When Rights are Violated

Tune in to TV these days during the news hours and you will be greeted by a government sponsored community message regarding public demonstrations. In the advertisement, graphic images are displayed, images of screaming men beating each other up, throwing Molotov Cocktail and destroying public properties. The clip is truly gruesome and scary, and the message is clear; do not participate in any form of demonstrations because they will incite public unrest. And I'm sure the average Malaysian will agree quite whole heartedly. Indeed, who wouldn't after seeing those images and been reminded of bloodbath in countries like Indonesia and Pakistan. Until one thinks more deeply, that is.

What about peaceful demonstrations? Are demonstrations not capable of being free of violence? What about those advocated by the late Gandhi? Are those not peaceful? Or how about the (almost) monthly ones held in cities like New York. Do they always result in havoc? I can give you a thousand more examples; the anti capital punishment demonstration Rome, animal rights demonstrations by Peta all around the world and etc,but I think you get my point.

Which leads me to what happened earlier today. This morning, around 200 supporters of Hindraf went parading in Jalan Raja Laut to request the release of 5 Hindraf leaders held under ISA since last month. Their choice of weapons? Roses. Yes, the flower kind. 200 of them walked peacefully armed with roses, all for a peaceful purpose. None of them went chanting slogans or blocking roads or destroying public properties. Just roses. The parade consisted of Indians of all walks of life; men women and children.

Weapon of Mass Demonstration

Then almost immediately, police came and started dispersing the crowd. The demonstraters ran helter-skelter to avoid the cops. However, pretty soon, they gathered again to continue their cause.

Seeing this, the police took out their big guns. Literally. They started spraying the poor demonstrators with chemically laced water using water canons. Not contented with that, they resorted to another of their favourite weapon; tear gas.

Roses vs water canon and tear gas. You'll be the judge.

And let me remind you that there were children present.

My question is this; is there a need for such act of violence by the police? Surely, they have better ways of controlling the crowd than blasting women and children with chemical water and tear gas? Even a tourist, who was present was puzzled by the police's actions, saying "The police outnumbered the crowd in three folds. I saw several of them firing teargas canisters to the peaceful crowd. Why is there a need to fire that many teargas canisters when one is strong enough (to disperse the crowd)."

Some might ask, why do they need to protest in the first place? Why do they have to put the children's life in danger by bringing them along? Surely this would not happen if they resorted to other ways to get the PM's attention.

But the question is, what other ways?

Hindraf had written complain letters and sent memorandum for quite some time regarding the alleged discrimination that they faced over the past years in the country. All of them are ignored. Over and over again. Then they held another similar peaceful demonstration to make their point. The result? Their 5 leaders were arrested (which led to this current demonstration). Hindraf was then regarded as a terrorist movement by the government. All because they were trying to protect their rights.

So, I'll ask you again. What choice do they have? How else would they have their plea heard by the government and the public? The media? Give me a break. All major forms of media in Malaysia are controlled by the ruling party. Their voice will never see the light of day. So what choice do they have than to take this to the streets?

Others will argue that they deserve it because the gathering is illegal in the first place as no permit was issued by the police. This is a tactic often used by the authorities to justify their acts. However, when no demonstration by the opposition is ever (and will ever be) allowed on the grounds that 1) It will cause public unrest, 2) It is against the nation's interest, and 3) It will result in violence, what else could be done?

Abdullah then lashed out at the Hindraf demonstrators and referred them as extremists for causing public unrest and undermining the nation's security (With what? Flowers?). I beg to differ. The extremists and terrorists in this case are the government and the police force (which is acting on behalf of the government). They have clearly bullied those who were against them into submission.

Living in a democratic country, I think that a citizen's most valuable possession is the freedom of speech. He must protect this even with his life because it is in essence what makes a democratic nation democratic. However, our government is committed to make us pay for exercising our rights.

Every Malaysian must know and believe that it is their prerogatives to express their views and opinions even if they are contradictory to the goverment's stance and policies. This include the right to organise and participate in peaceful demonstrations. This is safeguarded in the Constitution itself. However, the government doesn't seem to respect our birth rights.

To quote Lim Kit Siang, "By denying people the right to demonstrate the governmentt is implying that it has indeed something to hide and that the issue which caused the demonstration is indeed a legitimate one."

Well said.