Enforcement 101: Street Protest – Is This Our New “Culture”?

The history of street protests in Malaysia is rich and extends far beyond the notable BERSIH and Hindraf movements. Indeed, public demonstrations have been a significant part of the country’s http://bersihpolitical fabric since colonial times. One of the earliest recorded mass protests was the Malayan Union Rallies of 1946, which saw over 50,000 Malaysians taking to the streets to oppose the British administration’s attempts to diminish the powers of the Sultans. These rallies were pivotal in the formation of UMNO and the eventual dissolution of the Malayan Union. Poster source: Mob’s Crib

The IGP said that street protest is not a Malaysian culture and as such police will take stern action against anyone who is involved in street protest.

I strongly agree with the IGP – street protest is not our “desired Malaysian ritual” but before anyone forgets, ask what about the police permission that was granted to the PM’s son-in-law to “monkey” around in a street protest against Condoleezza Rice’s visit during last year’s ASEAN Regional Forum.

It was a street protest too but the police seemed more than happy to allow the street protest so near the event location. In which category of “culture” was this protest was classified? Good culture? Not-to-be-questioned culture?

Water guns and strong tactics were missing from the scene and the head protestor, KJ was given a “VIP treatment” to shout anti-US slogans and was able to make his way in to see Condoleezza Rice. If it had been somewhere else, the US Secret Service would probably have jumped on this head honcho and would have dragged his sorry ass from the scene.

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Contrast that with the recent protest on 10th November – at first they denied a permit and then they used unnecessary force to “quell” the protest, then they said that King did not support the rally and when a similar protest is organized, they said that it is not our culture and warned the would-be participants to stay clear of the rally.

In addition to that, “traffic jams contributing” roadblocks have been set up way ahead of the event day to catch “troublemakers”. Why did not they arrest KJ (or any of the members of the mob) in the earlier rally? Why the double standard now?

Well, it could have been just a “wayang kulit” on the part of the PM’s son-in-law to get cheap publicity (the main characteristic of Malaysian politicians). After all, isn’t the US one of our biggest trading partners? And that Condoleezza Rice was invited by none other than the PM himself?

So, the rally by KJ could have been just an act to satisfy a small group of supporters but the thing is, no matter what the intention, it is still a protest with disruption of civil order and business – not to mention getting a “good name” at international level.

Another source picked IGP as saying this:-

“…the illegal gathering was planned by the organizers just to have a street demonstration which will adversely affect the country’s economy”

Come on brother…what country’s economy?

It may sound funny how irrelevant things are hastily tied to picture a bad picture of the rally but I don’t think there is much impact of the rally on the “economy” if it is well organized and the crowd control is well managed by the police. Probably this is why the organizers are having the rally on a Sunday morning (when most Malaysians are busy sleeping) – to minimize whatever damage that may occur to the country’s economy.

Having said that, I think probably it is better if the IGP re-looks into his decision to set up roadblocks on working days instead of having it on the day itself. Having roadblocks and traffic jams due to this has a bigger impact on the economy than the rally itself. A couple of my friends have been turning up to work late due to these unnecessary traffic jams.

So, drop the “culture” of double standards, and then perhaps we can start talking about dropping the culture of street protest.

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