New Year in Jail
Bring on the beer, the sparkling wine, the shimmering raw fish glistening with fresh oil and honey. Bring on the pineapple tarts, the butter cookies, the fat red packets boasting of prosperity and good living.
Chinese New Year is once again celebrated across the country, festivities galore as we visit those we both love and despise, offering promises of forgiveness and hope for the year ahead.
With the elections round the corner, bigger goodies lie in store for those who have been good. Better lion dances to bless households and kampungs, more numerous instant playgrounds and community halls. All in the spirit of muhibbah, Chinese homes are opened up to their Malay and Indian neighbours, displaying exemplary behaviour – all is forgotten in love and war.
What a perfect scene painted out for us. The very image of harmony in our multiethnic society. We’ve got it made, haven’t we? Well on our way towards Vision 2020.
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A thousand kilometres away, lonely people lie dismal in the cold hard cells of Kamunting. Stripped of identity, they wear instead a cloak of humiliation and shame, forced upon them by authority. Allowed no more than 30 minutes with any visitor, they anxiously await the next message of hope.
Whilst others feast on food, family love and fun this festive season, they remain in captivity, bordering only on the corners of our minds.
The five lawyers arrested under the Internal Security Act for their orchestrating of the HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) Rally to bring to attention the plight of marginalised Indians are part of this group.
For their boldness in wanting to voice out concerns of their fellow friends and colleagues, they have landed themselves behind bars with no legal recourse. Going against the law was their only error – never mind a law that is archaic and irrelevant in any developed society – and the cost, their personal lives and space.
At the core is the argument that their continued actions would have caused a threat to national security. The only possible connection is that they were rallying Indians to question Malay special rights. In prescribing a more equal system of wealth distribution, they would have stepped on the toes of those still clinging on to the special privileges given to the Malay ethnic group.
In Malaysia, being highly critical of Bumiputera special rights (princes of the earth, a group in which Malays are the majority) is considered threatening national security. Surely we have reached a stage where such debates can be conducted without bloodshed and anarchy. The issue should in fact be included into curriculum and public space, not shoving it aside till the next row occurs.
No developed country in the world has political prisoners. The two are incongruent. But meanwhile Malaysia continues to boast its genuine efforts at reaching what it considers to be a matured society. The truth is maturity comes with a nation encouraged to think, debate, question, criticise, in contributing to better outcomes.
But in a country like Malaysia where political sensitivities are at an all-time high, the tension is almost life threatening. Where thinking people put their minds into writing blog entries that are critical of the administration, they are labelled as cowards. When the inconsistencies emerge between constitutional articles securing equality and policies that favour one race over another, citizens are warned to shut up or leave.
Surely when our forefathers designed the fabric of the nation, they never envisioned that we would so far down (51 years after Independence) still need to cautiously tread on our toes. The insecurity each community faces today shows itself plainly.
The special position was given to Malays in the past was because of their socio-economic status. This has dramatically changed over the years. Such cushioning continues to dampen their self-identity, affecting how they eventually view themselves. Many have argued that it has in fact done more harm than good.
Their success and prominent involvement in Malaysian economy should in fact be applauded. No more the need to feel insecure. Malays should be empowered by their very capabilities – no less than any other – and rise up, no longer leaning on crutches.
In this book “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born”, author Ayi Kwei Armah describes the rot of the nation that has its roots deep within a nation’s identity. Malaysia suffers the same sort of rot – one of insecure identity, and one that if not addressed in the near future, may result in severe consequences.
Non-alarmists might brush things off breezily. But dig deeper and realise that we are already witness to dark episodes. With noble intentions, one can land oneself in prison, without justice of one’s own country. The laws supposedly protecting you have backfired.
In this season as we gather with family and friends, one wonders what thoughts cross the minds of our leaders. If they were honest with themselves, they would realise that every citizen – even lawbreakers – should be accorded legal recourse. The ISA is used only by authorities that cannot reason with its people. As our leaders lick their lips after a sumptuous Chinese New Year meal, one questions how some can sleep with a clear conscience at night when their fellow Malaysians suffer ordeals in cement prisons far, far away from their families.
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doesnt mean normal people are not allowed to celebrate chinese new year. we dont stop celebrating for 5 people in jail.