Tall tales for Human Rights Day

December 11, 2007 |

The Malaysian authorities must have something against human rights. Earlier this year, our very own Malaysian Human Rights Day was marred by a police shooting of people gathering in peace (see an earlier posting). Then, two days ago, on the eve of International Human Rights Day, the authorities decided to crackdown on lawyers and people who exercised their right to peaceful assembly and also others who have earlier pushed for clean and fair elections. The crackdown was followed by a shameful day in court, on Human Rights Day itself.

Just as history is written by the victors, stories are told by those in power (especially those who control the media). In court yesterday, the Attorney General, who was personally prosecuting the case against the lawyers and activists, repeatedly used the phrase “larger interest of the public”. He was attempting to persuade the court to deny bail on the basis that these people’s freedom would undermine the so-called larger interest of the public.

Now I wonder what he meant by that because to my mind the public will greatly value not only peace and prosperity but also justice and freedom. In any case, the peace and prosperity of Malaysia have been held ransom by Umno in the last few decades of tyranny and corruption. If we look at the bigger picture, we will see that if we had a government that genuinely respected human rights and upheld justice, there would be greater stability and investments for economic development.

The fact is, the lawyers and activists who walked for human rights on Sunday were peacefully walking for the larger interest of the public. However, the Umno government, through their – not the people’s – obedient police tried to create a fiction that the lawyers and activists were causing havoc.

Here’s another fact for consideration. The police could have easily kept public order by directing traffic around a relatively small group of people who planned a 15 minutes walk. At most, it would have required 50 police officers. Instead, to create the story that Umno wants to tell the public, the police sent hundreds of police officers to create a tense situation and scare people. Not only that, the police even sent a helicopter, which flew menacingly overhead throughout the time. A visitior not familiar with the antics of the Malaysian police would have thought that there’s a mob of parang wielding natives running amok in town.

Then, the Prime Minister himself tries to perpetrate another fiction – that he is a gentle and caring fatherly figure who is concerned for the public’s safety. The truth is, he is a desperate man who is willing to do anything, including telling stories, to preserve his own position.

According to a Malaysiakini report, he said that he has police intelligence of violent intentions. As far as I am concerned, the police have not shown any intelligence at all. It is very easy to say that there are violent intentions or even terrorist links when the control of the media are in their hands, but are there any real evidence?

If the government and the authorities want the people’s respect and trust, then they ought to be truthful with the people. After all, we know that justice can only be upheld when truth prevails.

Comments

3 Comments so far

jerng on January 6, 2008 11:01 pm
Malaysia has not signed the UN document on human rights, if I remember correctly. And it is the right of government to choose if it should do so or not. I believe that we need to standardise our language of ethics/jurisprudence with the rest of the world… standardisation in these things is always a good thing. But that probably won’t happen until we have a bit of a cultural revolution.
Jonson Chong on January 7, 2008 9:45 am
Jerng, Malaysia is a member of the United Nations. If we refer to the United Nations Charter, one of its purposes is “to achieve international co-operation… in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms…” Moreover, Malaysia is a current member of the Human Rights Council of the UN. In any case, our rights as a human being (which ensures our dignity) does not and should not be dependent on any official document. By the way, I believe we need more than a cultural revolution.
arnina on January 17, 2008 10:11 am
Personally I think its best to act earlier before things going out of hands. I mean ..whats the point of taking actions if the damage has already been done right ? Free speech @ rights doesn’t gives thy rights to mockery and accusations without facts and evidence. ” Innocent until proven guilty” and not the other way around .. right ?

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Tall tales for Human Rights Day

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