The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2013 05:16 PM PDT
JUNE 6 — Admission number one, I am aware that we are in uncharted territory but more importantly I concede — I do not have all the answers in any of my pockets. Admission number two, it may get worse. Now my fellow countrymen, let's try to find resolve. Which is what we want, resolve to carry on the struggle. Define the struggle. The Barisan Nasional guys have a fair point, that there is a platitude of issues which they are confronted with from us — those who are struggling against them. They state with disdain, surely you who oppose BN must have a focus, you can't just be a broad themed opposition to everything which is BN. They are right in that regard, but the struggle is not a lead zeppelin because it champions so many issues. The struggle is about participation. About having a say, an equitable say in how things are decided in the country, right or wrong. Therefore even if there are multitudes of issues, say on June 15 at Padang Merbok with anti-Lynas flags, deaths in lockups banners, Felda settlers' T-shirts, student rights reform bandanas and educationists with crayons, when it is officially a Black 505 gathering (protest against the general election execution by the Election Commission), it is not proof of dissonance. Variety This is the pre-eminent multicultural nation on the planet — I caught the national news on Astro's Mandarin channel (yes, the graphics helped) — therefore the fractions of the issues inside the general movement are almost infinite, but they do not fracture the focal agenda of the opposition. Remember, the wrong guys run the country, and while they run it, there will not be the equitable participation which is the basis of a democracy. The confluence of power to an elite few and them, then using all the institutions to protect the central contention that they should be in power indefinitely is why our objective remains the same, displace BN. Lynas is an Australian-owned plant with operations involving suspect minerals and resultant waste, whose approval was urged on by the government despite local opposition. There was no level playing field or recourse for the people. Police brutality has gone on for decades because it is not a priority of a ruling class that does not find itself in lock-ups — ever. It does find however the use of the police to quell and intimidate their opposition extremely useful. It picks and choose, and is therefore passively responsible for the erosion of the department's integrity. Felda settlers are now part of a global company listed in Kuala Lumpur, and are observers as the government which nudged them to this new arrangement now blame the opposition for the major hiccups the company is having. Students are told they can participate in politics, and then find the rug pulled from under them. Our students are not unemployable because they have been overly involved in politics, they are now manning cashier counters in a department store because commercial companies can't tell their character and intellect from Form Five dropouts. Perhaps treating them like adults in their campuses would be one step in the right direction. The restrictions on the students are from the government. There is no campus without freedom. Without freedom they are just badly constructed buildings by a series of cronies. While the objection to the election result and attacks on it have been haphazard, the cause of the mess is BN. The struggle to end BN rule remains. Dream without fear But from where will the resolve come? We huffed and puffed but the house in PWTC did not fall, for the moment. You have attended rally after rally, hoping that somehow, somewhere an answer will come. I cannot guarantee a success deadline, but I can tell you that the reasons you started this journey to want a better country have not changed. Take heart from that. The reasons have not become corrupt. The opponent may be standing, but he is bruised all over. He is unsure how to deal with your will anymore. And he shall misstep over and over, because your omnipresence is an obstacle too difficult for him to surmount. Do you want him to relax now and enjoy his spoils? More will join you. If BN is sick of us mentioning the popular vote won by Pakatan in 2013, then I will spare them the repeat. But the numbers will only increase the longer BN goes on in power. BN represents absolutism, since free men don't desire to be serfs, the relentless ruler relies on those still under his yoke. And as more truths become prevalent, serfs will become free again. It is a shrinking zone, the BN support base. Still, the two admissions remain. I don't have all the answers and yes, things may get worse. But I am not sure anymore if things will get better if all of us stopped to care and let them have their way without our objection anymore. I ask you to stay the course, but you are free to choose. Whether to believe that this BN government can be brought down through our collective democratic will. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. | |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2013 04:43 PM PDT
JUNE 6 — "There are many cases of men marrying underage girls. I do not see why my case should be any different". This a quote from Riduan Masmud, who is alleged to have raped and then married a 13-year-old, in The Star recently. A couple of years ago I had written an article discussing underage marriages in Malaysia suggesting that left unchecked, loopholes in the law could make the country a haven for legalised paedophilia. If he is right, then this is coming to pass. But this recent case has taken the problem a step further, with the ability to rape children and still walk away scot-free by simply marrying the child becoming a real possibility. A lot has been written about the consequences of the early sexualisation of children, forced or otherwise, and the effects of underage marriages to belabour the point except to say that there are sound reasons to abhor the practice. What is of deeper interest are the social circumstances that make such practices acceptable. What allows society to believe that marriage is the right answer for their young children when they have been forcefully sexualised? For that matter why are so many girls even in a position to be taken advantage of by much older men, where the perpetrator can claim consent? It is instructive to note that in a number of cases, including the latest one, the existent wife is amenable to the idea of her middle-aged husband bringing a 13-year-old as his new bride, younger than even possibly their children. Traditional stereotyping of women and their amplification in media may have something to do with this. London Weight Management in a recent ad takes up a case of a woman whose deepest problem seems to be that her husband will not hold her hand in public because she weighs 65kg. Of course once she loses a few of those pesky kilogrammes, he is delighted to hold her hand again. The implicit presumption being the primary source of identity for women is the nature of the male gaze. Following on uninvited are notions of male supremacy, the desirability of marriage as a superior primary activity over a career, the alleged importance of sex to land a husband and being a third wife being somehow still preferable to being single or divorced. While it is true that social change is generally slow, it is the role of lawmakers, the judiciary, the education system and the media to promote social behaviour that safeguards the rights of women and promotes gender equality to the point that society itself recognises these attitudes as universally desirable. Marrying the victim only adds lifelong insult to the injury. Holding hands should be a sign of love between two people, not a sexual trophy for the man. When there is an opportunity provided by weak family values, legal loopholes and a reluctance by the powers that be to take on the problem head on, there will always be men using and abusing our daughters and getting away with it. If the true measure of the development of a society is the treatment handed out to its children, allowing this state of affairs to continue without protest does not augur well for Malaysia. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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