Let’s be a civil, civil society
FMT LETTER: From Kevin Fernandez, via e-mail
Recently, we observed many civil society members going at length to defend answer Anwar’s decision to contest the Kajang state seat after Lee Chin Cheh’s resignation. Many see this as a move for him (Anwar) to ultimately become the Selangor Menteri Besar, replacing Khalid Ibrahim.
One civil society actor from the popular Bersih movement even went on to say that Umno has used the 3 R’s (Royalty, Religion and Race) to defend itself in response to PR’s more moderate rhetoric. I’m saddened that the writer seems to fall short of understanding the Malay race.
The Malay race is constructed by one important element and that is Islam. Ask most Malays in the country what is their race, and they will be proud to share the multi-racial composition which made them Malay.
This is significant difference from the ‘I’m Hokkien, Cantonese or Malayalee, Tamil and Ceylonese’ that the Chinese and Indians would proudly respond when asked. Let us not be disillusioned that Anwar was a subscriber to race based rhetoric which led him to where he is today if we to consider his ABIM days right up to 1997.
So one would expect, that ‘Why 2014 is not 1969 and 513 won’t replay’ actually is an argument against Anwar. But the real question is, has he changed? Is civil society being independent on this ‘Kajang Move’?
Firstly, Anwar has not taken a stance against the Allah issue. I have personally written an open letter to him before this fiasco started. He remained quite though it was in Selangor that the Bibles were confiscated and none of his comrades have alluded to defending the rights of minorities, Christians and Punjabis to be exact.
Though Ambiga did mention her anguish on the matter, her other comrades remained coy over the ‘Allah’ matter. More importantly, except for Teresa Kok and Charles Santiago of DAP, none even mentioned their support for minorities on the issue even though it was mentioned in almost all of the ceramahs conducted by the opposition.
Secondly, I’m quite surprised that Ambiga and her comrades are adamantly effacing the real matter in hand, that is Pakatan has been devoid in pushing for real electoral reforms. During the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) meetings for electoral reforms, the 30-page proposal by Bersih was reduced by Azmin Ali. I wonder why Bersih has not questioned Azmin, or better still, demand for his resignation.
Recently at a forum organised by a civil society grouping, I was touched by their concern over the rising cost of living, unfairness in governing the country and the rich-poor divide. After the talk, it was surprising to see some of the speakers being chauffeur driven back in their BMW 5 Series and Mercedes Benz.
I was amazed by the glitter of hope they gave to the attendees, though many were less fortunate than the speakers. Mind you, these attendees were even quicker to contribute the little they had for more talks to be organised. I really do wonder, is civil society turning into a lucrative business these days?
