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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 19 Sep 2012 06:51 PM PDT

20 SEPT — "I'm bad with numbers — so I can't tell you if it was 100,000 people. It certainly was very easily in the tens of thousands. Also pretty difficult to tell when the whole stretch of the road from Dataran Merdeka to the National Mosque was an ocean of people, they were spilling into the side streets, and in the mosque compound, in the nearby Pusat Islam compound." — Sabri Zain

Tanggal 20 September 14 tahun lepas mengubah banyak hal di Malaysia. Mahu tidak mahu fakta ini harus diakui. Seluruh rakyat Malaysia terkesan. Tanggal 20 September tercatat sebagai detik hitam dalam sejarah Malaysia apabila Anwar Ibrahim ditangkap di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri setelah bersama puluhan ribu rakyat berhimpun di Dataran Merdeka dan Masjid Negara. Walaupun Anwar dipecat pada 2 September, bagi banyak orang 20 September dianggap tanda mula kebangkitan.

"Tidak hari ini, minggu depan. Tidak minggu ini, minggu depan, tidak bulan ini bulan depan, tidak tahun ini, tahun depan, lawan tetap lawan."

Suasana di pilihanraya kecil Lunas tahun 2000.

Empat belas tahun berlalu, itulah kata keramat yang sering dilaung Anwar Ibrahim dan kekal tersemat di tubuh para pejuang buat azimat perjuangan yang entah bila akan menuai hasil. Apa yang pasti perjuangan berliku-liku dan memerlukan daya tahan yang luar biasa. Melihat kembali, 14 tahun terasa pendek dan dengan pencapaian sehingga kini, tabik saya berikan kepada semua yang konsisten dalam perjuangan. Kejayaan sepertinya semakin hampir tetapi jangan dilupa ia boleh menjauh seandainya terlalu angkuh.

Berikut adalah peristiwa-peristiwa penting yang menurut saya mencatur perjalanan reformasi hingga kini.

Oktober 1998 — perhimpunan mingguan di Sogo dan sekitar Jalan TAR. Saya sempat menghadiri beberapa walaupun akan mengambil SPM penghujung tahunnya. Pengalaman yang tidak dapat dilupakan dan banyak membentuk sikap saya seterusnya.

24 Oktober 1999 — PAS, DAP, Parti Keadilan Nasional (KeADILan) dan Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) membentuk Barisan Alternatif. Pertama kali dalam sejarah DAP dan PAS berada dalam satu gabungan politik.

4 April 1999 — Parti Keadilan Nasional dilancarkan.

14 April 1999 — Anwar Ibrahim dihukum penjara 6 tahun atas empat pertuduhan rasuah. Lantas digelar "Black 14".

19 September 1999 — Perhimpunan di Masjid Negara berkait dakwaan Anwar Ibrahim diracun dengan arsenik sewaktu dalam tahanan polis. Perhimpunan terbesar selepas 20 September 1998 menggegarkan Kuala Lumpur dan berakhir rusuh.

29 November 1999 — Pilihanraya umum yang ke 10. Terengganu jatuh ke tangan PAS dan Kelantan terus gagal dirampas Umno-Barisan Nasional. Keputusan yang menurut saya anti-klimaks kepada parti pembangkang yang bergabung di bawah Barisan Alternatif melihatkan api kemarahan rakyat sebelumnya sangat meluap-luap. Umno terjejas di banyak kawasan akibat peralihan undi Melayu kepada PAS dan PKN. Umno diselamatkan oleh pengundi Cina dan India yang barangkali masih takut dengan momok 13 Mei dan terpengaruh dengan idea tentang kestabilan yang dicanang saban masa. Kesimpulannya reformasi gagal menarik sokongan bukan Melayu.

5 November 2000 — Perhimpunan 100,000 rakyat yang sepatutnya diadakan di Kampung Jalan Kebun, Klang tetapi disekat polis akhirnya menjadi detik bersejarah apabila Lebuhraya KESAS menjadi lokasi pertama demonstrasi di lebuhraya. Ribuan berarak di Lebuhraya KESAS menuju tempat berkumpul berhampiran Plaza Tol Kemuning dan menyeru Perdana Menteri, Dr Mahathir Mohamad untuk berundur. Seperti lazim, perhimpunan berakhir kecoh apabila FRU menyembur air asid dan gas pemedih mata bagi menyuraikan peserta.

29 November 2000 — Pilihanraya kecil Lunas dimenangi calon Keadilan, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail mengalahkan calon BN, S. Anthonysamy. Kemenangan ini diharap dapat mengekalkan momentum reformasi supaya terus subur.

Perhimpunan Black 14 tahun 2001.

14 April 2001 — Perhimpunan "Black 14" tahun 2001 diadakan di perkarangan Suhakam. Beberapa hari sebelum itu 10 aktivis ditahan di bawah ISA; Tian Chua, Mohammad Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, N. Gobalakrishnan, Hishamuddin Rais, Raja Petra Kamarudin, Abdul Ghani Harun, Dr Badrul Amin Baharom, Lokman Adam dan Badaruddin Ismail. Menurut saya penangkapan ini telah sedikit sebanyak meruntuhkan momentum reformasi yang diakibatkan perbezaan pandangan yang muncul setelah pembebasan mereka.

21 September 2001— Barisan Alternatif bubar dengan pengunduran DAP akibat sengketa dengan PAS berkaitan isu negara Islam.

3 Ogos 2003 — Parti Keadilan Nasional dan Parti Rakyat Malaysia bergabung menubuhkan Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

21 Mac 2004 — Keputusan pilihanraya umum ke 11 adalah kiamat kecil kepada parti pembangkang apabila Umno-BN menang besar dan berjaya merampas semula Terengganu serta hampir menguasai Kelantan. Aktivis dan parti pembangkang masing-masing berpecah belah.

2 September 2004 — Anwar Ibrahim dibebaskan. Semangat baru bertiup semula.

7 Januari 2007 — Mood rakyat dibangkitkan semula dengan menggelar perhimpunan anti tol di Sunway Pyramid.

4 Februari 2007 — Agenda meniup semangat diteruskan dengan perhimpunan anti tol di IOI Mall, Puchong.

10 November 2007 — Mood rakyat berjaya dibangkitkan dengan jaya pada Perhimpunan Bersih menuntut pilhanraya bersih dan adil apabila sekitar 30,000 rakyat turun ke Kuala Lumpur.

8 Mac 2008 — Pilihanraya ke 12 adalah detik bersejarah apabila parti pembangkang yang bertanding tanpa bergabung dalam satu koalisi berjaya menumbangkan Barisan Nasional di Selangor, Pulau Pinang, Kedah dan Perak serta mengekalkan Kelantan. Majoriti 2/3 Barisan Nasional juga berjaya dinafikan.

1 April 2008 — Pakatan Rakyat yang terdiri dari PKR, PAS dan DAP ditubuhkan dan membentuk kerajaan di 5 buah negeri.

14 April 2008 — Black 14 dirayakan dengan suasana berbeza apabila Anwar Ibrahim secara rasminya kembali aktif di dalam politik Malaysia. Puluhan ribu memadati Kelab Sultan Sulaiman di Kampung Baru.

26 Ogos 2008 — Anwar Ibrahim kembali terpilih sebagai Ahli Parlimen setelah memenangi pilihanraya kecil Parlimen Permatang Pauh.

1 Ogos 2009 — 20,000 menyertai Perhimpunan Anti-ISA di Kuala Lumpur. Masih didominasi Melayu.

9 Julai 2011 — Perhimpunan Bersih 2.0 disertai sekitar 30,000 rakyat dan mulai disertai banyak kaum bukan Melayu.

28 April 2012 — Perhimpunan Bersih 3.0. Kemenangan rakyat apabila puluhan malah mungkin ratusan ribu rakyat berbilang bangsa turun ke jalan raya di Kuala Lumpur menyatakan tuntutan menuntut pilihanraya bersih dan adil. Bukan sahaja di Kuala Lumpur, Bersih 3.0 turut diadakan di bandar-bandar lain di Malaysia seperti George Town dan Johor Baru serta lebih 80 kota di seluruh dunia.

20 September 2012 — Perjuangan berterusan dan syukur dimensinya lebih luas serta merentas kaum dan agama.

Bulan-bulan mendatang menjelang pilihanraya umum ke 13 merupakan saat-saat penting untuk negara kita. Pilihan di tangan kita untuk mencatur Malaysia seperti apa; Ketuanan Melayu? Ketuanan Islam? Ketuanan Cukong? Ketuanan Rakyat? Semoga 15 tahun "20 September" pada 2013 akan dirayakan dengan semangat kemerdekaan dan kebebasan yang baru serta semangat persaudaraan bangsa Malaysia yang lebih utuh.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Living in the shadows of our vote

Posted: 19 Sep 2012 05:03 PM PDT

SEPT 20 — Most people tell me that we need to change government so that a small dishonest group ceases to live off the rakyat. Though this is true there is the other more human reason, we need to change government so that all of us can cease to be dishonest.

Face the fact — or as they say these days, read the timeline — living in a deteriorating Malaysia requires all citizens to compromise principles. Reverting to our zeitgeist, "Ini kan Malaysia" (This is Malaysia, after all).

For as a matter of survival, to get along — can't swim upstream since we are not salmons — we compromise, maybe less and maybe just enough to get by, but we compromise.

Compromising in limited parameters so that we can still point and pontificate at those who flagrantly take without restrain. While the slothful may not know what is shy, the brutal assessment will be that we are both dishonest, with the varying degrees of distinctions just Pyrrhic victories.

A change in government offers the chance for everyday Malaysians to take a new road, one that possibly gives them the chance to not be dishonest as a matter of course living in this country.

As these paths of dishonesty illustrate.

Sub-con the sub-con

The evolution of "social engineering" our economy has created a class of those who do not need experience, ability, track record or integrity to win contracts. May it be infrastructure, technology or services.

The RM2 company is still king.

But the work is then passed down through a chain of sub-contractors, cutting more and more from the rich meat.

This is when the sub-contractor's sub-contractor steps in. He will accept the terms.

Saying that you will not take tainted business will not feed the employees of an SME, or even yourself. There are seats at the family table, and the bowls need to be full.

However, with less meat and just bone staring at you at the commencement of the project proper, adjustments are instituted, as quality and reliability are taken for granted so that an agreeable profit margin remains.

Squeezed by the chain of sub-contractors, the actual service deliverer squeezes the end customer. The pain flows down while unfortunately the shame has no name.

Have shop must "accommodate"

Entertainment outlets — cafes, restaurants, massage centres, bars and mamak stalls (Indian street eateries) — face hidden costs. There are several arrangements necessary with various state agencies — enforcement, regulatory or moral. For many practical needs are not codified into law and the laws we are left with — by-laws and agency purviews — are ambiguous and wide-reaching.

If you don't play ball it will always be more laborious to operate.

Play ball would mean less emphasis on security, parking and sanitary needs, unless the outlet can pass the hidden costs back to the consumer.

Operators opt to work the system, not fight the system. Fighting is no way to run a business.

... So I'll just not pay income tax

No one enjoys paying taxes, but in Malaysia there is a Thoreau-like objection to paying taxes. Malaysians at large are convinced it is taxation without representation. The prime minister reads the upcoming Budget, the rest of us have to just suck it up. Neither our MPs or emails matter. They give what they want, to whom they want and in the manner they prefer.

So there is massive under-reporting. Can you blame them?

It is the government of the day's job to convince that all expenditures have the intention to give the most utility to most numbers of Malaysians or in areas of greatest concern. Stretching the ringgit like the proverbial mother of the pooled income of all family members.

And then the long list

Of taxi drivers squeezing commuters since they are squeezed by taxi companies. Squeezed without healthcare. There are dishonest taxi drivers worldwide because of the job's nature, but the prevailing culture of oppression they are confronted with eases them into unscrupulous behaviour with greater alacrity. Foreigners get the brunt of it, and everyone is scarred.

Of parents facilitating their children relying on tuition centres to game their public examinations. In some instances outright cheating as exam papers are leaked by those in the "game." They say they have to, they are just getting along. They'd cringe and defend themselves by pointing out to the opaque occurrences in boarding schools leading to competitive grades. Everyone is doing something to give their children that extra metre in the sprint, they are just keeping to the rules of engagement.

Reducing education, or at least educational excellence, to beating the system. After 11 years being conditioned like this, why is anyone surprised that the young think it is only cheating if you are caught? And when caught, there is no remorse, just a realisation that the next cheat has to be better arranged.

Of millions of Malaysian homes renovated without local council approval because there are no straightforward processes at their offices. Better than running around government offices like a headless chicken, just do it and "arrange" things with enforcers when they show up.

Of hiding your sexuality because there has been no engagement by the state; to protect the civil liberties of citizens as expressly stated in our Constitution. Sure, religions present absolutes but states are about benefiting all members, not just those you agree with or share your religious proclivities.

There are no easy answers, but there can never be an outcome or equitable compromise if the state is unwilling to engage biological realities.

Of hiding your ethnicity for political expediencies. Those blokes in Penang who immensely enjoy banana leaf meals (Indian food-style) — not the sanitised ones, the "karat" (unadulterated) ones. Or my Rawa friend who speaks of his community in Gopeng. The Acheh, Javanese, Filipino, Arab and rest who downplay their own origins so that they are fit into the single conveyor belt the system has.

Of tertiary institutes — new public colleges, polytechnics turned to universities, foreign universities' local chapters, tuition centres turned to colleges, etc — that mushroomed in the last 15 years, focussed on looking at undergraduates as cattle. Drawing unqualified students to waste five years only to be incredibly unemployable. Two years in technical school to be a plumber and auto mechanic would have given them more job opportunities and better pay, as specialised training matters — if only to make sure that cars don't crash because of poor maintenance.

Of performers in TV and other shows who wear multiple layers of clothing to sate the Puritan censor, and in their club performances get back to their own preference. Same too film and TV writers and directors despite all their training and ideas have to tell all kinds of stories in only the acceptable ways with predictable endings.

These artists must feel tormented that official and allowed expression in the country must be controlled. And those who work outside the mainstream remain starving and in the shadows.

Dishonest me, dishonest you

Every day I am dishonest. We all are. We may not profit much but our need to survive is contingent on playing ball. Maybe just looking the other way when principles are disregarded.

We just put it down to the price of being in Malaysia. Incidental, not monumental, to our moral property.

These are the occasions you wish you were not that smart, so that every hypocrisy holding up your life would not be obvious.

If I sound like I'm panting, it is because as I write I feel that I am running astride millions of my countrymen through a moral wilderness — the unforgiving "belukar" (reclaimed forest) — all sensing the madness of it all.

We end up packing all the contradictions, enduring the grey expanse, into an abstract singularity.

Which is why living here in Malaysia suffocates many, and the lethargy builds by the day.

It is not the massively corrupt who lose their souls indefinitely, it is the rest of us condoning them and living off the reality they leave for us to survive which chips away at our own souls.

A change of government does not guarantee an end of all the dishonesty, but can anyone say that staying with the lot in charge will steer us to clearer consciences?

I've said before that people vote on the economy, not on morals, but there is a curious case going on here, our dysfunctional morality in this economical terrain is draining our lifeblood.

The vote on morals might be equally a vote on the economy this coming election.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Khamis, 20 September 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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