Don't think our 147th will report on this:
Asia Times
Southeast Asia
Dec 12, 2007
Malaysia's crackdown on dissent widens
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IL12Ae01.html
By Anil Netto
PENANG - The administration of Malaysian Prime Minister
Abdullah
Badawi, rattled in recent months by a series of street
protests,
launched on Sunday another tough crackdown against peaceful
demonstrators in which at least 23 human-rights lawyers, activists
and
opposition politicians were arrested.
The Malaysian Bar Council planned its annual walk for human rights
in
downtown Kuala Lumpur, which some predicted could have seen a
turnout
similar to an earlier march held in the administrative capital
of
Putrajaya in September where some 2,000 people participated.
But the council backed down in the face of warnings from the
authorities that stern action would be taken against those involved
in
public demonstrations. Its "Festival of Rights" celebrations were
then
moved to its premises in Kuala Lumpur. A group of prominent
human-rights lawyers and several dozen activists and
supporters,
however, decided to press ahead with the march. Observers said
police
outnumbered the marchers by a ratio of around five-to-one.
Eight demonstrators were arrested after they tried to negotiate
an
extension of the short time that police had granted them to
complete
their march on the planned route. They were charged in court
Monday
with participating in an "illegal assembly" and failing to
disperse
when ordered. They were later released on bail, but the offenses
carry
possible fines and jail terms of 30 months.
"If the choice is between public safety and public freedom, I do
not
hesitate to say here that public safety will always win," said
Prime
Minister Abdullah, according to media reports. "Malaysians must
never,
ever, take their peace for granted and they must continue to
be
responsible to each other."
Rights groups, for their part, slammed the arrests. "We are
appalled
that even a small gathering of marchers to a nearby destination in
an
orderly manner without obstructing the traffic or causing any chaos
to
the public cannot be allowed or tolerated by this oppressive
regime,"
said P Ramakrishnan, president of the social reform group
Aliran.
"If this little act of a democratic principle cannot be exercised
in a
responsible manner, can we pretend to be a democratic country
any
longer?"
Police also detained Edmund Bon, head of the Bar Council
human-rights
committee, for allegedly trying to obstruct security personnel
from
removing publicity banners placed on the Bar Council's buildings.
A
Malaysian Bar official said that the banners were clearly within
the
Bar's premises. Bon was released on bail Monday.
On Sunday evening, two prominent opposition politicians, Tian Chua
and
Mohamad Sabu, along with 12 activists, were also arrested for
their
involvement in another gathering the authorities considered
an
"illegal assembly". Most of them were crowd control marshals from
the
opposition Parti Islam Malaysia (PAS) who had participated in
a
November 10 rally in the capital which called for electoral
reforms.
The rally was organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair
Elections
(BERSIH), an initiative spearheaded by civil society groups and
backed
by a number of opposition parties. PAS marshals were widely
credited
for ensuring a peaceful and orderly rally attended by some
50,000
people, mostly ethnic Malays, though other ethnic groups also
participated. Police, however, used tear gas and water cannons
on
sections of the crowd in a bid to disperse them.
The BERSIH rally was followed by another large protest on November
25,
when an estimated 30,000 ethnic Indians from across the
country
converged in Kuala Lumpur to highlight what they perceived to
be
systematic ethnic marginalization and religious discrimination by
the
government.
The rally was spearheaded by the Hindu Rights Action Force
(HINDRAF)
and led by a small group of vocal ethnic Indian Malaysian
lawyers.
Last week a group of 31 HINDRAF protesters were slapped with
the
charge of "attempted murder" of a policeman during the November
25
rally, while 16 of them were also charged with taking part in
an
illegal assembly.
In the eastern state of Trenggganu, two PAS members have been
charged
with causing injury to a police officer during another rally
in
September which similarly called for electoral reforms. Both
opposition party members have been denied bail.
Still, the string of arrests have not deterred another small group
of
five lawyers and opposition politicians from marching in Kuching,
East
Malaysia on Monday morning in a symbolic gesture to mark Human
Rights
Day, reported the independent news portal Malaysiakini.
Some analysts believe that the widening gap between rich and the
poor
in Malaysia is fueling the growing number of protests. They point
out
that neo-liberal economic and privatization policies, cuts in
subsidies for essential services, and rising fuel and food prices
have
burdened the poor.
Indeed, most of those attending the recent large BERSIH and
HINDRAF
protests appeared to be from lower income groups. "The
underlying
causes [of the protests] are economic," said prominent
economist
Subramaniam Pillay. "There is a widening income disparity
between
unskilled and semi-skilled workers on the one hand, and
skilled
workers and connected people on the other."
He added that the incomes of unskilled and semi-skilled workers
had
been depressed by cheap foreign labor. Subramaniam is also
chairperson
of the steering committee of the civil society Coalition
Against
Health Care Privatization. The Coalition today received the
2007
Malaysian human rights award from the Kuala Lumpur-based rights
group
Suaram for its campaign.
The mass arrests and trials of demonstrators in court are
worryingly
reminiscent of the mass trials during the so-called Reformasi
streets
protests of 1998-2001, when dozens were hauled to court to
face
charges of illegal assembly. Some believe that the protracted
trials
of that period, including of former finance minister Anwar
Ibrahim,
served two purposes: they sapped the energy of the Reformasi
demonstrators by dragging them through the court system, while
the
trials also deterred others from taking part in more
protests.
Unlike his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister Abdullah
has
not yet used the draconian Internal Security Act against
those
mobilizing the demonstrators - though he has not discounted
the
possibility. Abdullah, whose reform agenda to stamp out corruption
and
abuse of power has floundered, now faces a ground swell of
popular
disenchantment which has spilled onto the streets.
The year-end season of discontent could force him to delay plans
for
calling an early snap general election, which is due at the latest
by
early 2009. Instead, prominent opposition politicians believe
the
embattled premier is on the brink of ordering a major
crackdown
against dissent.
(Inter Press Service with editing by Asia Times Online)