By Michael Backman
The Age
November 21, 2007
THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There
will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of
John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and
everyone will accept the verdict.
For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the
rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest.
It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.
Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians
took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the
judiciary's lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a
controlled media.
In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by
his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And
yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government.
All they want is for their government to govern better.
Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that's based on the English
system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia
getting it so wrong now?
Malaysia's Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous,
rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that
she can't stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi
controls the media so that it doesn't have to see its own reflection.
Demonstrations are typically banned. But what every Malaysian should know
is that in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish
to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one
gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the
politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around.
But increasingly in Malaysia, Malaysians are being denied a voice -
especially young people.
Section 15 of Malaysia's Universities and University Colleges Act states
that no student shall be a member of or in any manner associate with any
society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or
group of people whatsoever, be it in or outside Malaysia, unless it is
approved in advance and in writing by the vice-chancellor.
Nor can any student express or do anything that may be construed as
expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or
union. Breaking this law can lead to a fine, a jail term or both.
The judiciary as a source of independent viewpoints has been squashed. The
previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, did many good things for
Malaysia, but his firing of the Lord President (chief justice) and two
other Supreme Court judges in 1988 was an unmitigated disaster. Since
then, what passes for a judiciary in Malaysia has been an utter disgrace
and the Government knows it.
Several years ago, Daim Zainuddin, the country's then powerful finance
minister, told me that judges in Malaysia were a bunch of idiots. Of
course we want them to be biased, he told me, but not that biased.
Rarely do government ministers need to telephone a judge and demand this
or that verdict because the judges are so in tune with the Government's
desires that they automatically do the Government's beckoning.
Just how appalling Malaysia's judiciary has become was made clear in
recent weeks with the circulation of a video clip showing a senior lawyer
assuring someone by telephone that he will lobby the Government to have
him made Lord President of the Supreme Court because he had been loyal to
the Government. That someone is believed to have been Ahmad Fairuz Abdul
Halim, who did in fact become Lord President.
A protest march organised by the Malaysian Bar Council was staged in
response to this, and corruption among the judiciary in general. But the
mainstream Malaysian media barely covered the march even though up to 2000
Bar Council members were taking part. Reportedly, the Prime Minister's
office instructed editors to play down the event.
Instead of a free media, independent judges and open public debate,
Malaysians are given stunts - the world's tallest building and most
recently, a Malaysian cosmonaut. Essentially, they are given the play
things of modernity but not modernity itself.
Many senior Malays are absolutely despairing at the direction of their
country today. But with the media tightly controlled they have no way of
getting their views out to their fellow countrymen. This means that most
Malaysians falsely assume that the Malay elite is unified when it comes to
the country's direction.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and today still a
member of the Government, told me several weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur that
he could see no reason why today Malaysia could not have a completely free
media, a completely independent judiciary and that corrupt ministers and
other officials should be publicly exposed and humiliated.
According to Tengku Razaleigh, all of the institutions designed to make
Malaysia's Government accountable and honest have been dismantled or
neutered.
It didn't need to be like this. Malaysia is not North Korea or Indonesia.
It is something quite different. Its legal system is based on British
codes. Coupled with traditional Malay culture, which is one of the world's
most hospitable, decent and gentle cultures, Malaysia has the cultural and
historical underpinnings to become one of Asia's most civilised,
rules-based, successful societies.
Instead, Malaysia's Government is incrementally wasting Malaysia's
inheritance.
My Comment: Petikan dari suratkhabar Australia..The Age
will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of
John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and
everyone will accept the verdict.
For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the
rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest.
It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.
Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians
took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the
judiciary's lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a
controlled media.
In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by
his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And
yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government.
All they want is for their government to govern better.
Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that's based on the English
system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia
getting it so wrong now?
Malaysia's Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous,
rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that
she can't stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi
controls the media so that it doesn't have to see its own reflection.
Demonstrations are typically banned. But what every Malaysian should know
is that in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish
to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one
gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the
politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around.
But increasingly in Malaysia, Malaysians are being denied a voice -
especially young people.
Section 15 of Malaysia's Universities and University Colleges Act states
that no student shall be a member of or in any manner associate with any
society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or
group of people whatsoever, be it in or outside Malaysia, unless it is
approved in advance and in writing by the vice-chancellor.
Nor can any student express or do anything that may be construed as
expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or
union. Breaking this law can lead to a fine, a jail term or both.
The judiciary as a source of independent viewpoints has been squashed. The
previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, did many good things for
Malaysia, but his firing of the Lord President (chief justice) and two
other Supreme Court judges in 1988 was an unmitigated disaster. Since
then, what passes for a judiciary in Malaysia has been an utter disgrace
and the Government knows it.
Several years ago, Daim Zainuddin, the country's then powerful finance
minister, told me that judges in Malaysia were a bunch of idiots. Of
course we want them to be biased, he told me, but not that biased.
Rarely do government ministers need to telephone a judge and demand this
or that verdict because the judges are so in tune with the Government's
desires that they automatically do the Government's beckoning.
Just how appalling Malaysia's judiciary has become was made clear in
recent weeks with the circulation of a video clip showing a senior lawyer
assuring someone by telephone that he will lobby the Government to have
him made Lord President of the Supreme Court because he had been loyal to
the Government. That someone is believed to have been Ahmad Fairuz Abdul
Halim, who did in fact become Lord President.
A protest march organised by the Malaysian Bar Council was staged in
response to this, and corruption among the judiciary in general. But the
mainstream Malaysian media barely covered the march even though up to 2000
Bar Council members were taking part. Reportedly, the Prime Minister's
office instructed editors to play down the event.
Instead of a free media, independent judges and open public debate,
Malaysians are given stunts - the world's tallest building and most
recently, a Malaysian cosmonaut. Essentially, they are given the play
things of modernity but not modernity itself.
Many senior Malays are absolutely despairing at the direction of their
country today. But with the media tightly controlled they have no way of
getting their views out to their fellow countrymen. This means that most
Malaysians falsely assume that the Malay elite is unified when it comes to
the country's direction.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and today still a
member of the Government, told me several weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur that
he could see no reason why today Malaysia could not have a completely free
media, a completely independent judiciary and that corrupt ministers and
other officials should be publicly exposed and humiliated.
According to Tengku Razaleigh, all of the institutions designed to make
Malaysia's Government accountable and honest have been dismantled or
neutered.
It didn't need to be like this. Malaysia is not North Korea or Indonesia.
It is something quite different. Its legal system is based on British
codes. Coupled with traditional Malay culture, which is one of the world's
most hospitable, decent and gentle cultures, Malaysia has the cultural and
historical underpinnings to become one of Asia's most civilised,
rules-based, successful societies.
Instead, Malaysia's Government is incrementally wasting Malaysia's
inheritance.
My Comment: Petikan dari suratkhabar Australia..The Age
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