By:
Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun,
Malaysia (pg 12)
May
3rd, 2012
Aung San Su
Kyi has a problem with an oath of office with regard to the constitution and on
principle managed to pre-empt a historical moment. Her beef was with the words
“safeguard the constitution” – refusing to protect the junta written
constitution, she requested that safeguard be substituted with “respect”
instead. She stood her ground for two weeks (child’s play compared house arrest
for 15 years), but has finally agreed to take the oath even without the word
being changed – because she knows, the only way change will happen is if she
were in Parliament.
As
an outsider to Myanmar politics, I can’t help but feel a certain sense of
comfort knowing that because Su Kyi is a stickler for detail and has a stubborn
streak, laws, by-laws, legislative amendments and all that politicians do in
parliament will be met with her tenacious spirit to hold them accountable to
detail. I’m quite sure that with Su Kyi in parliament, no legislative bill will
ever be passed in one night of a parliamentary sitting – just because it was on
the agenda, as was done in Malaysia on April 19.
What
was the rush to pass eight extremely contentious bills in one sitting which
ended in the wee hours of the morning, after a previous late-night session? One
has to question the sincerity and logic of those setting the agenda when things
like this go unchecked.
As
students of negotiation and mediation practices, we learnt the importance of
wearing down opponents not by aggressive means but by subtle delays and
background checks masqueraded as harmless corridor chats about family and life
during tea breaks. When one is pressing for a decision to be made, alarm bells
must go off, and the easiest time of the day to get away with people
overlooking detail is the wee hours of the morning when they are worn out. So,
how much quality debate went on the night the eight bills were passed?
One has to also wonder if this is in line with the prime minister’s recent declaration to make Malaysia “the world’s best democracy”.
One has to also wonder if this is in line with the prime minister’s recent declaration to make Malaysia “the world’s best democracy”.
Decision
makers have the power to decide who to protect and what to secure.
Unfortunately, ours have not made very good decisions and chosen to protect
their own interest instead of that of the people.
For
these reasons, so many people felt deeply enough to make the journey to the
heart of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday April 28th, 2012. We feel there is no room
left for symbolic grand gestures and tacit consent in our country’s politics.
It’s time the pharisaic window-dressing of transformation ended and real change
happened. Saturday was not about overthrowing a government or occupying
anything. No true Malaysian wishes for chaos on this land – we love it too
much. And that is why a sea of people turned up in support for clean and fair
elections.
The
manner in which the authorities and the government handled the sit-in showed a
complete disconnect with wanting to build the world’s best democracy – it
seemed quite the opposite, instead adding bricks to fortify authoritarian rule.
From
where I was standing as we headed back to the train station, the attacks with
tear gas and coffee-coloured chemically laced water was premeditated. It went
of like clock-work and suddenly I found myself gasping for air when two tear
gas canisters detonated within 5m of each other on the flowerbed of the
pedestrian bridge next to the Central Market Annex – how far was that from
Dataran Merdeka? Caught between them, I fell to my knees. I remember telling
God, “I cannot die this way”, picking myself up and stumbling through the
chemical cloud.
My
experience is one of thousands and mild compared to what so many others
experienced that day in a country building the “best democracy in the world”.
The days that followed only showed the insincerity of the new laws passed that
April night – when the mainstream media opted for a skewed bias in reporting.
All this however cannot take away from the fact that a myriad of people from
every social fabric who on a daily basis are separated by race, religion and
social status, came together in the thousands, filling the streets of KL for fundamental
change in the hope of building a better democracy.
Natalie
hopes there will be no more shotgun lawmaking, and that not only will our
politicians protect and respect the constitution, but also the people, even
when they wear yellow. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
