Spin wears thin
By Peter Kammerer (South China Morning Post)
Malaysia's tourism authorities sell their country to the world with the slogan: "Malaysia, Truly Asia". Their pitch is that nowhere else in the region is there such racial and cultural diversity meeting to make as happy a blend.
If you seek a one-stop shop that brings together Asia's colours, flavours, sounds and sights, look no further, the guff states with confidence. The image is of a tolerant, easy-going and integrated society working as one.
Tourism campaigns are about spin. A great deal of twisting and turning, smoke and mirrors have gone into the "Malaysia, Truly Asia" promotion. Malaysia is indeed a country of diversity, but even to hint that its people are pulling together is to make a lie of reality. This may have been the case 30 years ago, but politics and religion mean that it is now far from being so.
A judge's ruling that a part-time model and mother of two be caned for drinking three glasses of beer puts the matter in perspective. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was tried under Muslim sharia law, which works in parallel to the country's common-law system.
Sharia, Malaysia-style, dictates that Muslims cannot drink alcohol; non-Muslim Chinese and Indians, of which there are sizeable minorities, are not subject to the ban. For the crime, Kartika has been ordered to pay M$5,000 (HK$11,000) fine and receive five strokes of the cane. She will be the first woman in the nation to receive such a penalty if it goes ahead as planned after the Muslims' Ramadan fast ends next month.
The government is well aware of the implications of the case. Internationally, it damages Malaysia's image. What outward-looking, progressive nation that holds itself up as a model of Muslim tolerance would cane a woman for drinking beer? That Kartika is a Singapore resident and does not even liv ein Malaysia takes the matter to another level. Untold numbers of Malays openly drink alcohol each day and authorities turn a blind eye; Malaysia is divided about the ruling.
Kartika has raised the stakes. The government has quietly tried to get her off the hook, but she has spurned its efforts. She wants to be caned in public. Whether she has taken the step to prove she is a good Muslim or is aiming to highlight the absurdity of the system is unclear. Whichever, Malaysia is coming off second-best.
The government recently hired the global public relations firm APCO to help it better communicate its policies. What the firm calls "seasoned professionals" – another term for spin doctors – are descending on APCO's new office in Kuala Lumpur to panel-beat what has become a decidedly battered image. They have much to do – decades of favouritism towards Malays, archaic laws that allow police to violate basic human rights, a lack of judicial freedom, a badly eroded rule of law, a gagged media, poor government transparency and persistent efforts to crush the political opposition are among the long list of issues that have given Malaysia a bad name. A PR firm with sound credentials, a clutch of experienced spin-makers and a campaign that sells Malaysia as something it is not are clearly not going to be enough.
Kartika's case will be an interesting starting point. The government has fumbled its way around the matter, saying that the woman will be punished with a small cane that will not hurt her. Unlike with other canings, she will be fully clothed and only hit lightly on the bottom. Left unsaid is the fact that canings are banned under international law. The thousands that are carried out in Malaysia each year wound and disfigure the victims. Such a punishment, and laws like making drinking alcohol a crime, belong not in the 21st century, but in the 15th or 14th.
Fundamentalism like that which is driving sharia in Malaysia has no place in a modern society. Rules that treat ethnic groups or the sexes differently should be scrapped. Malaysia was a far more integrated and tolerant country before these policies were adopted. There is nothing truly Asian about the way the country is being mishandled by its government.
