the centre of politics in the run-up to
what could be a pivotal general election.
Ms Ambiga is co-leader of the Bersih movement, a coalition of NGOs
campaigning for free and fair elections. To her supporters, Bersih,
which means “clean” in Malay, is dedicated to strengthening democracy in
Malaysia, where the system is heavily skewed in favour of the ruling
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). The party has been in power
continuously since independence in 1957; it governs in a coalition known
as the Barisan Nasional (BN) mainly with two minority parties, one
ethnic Chinese and the other Indian, reflecting the racial composition
of the country. To many within UMNO, Ms Ambiga is a grave threat, the
more so because Najib Razak, the prime minister, has to go to the polls
by the second quarter of next year, but appears to be reluctant to call
the election. Though his personal support rating is high, the coalition
is less popular.
A mass rally called by Bersih in the capital in April (protesters are
pictured above) attracted tens of thousands of people, including many
opposition leaders. The event ended in riots and violence. Ever since,
UMNO and its underlings have been demonising the leaders of Bersih,
which may have cheered some from the majority Malay population but could
also backfire against the government.
When it started in May, the harassment of Ms Ambiga was almost
farcical. A posse of traders turned up outside her door frying burgers
to protest about their lost earnings on the day of the rally; silly
stuff, though still offensive to a Hindu vegetarian. Sillier still, a
group of ex-soldiers marched on her house and shook their buttocks at
it, calling her a subversive.
Then things turned nasty. Several hundred men handed over a petition
saying that she was anti-Islamic (in a Muslim-majority country) and
should leave Malaysia. Ms Ambiga says that these protests were “either
sanctioned or supported by the state”. Finally, on June 26th, a veteran
UMNO politician, Mohamad Aziz, said in parliament: “Can we not consider
Ambiga a traitor…and sentence her to hang”.
This has caused a storm. Quite apart from the overt threat, the MP
lit the touchpaper of Malaysia’s highly flammable racial politics; this
was a Malay MP insulting a prominent member of the Indian community. The
country’s 2m Indians are normally a divided lot, but they quickly
rallied behind Ms Ambiga. Even the leaders of the BN-aligned Malaysian
Indian Congress party denounced the MP, ostensibly their political ally.
Mr Mohamad issued a limited apology to Indians in general, but not to
Ms Ambiga personally.
Ms Ambiga believes the attacks on her, all by Malay men, are racist.
She points out that her Malay co-leader of Bersih, a famous writer
called A. Samad Said, has never been targeted.
It is as yet unclear whether the souring climate could turn
Malaysia’s Indians against the BN. They make up only 8% of the
population. Traditionally they have mostly voted for the BN, but some
may now change their minds, especially in urban areas where Ms Ambiga is
respected. After the BN’s Indian vote fell at the last election in
2008, Mr Najib worked hard to court Indians. Now, that may have been to
little avail.
Mr Najib may also be personally tarnished. He portrays himself as a
liberally minded champion of multiracial politics, yet critics say he
has done little to rein in the racist attacks. When under pressure, the
“warlords” of UMNO who constitute its nationalist backbone have often
drawn on racial politics, playing up to Malay voters the supposed
threats that Chinese and Indians pose to their institutionalised
privileges in jobs and education. Under Mr Najib people had hoped for
something better. Ms Ambiga accuses him of being “wet” for failing to
take a stronger stand. His belated rebuttal to Mr Mohamad merely urged
MPs not to say things that might “hurt the feelings of other races”.
Meanwhile, Ms Ambiga and other Bersih co-leaders (not the Malay one)
have been issued with a bewildering demand for compensation from the
Kuala Lumpur city council for costs incurred during the April rally.
This includes a claim for “damage to trees” ($5,246) and “food and
drink” for staff. The government has also brought charges against Anwar
Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition, and several of his colleagues for
a variety of offences arising from their participation in the April
rally. Their cases go to court in the next few months; if they are
convicted, they could be banned from standing in the election.
Political analysts argue that such tactics are a sign of
nervousness—though the BN is very unlikely to lose the election. Since
May, surveys suggest his support among Chinese and Indian voters has
fallen, though that of Malays has increased a bit. It is all likely to
make for a more acrimonious election when one is at last called.
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