The making of a failed state (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)

By the way, in case many of you are not aware of this yet, the gaming licence just awarded to Vincent Tan is to raise money for the coming general election, which is expected to cost Barisan Nasional about RM1.5 billion. It is also to pay for the cost of the recent Hulu Selangor and Sibu by-elections and the Sarawak state election due soon.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Zimbabwe bans newspapers and periodicals. To publish anything in Zimbabwe one needs a publishing licence. And if you violate the ‘terms’ of your publishing licence your licence will be cancelled and your publication will be banned.

It is the same in Malaysia. In fact, in Malaysia, even the printing company is required to apply for a licence. So the Malaysian government can take action against both the publisher as well as the printer. This is ‘one up’ on Zimbabwe.

In 2004, Zimbabwe introduced a detention without trial law. Malaysia did the same 44 years earlier — in 1960. But in Zimbabwe you can be detained up to 30 days. In Malaysia, you are first detained up to 60 days and thereafter for an indefinite period of time. So Malaysia is, yet again, ‘one up’ on Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe does not allow students to get involved in politics. If they do then action is taken against them. Their scholarships will be withdrawn. The same goes in Malaysia. But in Malaysia they will get sacked from the university as well. So, yet again, Malaysia is ‘one up’ on Zimbabwe.

When we talk about Zimbabwe we always refer to that country as a failed state. We do not, however, consider Malaysia a failed state. This is because we only consider countries whose economies are in a shambles as failed states and Malaysia’s economy is not seen as in a shambles, just yet.

Do we need to wait until Malaysia’s economy is akin to Zimbabwe’s before we declare our country a failed state? There is many a criteria to a failed state, or a state heading in that direction. The state of the economy is just one of the criteria.

When racism and discrimination is not only rampant but state sanctioned as well, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When abuse of power and corruption are the order of the day, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When the police force is violent and plays the role of judge, jury and executioner, and when extrajudicial killings are almost a daily occurrence, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When free speech is stifled and the right of association and peaceful assembly are curtailed, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When the judiciary is not independent and judges do the bidding of the powers-that-be and are themselves violators of the law, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When elections are rigged and one-sided and when there are no real free and fair elections, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

When there is no separation of powers and power is concentrated in the hands of one man, the Executive, that is a mark of a failed state. And this is happening in Malaysia.

And the list goes on. What you see in Zimbabwe you see in Malaysia, save maybe for the tribal killings. But where tribalism does not exist in Malaysia, racism does. So whether it is tribalism or racism, it is the same difference.

Ex-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi used to lament that Malaysia is a country with a first-world infrastructure but a third-world mentality. Never has a truer word been said. And when the one-time Information Minister, Zainuddin Maideen, argued that Malaysia is a democracy because it has elections every five years (if you watch the Aljazeera video you can see he actually said ‘erection’) you know that even Malaysia’s ministers have a third-world mentality if, to him, democracy translates merely to holding an election every five years and nothing more than that.

Well, as I said yesterday, even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamented that Malaysia is a police state and undemocratic in not allowing free speech and the right to assembly (when they blocked him for talking and from attending functions). So how can we disagree with Dr Mahathir who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister for 22 years? If Dr Mahathir says so then it must be so.

No, holding elections every five years does not make Malaysia a democracy. It takes more than just holding elections every five years to make a democracy. To start off, how are these elections held? Are they rigged and rife with fraud? In Malaysia’s case they certainly are.

Even countries like Indonesia allow the opposition equal airtime in the mainstream media and on TV. In Malaysia, they blackout the opposition unless it is negative news aimed at hurting the opposition.

We still have a long way to go to achieve the status of what Anwar Ibrahim calls masyarakat madani (civilised society). And until we stop shouting at Malaysians of Chinese and Indian ethnicity to go back to China and India every time they express their opinions, then Malaysia is no better than Zimbabwe.

By the way, in case many of you are not aware of this yet, the gaming licence just awarded to Vincent Tan is to raise money for the coming general election, which is expected to cost Barisan Nasional about RM1.5 billion. It is also to pay for the cost of the recent Hulu Selangor and Sibu by-elections and the Sarawak state election due soon.

So, if you are a true Malaysian, then it is your patriotic duty to boycott all gambling outlets owned by Vincent Tan. Patronising these outlets means you are assisting Barisan Nasional in cheating the Malaysian voters and in denying them their right to a free and fair election and their right to a government of their choice.

Furthermore, Vincent Tan financed the crossovers that resulted in the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government and he is still financing other crossovers from Pakatan Rakyat aimed at bringing down the Kedah and Selangor state governments. Why do you think Ibrahim Ali and Dr Mahathir have not spoken out on the issue of Vincent Tan’s gaming licence?

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Zimbabwe allows independent dailies for 1st time in 7 years

The Committee to Protect Journalists hails the Zimbabwe Media Commission’s decision to grant publishing licenses to The Daily News, the long-banned independent newspaper, and a handful of other publications. Commission Chairman Godfrey Majonga announced on Wednesday that the licenses would be issued immediately, marking the first time in nearly seven years that an independent daily will be allowed to print domestically, local journalists told CPJ.

The Daily News, the nation’s most popular paper before it was banned by the government in September 2003, will resume publishing under its one-time editor, Geoffrey Nyarota, a former CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee, according to international news reports.

A new independent daily, NewsDay, was also approved for domestic publication.

The Media Commission approved three other licenses as well. They went to The Daily Gazette, to be published by the company that now produces The Financial Gazette, a weekly that has some reported ties to the ruling ZANU-PF; The Mail, a new publication owned by a company linked to the ruling party; and The Worker, a monthly run by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions that now will become a weekly.

“We welcome this decision with open arms and hope this will allow the public access to independent reporting,” said CPJ’s Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “We now urge the coalition government to enact broadcast media reforms that will promote diversity and independence in news media.”

The Media Commission was established in December 2009 as part of the media reform efforts that were included in the power-sharing deal between the ruling ZANU-PF and opposition parties.

The independent print press was once an active force in Zimbabwean society. But in 2002, facing stiffening political opposition, President Robert Mugabe introduced draconian media laws requiring journalists and newspapers to register with the government. In practice, the government used these rules to shut down independent publications, most notably The Daily News.

A small handful of independent weeklies have continued to publish in Zimbabwe over the past seven years. They include the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, both of which are owned by the same company that plans to publish NewsDay. Other independent publications, such as The Zimbabwean, led by the exiled editor Wilf Mbanga, are printed outside the country and then shipped into Zimbabwe. — Committee to Protect Journalists, 27 May 2010

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Zimbabwe introduces detention without trial

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has given himself powers of detention that allow his police to hold opponents of his regime in prison for up a month without legal process on charges of “subversion,” the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said.

The state-owned press reported at the weekend reported that sweeping presidential powers wielded by Mugabe banned judges or magistrates from giving bail to suspects, but only in cases of money-laundering, fraud and illegal foreign currency and gold trading.

However, scrutiny of the decree after it became available yesterday revealed that the law also applied to a wide range of offences under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), including “attempting to coerce” the government through boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience or “resistance to the law,” said MDC secretary for legal affairs David Coltart.

He accused Mugabe of making “a silent declaration of a state of emergency.” The laws allow police to keep suspects in prison for a week without having to produce prima facie evidence. If the state is then able to produce evidence, the suspects can be held for another three weeks.

“These regulations are nothing less than a Trojan horse which effectively usher in provisions that give the regime state of emergency powers without actually declaring a state of emergency,” Coltart said. POSA was used last year to arrest most of the MDC’s leadership. None have been brought to trial.

MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube said Mugabe’s decree was “a rehash” of 30-day detention laws used by South Africa’s apartheid regime and the former white-minority Rhodesian government. Mugabe continued to use them after independence in 1980, during the massacres by his security forces of about 20,000 people in Matabeleland.

Human rights studies in the two countries say tens of thousands of people were tortured, assaulted and murdered under detention laws. Mugabe himself spent 10 years in detention under former Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith.

The first victim of Mugabe’s decree was ruling party central committee member and tycoon James Makamba, charged with dealing illegally in foreign currency, the latest in a string of arrests since January in what the state media describes as an “anti-corruption drive.” However, the crackdown is seen by some as a mask for the removal of dissidents within the ruling party.

“Corruption is endemic in Zanu PF” said Coltart, citing a sequence of bribery, fraud and embezzlement scandals since soon after independence, none of which have produced a single prosecution.

“When we see similar members of Zanu PF arrested, including close relatives of Robert Mugabe, we will know they are serious about corruption,” he said. Ncube said the recent arrests of party officials was to “make examples of them” on the pretence of dealing with corruption.

“Most likely it is because of the dispute within the party over a successor to Mugabe. This decree is meant for opponents of Mugabe, whether they are inside or outside Zanu PF,” he said. — ZWNews, 18 February 2004

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Fort Hare Uni says axed students engaged in politics

A spokesman for Fort Hare University in South Africa has confirmed that around 12 Zimbabwean students were removed from Mugabe’s Presidential Scholarship programme because they engaged in politics. Minenzima Vusani claimed the programme had a clause barring students from being involved in any political activity in a foreign country.

“This condition, among others, is a cornerstone of the programme since 1995 when it began at the university and it has been emphasised to new and old students to maintain cohesion and oneness among beneficiaries and to protect the image and integrity of our institution,” he told the ZimOnline website.

MDC SA spokesman Sibanengi Dube however told Newsreel on Wednesday there was no such clause in the contract signed by the students. He accused Abyssinia Mushunje, a Zimbabwean lecturer at the university tasked with running the programme on the ground, of being behind the victimisation of pro-MDC students. Mushunje for example wrote a letter to the mother of one of the axed students, Blessing Tsiga. In it he complained that ‘your daughter is one of the ring leaders of the MDC grouping and yet ZANU PF gave her the scholarship to study in South Africa.’

Dube meanwhile told us the university is already demanding R51 000 from each student for the semester even though they have evidence the scholarship fund had already paid for the entire year. On Monday the university sent letters to the students telling them of the withdrawal of funding and demanded payment of fees by the 13th of October.

Student leaders say there are over 1000 students from Zimbabwe on the Presidential Scholarship scheme. A recent MDC rally at the university attracted around 600 scholarship students, and there are worries they too might be targeted for attending.

Dube said they had exchanged communications over the matter with Fort Hare University Vice Chancellor Dr. Tom Vuyo but he insisted there was nothing the university could do since the scholarship fund is the one that made the decision to withdraw funding and not the university. Meanwhile the axed students have had their meal cards cancelled and accommodation withdrawn. Dube expressed disappointment with local NGO’s for not being active in helping. — Radio Africa News, 14 October 2009

Translated into Chinese at: http://ccliew.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_04.html