Following is an article by a former Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh answering the question posed by Najib - "Why must Malaysians march?". Yeo has given a splendid answer - "appropriate, timely and beautifully expressed", that's a fellow writer KIM QUEK's assessment.
The Malaysian Bar
Why do Malaysians march?
by Yeo Yang Poh
WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?
One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?
Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them.
Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.
Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful.
Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears.
Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the commissions of inquiry, has been implemented. Because the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) Rela (people’s volunteer corps) is being brought in to make matters even worse.
The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness. Yet they were labelled “extremists” – they who did not march.
And now you ask, why march?
Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections. You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why?
Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.
Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realise the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”.
Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the rakyat for easier political manipulation.
Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia , a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore , an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere.
Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are declining.
Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched.
Because more and more people realise that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.
Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs.
Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others would still be colonies today, apartheid would still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela would still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama would probably be a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.
And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household.
They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained.
And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall
obviously not.
I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the US, without whom Obama would not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:
“It isn’t nice to block the doorway
It isn’t nice to go to jail
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways have all failed
It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice
But if that’s freedom’s price
We don’t mind ...”
(The writer Yeo Yang Poh is a former Bar Council president.)
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UPDATEd @6.25AM a few 24later -- in the steal of the night from cpiasia.net-MerdekaReview:) -- CONSIDER THIS AS A JOINT CSM! ~~ YL Chong, Desi
Mengapa berdemonstrasi?
Yeo Yang Poh | Aug 02, 2009 07:19:02 pm
Kerajaan telah menyatakan bahawa Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) sedang dikaji. Mengapa berdemonstrasi lagi?
Biarlah pandangan dikemukakan secara berhemah. Demonstrasi untuk apa?
Ada kewajarannya seandainya soalan tersebut diajukan oleh kanak-kanak. Namun, soalan tersebut telah dilontarkan seorang Perdana Menteri negara. Maka ia tidak boleh diperlekehkan.
Mengapa berdemonstrasi?
Kerana Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan, Ulaganathan, dan ribuan yang mati dalam tahanan. Mereka tidak mampu untuk berdemonstrasi dan bersuara. Maka, perlunya orang lain untuk bertindak dan bersuara untuk mereka.
Kerana mereka yang nampak macam Lingam, mereka yang berkuasa, mereka yang hartanya pantang didedahkan di bawah matahari, bahkan politikus yang berkuasa untuk membawa perubahan tetapi mendiamkan diri ketika berdepan dengan ketidakadilan, mereka akan terus menggunakan pelbagai kuasa untuk memerintah kita. Mereka semestinya tidak akan berdemonstrasi. Mereka akan mencari seribu cara untuk menghalang demonstrasi.
Kerana mereka yang miskin, yang dipinggirkan, yang ditekan, yang didiskriminasi, malah yang dianiaya, langsung tidak berpeluang untuk mempengaruhi mereka yang berkuasa.
Kerana pendekatan "bertutur dengan penuh hemah" telah digunakan untuk berpuluh-puluh tahun. Sehingga air liur kering-kontang, tidak meninggalkan sebarang kesan. Kerana cadangan reformasi yang penting (termasuk membenarkan demonstrasi aman) yang dikemukakan SUHAKAM dan Suruhanjaya Di-Raja, tidak diterima dan terlaksana. Kerana bayang IPCMC tidak kelihatan, sebaliknya rasuah dan keganasan menular ke setiap pelusuk. Lebih teruk lagi, walaupun banyak nasihat diberikan, namun kerajaan tetap menggunakan RELA untuk menjadikan keadaan lebih parah.
Masih ingatkah "Suqiu"? Suqiu tidak berdemonstrasi, dengan penuh hemah, meminta dan merayu. Apa kesudahannya? Pandangan disampahkan, malah mereka yang tidak pernah berdemonstrasi ini dituduh sebagai pengganas.
Tanya lagi, mengapa berdemonstrasi?
Kerana mereka yang tidak berdemonstrasi disalah-labelkan oleh kerajaan. Mereka dilabelkan sebagai "majoroti yang senyap" (silent majority). Politikus mendakwa bahawa majoriti yang mendiamkan diri itu sebagai petanda sokongan kepada kerajaan, lantas kerajaan perlu mengambil kira kepentingan majoriti ini. Hari ini, antara majoriti yang senyap ini, ramai tidak sanggup mendiamkan diri lagi.
Masih nak tanya mengapa?
Ya, kerana kerajaan yang munafik ini tidak akan berjaya menipu seluruh dunia untuk selama-lamanya. Kerana nepotisme hanya memanfaatkan beberapa kerat orang, yang lain akan terkejut dari tidur satu hari nanti.
Kerana "perkauman" yang dimainkan itu telah terbongkar rahsianya. Ia hanyalah muslihat yang jijik untuk memecah-belahkan masyarakat kita.
Kerana bukan sukarnya untuk menyedari bahawa, mengapa Malaysia yang kaya dengan sumber semula jadi dan tenaga manusia ini, taraf hidup rakyatnya tidak melangkaui Singapura, sebuah pulau kecil tanpa sumber semulajadi?
Kerana negara yang menerima demonstrasi secara aman telah menikmati kekayaan dan kestabilan, atau dalam proses perubahan ke arah yang lebih baik. Negara yang menekan demonstrasi aman secara kekerasan, rakyatnya hidup merana kepapaan.
Juga kerana, Mahatma Gandhi pernah berdemonstrasi. Nelson Mandela pernah berdemonstrasi. Martin Luther King pernah berdemonstrasi. Tunku Abdul Rahman juga pernah berdemonstrasi.
Kerana semakin ramai menyedari, bahawa demonstrasi aman langsung tidak menjejaskan keselamatan negara, hanya menggugat kedudukan mereka yang berkuasa.
Kerana apabila politikus dengan senyuman berkata rakyat adalah tuan kepada kerajaan, ini semuanya pembohongan! Cuba tanya, mana adanya hamba yang menggunakan gas pemedih mata, baton dan gari untuk melayan tuannya?
Kerana, seandainya semua demonstrasi dalam sejarah menemui ajal, maka hari ini, India, Malaysia dan banyak lagi negara yang lain masih merupakan tanah jajahan. Afrika Selatan masih mengekalkan dasar apartheid, Nelson Mandela masih meringkuk di penjara. Malah Barack Obama mungkin masih merupakan seorang hamba di Mississippi, dalam rancangannya untuk melarikan diri.
Kerana maruah dan kebebasan bukan hadiah durian runtuh. Ia perlu diperjuangkan semua orang. Ia ada harganya. Seandainya kita inginkan kehidupan sebagai seorang manusia, kita tidak boleh menjadi penikus untuk seumur hidup.
Soalan mengapa berdemonstrasi umpama soalan yang menanya, mengapa memperjuangkan kebebasan atau kesaksamaan? Yang harus ditanya adalah, mengapa tidak boleh bebas, tidak boleh saksama?
Jadi, persoalannya bukan mengapa berdemonstrasi, tetapi mengapa tidak boleh berdemonstrasi secara aman?
* Yeo Yang Poh ialah bekas Presiden Majlis Peguam Malaysia.
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