Why We Protested In Front of the North Korean Embassy

Senator Khairul Azwan Harun

On the 23rd of February, UMNO Youth alongside BN Youth and several youth NGOs sent a note of protest to the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We demanded that Malaysia, as a result of the Embassy of North Korea’s behavior and attitude towards the domestic investigation concerning a deceased individual at KLIA2, revisit its bilateral relationship with North Korea as well as revoke its visa free agreement with Pyongyang.

Repeatedly, the Embassy of North Korea, up to the day before the handing of the note of protest, was issuing press releases whereby they instigated onto the Malaysian Police how the investigation should be conducted.

Moreover, they took the extra step of making conclusions regarding the investigation themselves, seemingly bypassing the Malaysian investigators. Specifically, they lashed out at Malaysia and claimed that the evidence gathered was inadequate for the eventual arrests of two females and one North Korean citizen, Ri Jong Choi.

The Embassy claimed that Malaysia was being influenced by foreign media and South Korea. The Embassy concluded themselves that the victim could not have possibly been killed by poison because the female suspects who were caught daubing the poison on the victim’s face should have been killed as well.

A week after the handing of the note of protest to the Embassy, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that Malaysia would cease allowing North Korean citizens visa free travel into Malaysia effective on the 6th of March 2017.

When a high-level delegation from North Korea led by former North Korean Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Ri Tong-il, arrived in Malaysia to discuss a number of issues with Malaysian government officials, they sought not to ease tensions but rather to continue demanding that Malaysian investigators admit that Kim Jong-nam was killed by a heart attack.

When the sovereignty of our country is being undermined, Malaysia acts swiftly, precisely and fast. When the sovereignty of our country is being underpinned, you don’t need someone who can wiggle his way around rhetoric into an argument, quick action sends the strongest message.

Malaysia, driven by the ruling coalition of Barisan Nasional, has always stood the position of protecting our national institutions. Not a long while ago I had written myself about the values of our institutions in maintaining this country’s stability.

I had criticized and warned of the so called “Save Malaysia” movement, spurred by the so called “Citizens’ Declaration, started by former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir. Tun Mahathir, alongside the existing opposition leaders, called for a press conference where they stated that the opposition had been rejuvenated with a common purpose of taking down Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak.

My arguments then —as it is still today—against this ‘movement’ were that it lay the basis of a harmful mentality amongst our youths, the belief that democracy is a process where you get everything you want through collective denial of the institutions that hold our country safe. Elections in Malaysia is an institution. Police in Malaysia is also an institution. The very idea that you must concede victory to the winning coalition after elections is itself—albeit ignored by the opposition— an institution. These concepts and corridors maintain normality and processes that safeguard Malaysia away from anarchy. And when something like the so called “Save Malaysia” movement or an Embassy calls to bypass these institutions and make conclusions of their own, then Malaysia’s future gets rattled into uncertainty.

There should be no compromise on our rule of law. There should be no compromise on our sovereignty. Even if it causes severance of diplomatic relations with North Korea, our institutions should not be overlooked because of a foreign agenda.

The things that get said, like the Embassy of North Korea claiming that Kim Jong-nam died of a heart attack or that Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak is the sole reason for all of Malaysia’s flaws, may comfort the emotions of some. In the short term, if we agree with these narratives, they make our most absurd reasoning feel justified. But for the future, these aggressive and illogical conclusions provide our society a rhetoric that will only lead to division amongst our communities. They make us unable to listen to one another, suspicious of those that don’t agree with us and emotional rather than logical.

And when we become overly emotional, we tend to overlook reasoning. This is evident in the absurd conclusions made by the North Korean Embassy. But more frighteningly, the absurdity is shared amongst the opposition. So caught up in their hate of the Prime Minister, they have failed to ask themselves the crucial questions. Repeatedly, they have said that their sole reason for sticking together as an opposition coalition is to bring down Prime Minister Najib. So what happens if they do succeed. What if they do achieve that goal. What next? Will the divas and egos that populate the opposition’s leadership still work together? Or will they fight amongst each other for the top spot?

Supporters of the opposition need to ask their leaders these crucial questions because the leadership of our country should not be held by those with short term goals. Their eminent internal bickering if the opposition are to succeed puts the stability of our country at risk. It puts the values of our institution at risk.