As I reflected on the 52nd Merdeka Day celebration and its 1Malaysia slogan that has been championed by Najib, I can’t help but ponder the many inconsistencies and contradictions inherent in our public institutions.
Firstly, the institution of the Royal Malaysian Police has changed its character from a guardian of the people, to one that has become a secret police, whose behaviour is no different from the Gestapo. We are mindful that we are living in a police state, rather than a 1Malaysia State. A grim reminder of this is when Pakatan Rakyat Perak launched a three-day hunger strike from 26 to 28 May 2009 to protest the refusal by BN Perak to dissolve the State Assembly and let Perakians decide the government of their choice through state elections. The scenes surrounding the Perak State Secretariat were reminiscent of a war zone, where instead of battling crime, the police overreacted by channelling all their energy to arrest lawmakers and other democracy loving citizens for wearing black and holding candlelight vigils!
The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive control over the social, economic and political life of the people. This seems to fit our nation’s state of affairs. The inhabitants of a police state would also experience restrictions on their mobility and on their freedom to express views contrary to the government of the day.
The police had overstepped its authority by the harassment of duly elected representatives, and of peaceful protesters exercising their rights of assembly guaranteed under the Constitution. The police must remain above politics to have any integrity and the confidence of the people. Unfortunately, it has not, with the selective arrests of citizens wearing black and taking part in candlelight vigils. Detaining peaceful protesters who pose no threat to law and order would make Malaysia a 1Police State, rather than a 1Malaysia State.
The people of Malaysia must wake up and see their ideals of a free, democratic and multiracial society that is governed by the rule of law does not generate into a police state. If the Prime Minister is serious about 1Malaysia, then the government must be colour blind and end ethnic profiling for PSD scholarships. Najib’s 1Malaysia dream has been thrown into confusion when thousands of Malaysia’s best and brightest young students had been victims of injustice of the government’s scholarship system.
Secondly, the institution of the judiciary is more of a kangaroo court than a people’s court, when cases concerning the rightful Perak MB, has been suppressed without recourse for the people to decide through the ballot box. The 1Malaysia concept will not amount to anything if the Perak crisis remains stuck in limbo, as it will only mean that we are living in a 1Police State.
Najib’s much trumpeted “1Malaysia” slogan and even a song that goes with it, was openly trampled upon by none other than his Deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had announced some time ago that UMNO would not impose any conditions for UMNO-PAS Unity government talks and was even prepared to accept whatever terms set by PAS and will discuss it “anytime, no problem”.
After 52 years of Merdeka, should we not be talking about Malaysian unity, instead of Malay unity? Surely the people must be wondering if 1Malaysia is just an empty slogan, as Malaysians are still divided along racial lines. As long as our country is still dominated by the racial politics of UMNO, MCA and MIC, it makes little sense to celebrate Merdeka, with all its inconsistencies and contradictions, when we still have racism and injustice that goes with 1Malaysia.
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