Malaysiakini :: Letters
Malaysiakini :: Letters |
| Posted: 20 Jul 2011 04:06 AM PDT I read accounts of what happened July 9th and I regret not being able to recount any acts of bravado nor put my body on the line for the sake of fellow Malaysians. A cousin from Japan came to Singapore that day, and so I was probably tucking into expensive dim sum in Takashimaya when marches started gathering steam sporadically around KL city, and while protesters were tear gassed I was probably inside a car in the Singapore flyer explaining the skyline to him. As it had transpired, I count myself as one of the "silent majority" of citizens who did not attend the demonstration, though hardly in PM Najib's definition of the phrase. We are a majority of people who were fence sitters or procrastinators or glass-half-emptiers or for whatever reason we had to not attend that day, I believe we will no longer be silent. The brave people who rallied that day gave us the entire nation the courage and the impetus to act. Bersih 2.0 is a grassroots initiative demanding reforms to be taken up by the Election Commission to ensure clean elections & fair representation of voters, remains apolitical to the extent of even admonishing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as an opportunistic hijacker when he said in days leading up to the event that he would cancel the rally if demands were met. The Bersih movement was probably defined that day, serving notice that it is not to be a tool used by political opposition to serve their interests, but one that is endorsed by all citizenry, one that includes old women clutching flowers & wheelchair bound patriarchs. Often in the past I thought "so what?" if by some miracle the opposition were to win a general election and take control of the country, a more likely scenario is that a PR coalition government would succumb quickly to infighting within its ranks, beset by an inertia of not being able to enact painful but necessary kaizen measures for fear of losing power, be it the continued dependence on Petronas money or the cutting of subsidies or trimming the bloated civil service. More importantly, would they possess the will to enact exactly the same 8 points raised by Bersih on electoral reform and risk losing power in subsequent elections? And the people who were so brave on the streets, when the day comes and the country needs you, would you come to its aid and collectively tighten belts and support your representatives through thick and thin? However precipitous the road shall be, July 9th was a turning point and a vital first step in the path to building a mature and inclusive society. It is a seismic paradigm shift in that through our shouts & protests that we witnessed fear in our government, who brought about swift oppression in the only way they know how, in which we the silent majority in turn received our political awakening. In the photos that later emerged, we were able to witness displays of courage in average citizens who were no longer afraid of the powers that be, exhibiting traits not unlike the unknown hero who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen. The silent majority will continue to take the fight in making our votes count, though we must know that with power comes responsibility, that it will be us who will be accountable, not BN, not PR, nor any other political party. I remind you that we must have the fortitude to overcome roadblocks in terms of difficult transformations the country will surely go through. And yet it is not enough. We must continue to shout, we must continue to wear yellow on Saturdays, we must register our kids as Anak Malaysia, we must continue to question authority, and in order to do all these we must learn to speak freely and without fear, which is why we must also elect representatives who would act to repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Sedition Act & abolish the ISA, the Official Secrets Act. There must be a day the Malay majority in Malaysia elects a gay, non Muslim, non Malay woman to become Prime Minister, and holds her accountable only by the virtue of her work. |
| Role and function of the police force in a kleptocracy Posted: 20 Jul 2011 04:00 AM PDT Kleptocracy is a government of thieves, by thieves and for thieves. The ruling elite in a kleptocracy governs only to extend its personal wealth and political power by stealing from the state's coffers. The major characteristics of a kleptocracy are rampant corruption, rent-seeking activities, money-laundering and abuses of human rights. Since a kleptocracy benefits only a small section of the population at the expense of the wider population, the modus operandi of the kleptocracy to stay in power is to divide the population along tribal, racial or religious lines. Contemporary kleptocracies often maintain a facade of democracy to camouflage their kleptocratic tendencies. A kleptocracy may have a state constitution, though it is regularly abused to suit the whims and fancies of the ruling elite. Regular elections are also held to enforce the notion of a democratic state. The elections are rigged and manipulated to provide legitimacy to the kleptocracy. Government agencies such as the judicial system, the civil service, the legislative body, the security forces and even the church act as apparatchik of the kleptocracy. The officials holding key positions are rewarded by having a share of the loot. True to the maxim, power comes from the barrel of the gun, the police force is an integral member of the kleptocracy. The primary role of the police force is to provide security and well-being of the kleptocracy. A kleptocracy, being an unjust system of government, brooks no dissent and opposition. It is the function of the police force to provide surveillance of any form of dissent. Threats to the well-being of the kleptocracy are eliminated by using ad-hoc laws and regulations or extra-judicial means. Any gathering to express opposition to the kleptocracy is brutally dispersed. However, staged-demonstrations to support the kleptocracy are allowed and protected by the police force. The leadership of the police force is made-up of intellectually-deficient officers. This is is to ensure blind loyalty and total obedience to the ruling elite since they do not have the mental capacity to evaluate the morality or immorality of their actions. Conditioned as the dogs in Pavlov's experiments, they are only motivated by the base instincts of greed and lust. The rank-and-file of the police force is recruited from the bottom of the barrel; those who are not readily-employable in other sectors of the economy. Giddy by the minuscule power derived by being in the force and given tacit license to engage in petty criminal activities, the rank-and-file is committed to the preservation of the status quo. History has shown that the downfall of kleptocracies are directly attributable to the collapse or defection of the police force. Without the police force, a kleptocracy is but a paper tiger. The finality of the Shah of Iran's regime was not portrayed by the photo of the Shah fleeing Iran but by a photo of six dead, naked generals of the SAVAK lying on the damp concrete floor of a morgue in Teheran. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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