Tricia Yeoh

The word democracy has been used so foolishly and cheaply.

Democracy describes a small number of related forms of government and also a political philosophy. The word comes from the ancient Greek for “rule by the people”. A common feature of democracy as currently understood and practiced is competitive elections. Competitive elections are usually seen to require freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and some degree of rule of law.

Democracy means rule by the people with competitive elections, not one whose process is laced with vote buying and phantom voting. With unfair practices in the electoral process, it is highly uncertain as to whether or not the person with the actual number of majority is properly selected and voted for.

When I visited the Australian Electoral Commission, I was deeply impressed by the mechanisms put into place to ensure free and fair elections. This includes constant updating of the electoral roll, and compulsory voting (you get fined if you don’t), extremely stringent measures to ensure all people vote, the ballot counters are all independent and cannot belong to any political party etc. In Malaysia, our electoral roll is pretty much outdated, we don’t have compulsory voting, and those who volunteer to count can be from a political party therefore not independent.

If a democracy is one that allows free speech, free press and the rule of law, can we safely say that this is what we have currently? (stop laughing, please)

When questioned, Minister of Information Zam said that we have a democracy because “we hold elections every five years”. What an inferior, uneducated statement, lacking substance in qualifying what kind of electoral process we really have.

A dictated democracy is no democracy.

As I walked across the luxurious corridors in KL Convention Centre overlooking the KLCC Park, it was difficult to even imagine that this was the exact same city in which numerous arrests have been taking place over the last couple of days, culminating in today’s five arrests under the ISA (Internal Security Act).

Five lawyers have been arrested in association with HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) that conducted a massive rally calling on the Government to recognise the increasing marginalisation of the Indians in Malaysia. ISA detainees will be held under preventive detention for a minimum of 2 years without trial. Under the ISA, detainees are denied their right to trial, right to legal counsel, the right to defend oneself in open court and the right to be innocent until proven guilty.

It is impossible to now reconcile the image of an advanced nation well on its way to developed status with the one that is unfolding before my very eyes. Many of us Malaysians are in an utter state of disbelief at the manner in which the authorities are reacting. Is this the Government that we elected into position just three years ago? Is this the best way to handle already fragile inter-ethnic emotions?

Prime Minister Pak Lah has given an ultimatum, that whoever takes to the streets this way are not loyal nor do they love the country. He keeps on harping on the fact that “this is not our culture”, without properly addressing the root issue and cause. Without really investigating into the contents of the various memoranda being handed in to respective institutions (British High Commission, Parliament, the Agong, Prime Minister’s Department), he’s decided to merely refer to the manner in which the demonstrations have been conducted. What frustrates me most is the fact that every person out there on the streets recently, are there precisely because they love their country and cannot stand to see their homeland go down in flames this way.

Could they not have received the memoranda with grace and dignity, stating that they would be happy to work with the respective organisations presenting them? Could they not have granted the walks with appropriate parameters about which areas were allowed and which were not? Could they not have answered politely instead of dishing out violence against the people?

Watch the videoclips. Look at this one. Were they acting violently?

If we haven’t already woken up, this is the time.

The news on TV1 was crazily biased. Words like “keganasan” and “anak juga ditipu” were blazed across the screen whilst showing clips from the various rallies. Did they show pictures of Tian Chua’s car being burnt to bits?

What a day of darkness for us. We must have communities to converse with, lest we individually reduce ourselves to naught amidst these exciting yet gloomy times.

Has started. 24 Bersih protestors were arrested today at Parliament, now out either on bail or with no charges.

The police are going all out this time.

Road blocks the whole day today.

Arrests taking place over the past couple of days.

I feel like I’m living in military Pakistan.

Responses from Pak Lah are so meagre. I could even write better speech responses, not the unrefined stuff he is articulating that hardly convinces me.

Tomorrow there will be more arrests, no doubt.

Thanks to the Australia-Malaysia Institute (AMI) under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia, I was selected along with 4 other young Malaysians to participate in their Young Leaders Program. Every year they will be bringing 5 young Malaysians (apparently future leaders of the country, ha ha) to observe and be educated with Australia’s political, economic and social leaders. This time, we were in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney meeting with different organisations and groups. Some of the more prominent ones are listed below here.

Of most importance to me were those working on public policy issues. They had, for example, the Business Council of Australia that worked on specific policy issues, funded by corporations, that were then fed into Government. Lowy Institute of International Policy studies Australian foreign policy and is completely independent of Government. Very impressive, all of them.

Next level were the accountability groups. The Ombudsman is squeaky clean and such great measures are put into place to ensure the individuals themselves are clean! Met with the Human Rights Commission, there are only THREE FULL TIME commissioners, much more effective than having 20 over part timers like in Malaysia. The Commissioner we met was completely blind, yet he gave a full briefing to us using his braille notebook. So deeply impressed and moved by this meeting.

Met with the Centre on Multicultural Youth Issues. Australia, being such a migrant country in the first place, (as is Malaysia), is very conscientious on the needs of migrant youth. Conducting programmes on migrant and refugee youth, they deal at both the activity and policy level, a very effective model.

Government departments are as efficient if not more than private sector organisations. The Office of Best Practices, Department of Foreign Affairs, Public Service Commission, Electoral Commission, were extremely efficient with their materials and presentation, showing the measures taken to ensure the best and most effective models.

Australia is one of the true democracies around. Because they have compulsory voting, they have 95% of the Australian population turning up during elections. They are fined if they don’t vote. Isn’t that amazing? We should do that in Malaysia too.

Their transition from the Liberal to Labour Governments was so smooth and with no friction and noise whatsoever. This is true democracy, where the people’s voices can be heard. I had the chance to ask about how the new Government would change policies.

In general, Economic management policies would remain the same, since Australia has been having such great economic fundamentals in the past 10 years. Social policies would change to be more socially inclusive, more focus on climate change (the new Minister for Climate Change is none other than Penny Wong, Sabah-born Ozzie, also incidentally a lesbian), less focus on Iraq and Middle East issue (ie. no more shadowing Bush as Rudd’s predecessor Howard was warrant to do).

One interesting notion was that Howard expected the people to vote him in due to his strong economic credentials for Australia. Akin to other presidential campaigns “It’s the Economy, Stupid”, he rode on it. But the tide died down, showing that at a certain point people do not ONLY rely upon their filled up pockets. I think this is an important principle to learn, where in the long run, development brings about greater sophistry in thought and ideology… very much Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I suppose.

Rudd’s Government is reaching out to Asia more and more. I am utterly embarrassed at my inability to speak Chinese, whereas the new premier totters on in perfect Mandarin to China.

Australia reminded me that we are light years behind time and have much work to do in catching up. This is provided that we have political will to change. I doubt much will shift, given our inherent political structures, but perhaps one day, one day… when things are put in place, I will have a chance to be a Malaysian Chinese Prime Minister. (haha, in your dreams).

All I can humbly ask for is that we dismantle race based politics and go ideological. Get clean with proper systems in place. Check and balance. Strong opposition. Free media. All elements that I have constantly referred to. Come on Malaysia.

Clearing the Clouds in our little Malaysian HeadsTricia Yeoh Malaysia is a messy country. And this messiness clouds our minds even when we attempt to analyse the situation rationally. Week after week, month after month, new issues crop up as quickly as instant noodles, so much so that we lose ourselves in the muddy waters. We forget all too easily a hot topic that ravages our minds only a month or two earlier.  Asked to list the issues facing Malaysia today, one could easily string them down. I listed them recently in a simple presentation: NEP, Lina Joy, Police Abuse, Lack of Media Freedom, Demolition of Places of Worship, Questionable Independence of the Judiciary, Migrant Workers’ Discrimination, Falling Foreign Direct Investment, call for Free & Fair Elections, Falling University Rankings, Internal Security Act, Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, and the list goes on. The audience reading this site is more than familiar with the problems facing our nation, and I do not attempt to educate them any more than their qualifications have already fully provided for.  

The key is to consolidate, in our mind’s eye, the picture of what Malaysia is today. With this picture in clear sight, some useful suggestions and proposals for those already very active within civil society organizations seeking for change.

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