The fight that is oft forgotten
Today, we ban books and movies. Tomorrow, we will ban speech and opinion. Finally, we will ban thought. And that would be when Malaysia becomes what England was 500 years ago. In England, 500 years ago, they killed you for thinking the wrong thing. Hmm…come to think of it, they still do this in some parts of the world.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Najib puts Waythamoorthy in his place
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today rebuked P. Waythamoorthy, telling him that he had to toe the official line as he is a member of the administration.
“As a member of the government, you must toe the line, you must have one voice,” he said at a press conference in his office in Putrajaya.
The PM’s rebuke follows the criticism the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department received from three members of the Cabinet – Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin – for questioning the police’s shooting of five gang members in Penang last week.
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Guan Eng: We merely ‘advised’ cinemas not to screen Tanda Putera
Less than 24 hours after issuing a letter to cinemas in Penang not to screen the Malay movie Tanda Putera, the state government has issued another letter saying they were merely “advised” against screening the controversial movie, not to ban it.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the local authorities had inadvertently sent the earlier letter as a directive when the state executive council had decided that it would issue an advisory to cinemas planning to screen the movie.
“We will not stop any cinemas in Penang from screening the movie and the people are free to watch it.
“The earlier letter was issued upon the advice of the legal adviser of the Penang Municipal Council. The Seberang Prai Municipal Council followed suit and issued a similar letter to cinemas on the mainland,” he told a press conference at his office here on Thursday.
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Audience: Tanda Putera not offensive to DAP
Cinema fans who viewed Tanda Putera at GSC Mid Valley today did not feel that the movie was insensitive to Lim Kit Siang or the DAP.
“The May 13 riots is a fact. I don’t see it as an issue.
“The movie is more of a sad story in which leaders sacrificed for the greater good of the country,” said 33-year-old government servant Zaidi Sidek.
“DAP made noise for nothing,” said Zaidi who took leave from work to catch the first show of the movie.
The first show of Tanda Putera only attracted a dozen people. Of the dozen, majority were made up of journalists.
This is due to the publicity over the negative portrayal of the Chinese community and certain DAP leaders in the movie.
In the movie, there is a scene of a DAP member urinating on the flag and this was followed by the scene of the character of former Selangor Menteri Besar Harun iIdris complaining to the prime minister about the incident.
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P. Waythamoorthy is not the first government leader or even the first Indian leader to be ‘put in his place’. At least Moorthy was not sacked (at least not yet) or suspended for six months like some of those before him. Others before him have suffered a worse fate than just a ‘teguran’.
Malaysia follows the British Westminster system of government. This means if you do not agree with your party’s stand or with the policies of the government you are serving (and you feel your principles just do not allow you to keep quiet and tolerate what you view as a transgression) then you resign.
This is what Zaid Ibrahim did and for that we must commend him on his principles — even though you may be of the opinion that Zaid should support Anwar Ibrahim in his bid to become Malaysia’s Prime Minister and not oppose the chosen one or God’s gift to Malaysia.
This is one of the differences between the British political system and the American system. In America, the CEO needs to be chosen based on direct elections. Hence he may win the American presidency but that does not mean his party will control the majority in government. In Malaysia, based on the British system, the CEO will be the person whose party controls the majority in government — meaning majority seats and not majority votes (as Malaysians have now realised).
Toeing the party line is very much a British thing. In America, the CEO needs to campaign amongst his party leaders and lobby for their support. In America, it is not strange to see the President not getting the support of his own party whilst the other side supports him instead. Hence certain bills may get defeated because the President’s own party voted against it or certain bills may get passed because the other side voted in support of it.
Is the British system better than the American system, or vice versa? I don’t think we should look at it on those terms. Both systems are about politics and in politics there can never be such a thing as a better system. Politics, whatever system you may apply, is about power and power corrupts while absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is no doubt about that. Hence there must be a certain amount of corruption to attain or retain power. It can never be achieved otherwise.
And in politics you also need to compromise part of your principles. No one survives in the political arena unless he or she is prepared to compromise on these principles. Hence you need to be slightly hypocritical to get ahead in politics. You cannot always say what you mean or mean what you say and you must always play to the gallery and say what people like to hear rather than what they should hear.
Another thing about politics is that you must be a master of double standards. Politics must be played on the basis of do what I say and not do what I do. And you will support certain things that serve your agenda and oppose certain things that are detrimental to your agenda — even if that stand violates certain principles such as freedom of information, freedom of thought, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and so on.
For example, Umno will support the ban on Schindler’s List while DAP will think this would be undemocratic and DAP will support the ban on Tanda Putera while Umno will think this would be undemocratic. Should both these movies be banned or is it undemocratic to ban them? The answer will depend on your political agenda and what best serves this agenda. This has nothing to do with democracy.
What about movies that show Arabs as the baddies and American CIA agents as the goodies (or Red Indians as the baddies and white cowboys as the goodies)? In the interest of ‘justice’ all these movies should be banned as well. But they are not, are they? In fact, we clap and cheer when John Wayne says, “The only good Injun is a dead Injun”, as he shoots them all dead.
Where do we define the boundary on freedom of expression and indecency? We cannot. This is because one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. Hence what is decent to one may be indecent to another. So, to DAP, Tanda Putera is indecent while, to Umno, Schindler’s List is indecent.
The only thing would be to allow both and let the viewer decide between good and bad. Then man need no longer play God and decide what you can and cannot do. And once we apply this rule then this rule should apply to everything. But are we ready for that?
I doubt Malaysians are ready for the time when someone can stand up and say, “I am gay and proud of it”, or “I used to be a Muslim but I am now an atheist.” Hence, until then, we shall still have politicians telling us what is good for us and propagating certain things that are not in the least about our interest but about the interest of their own political agenda. And because of that Malaysians will remain ignorant and backward for some time to come.
Today, we ban books and movies. Tomorrow, we will ban speech and opinion. Finally, we will ban thought. And that would be when Malaysia becomes what England was 500 years ago. In England, 500 years ago, they killed you for thinking the wrong thing. Hmm…come to think of it, they still do this in some parts of the world.
