Monday, November 12, 2007

Remember, remember, the tenth of November

So that was what caused the traffic jam.

Did you buy the Star last Sunday? The Sunday Star carried a picture of the massive traffic jam citywide not on the front page, but on page 8. Evidently the Star thought that fuel subsidies were of greater importance than 40,000 people who took to the streets and demanded clean elections. But the front page had not a word of the Bersih rally. The news was relegated to page 8, along with that picture of the massive traffic jam, where it was reported that cops had broken up an illegal gathering. If this is to be any indicator of what the vast majority of people care about, then traffic jams beat illegal gatherings any day.

The media blackout ordered by the Government has succeeded to some degree. Rather than censoring the media themselves, the Government has generously allowed the media self-censorship. While independent websites like Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini kept blow-by-blow accounts online, the News Straits Times and the Star's websites' silence was telling. Reporters are willingly obscuring information and spinning stories in favour of those in power.

I wonder how such people can sleep at night.

But short of lying, spinning bad news is a tried and tested method of misleading the masses. Our Prime Minister dismissed the rally as a "political gimmick" by opposition parties. His attempt to sweep the significance of this march under the rug is thwarted by the fact that Bersih is a coalition of about 70 NGOs and 5 political parties. Clearly this is anything but a political gimmick. What really happened is that for one glorious day, differences were cast aside and 40,000 Malaysians made their stand on a patch of common ground. They came in peace. Yet cars were searched. Dataran Merdeka was cordoned off because that was where demonstrators had planned to gather. Tear gas and water cannons were used - there are videos and first-hand accounts everywhere of this occurring. At least seven people were reported to have been beaten and kicked by police. However, Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin denied any actual violence. There was no violence, he said, the police just dispersed the crowd with tear gas and water cannons. But no violence (This is democracy Malaysian style, an Al Jazeera reporter said to a video of police dispersing the crowd at Masjid Jamek).

It is true that the gathering was technically illegal - no permit was issued - and so far every politician available for comment has stood by that. But there was a rowdy illegal demonstration when Condoleezza Rice arrived in Malaysia some time ago. Police just sat back and watched, thus proving that illegal is an entirely subjective term.

The night before the Bersih rally, TV3 apparently reported that members of the public were banned from wearing yellow the following day. Still people came and marched. The people chanted democracy! and bersih!, the sight and sound of which will resonate for a long time to come. But of course reform is still a long way off. It's too soon for change, but it isn't too late to hope. Just seeing the pictures of the march filled me with an emotion I'd usually never associate with Malaysia - pride. I wasn't there. But I'm proud of those who were. And I'm finally proud to be Malaysian.

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