By:
Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun, Malaysia (pg 12) June 14, 2013
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/columns/onpointe
A Few weeks ago, Turkey was a peaceful country
in the eyes of the world, today we read about chaos, tear gas, water cannons
and bulldozers being used on protesters. On the whole, we have become
sensitised to the Arab Spring and the fighting in Syria but just like that,
issues in Turkey have come to the fore.
To
the rest of the world, this discontentment came just like that because of
displeasure to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim Square. But to those in
Turkey, the park issue highlights deep-seated unhappiness towards the
government. Surely there were signs – one of which might have been the
intention of holding a May Day march which was met with riot police clashing
with tens of thousands of people.
Just
as tigers lurk with stealth-like ability before attacking their prey, brewing
discontent needs to be paid the right amount of attention and leaders should
base tactical thinking on differentiating between real tigers and paper tigers.
One
potential threat that we seem to easily disregard are migrant workers, not the
workers themselves but the situation in which Malaysia accords them. Migrant
workers make up 2.3 million of the population – that's just the legal figure
which accounts for more than the third main race in this country. Malaysia is
reported to be the largest importer of migrant labour in Asia. Yet, we have
failed to acknowledge their needs.
Every
day we are in contact with migrant workers, they work on our roads, markets, as
cleaners, security guards and the list is endless and yet we know so little
about their communities and our laws do not accommodate their rights. We also
need to be aware of how the happenings in their home country affect us here.
The
religious conflict in Myanmar has seeped into our country with multiple clashes
and killings among Myanmar nationals reported at Selayang wholesale market and
parts of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor since the end of May. How do our authorities
deal with these instances? Detaining hundreds of Myanmar nationals does not
solve the issue, neither is it ethical. What may seem to some as a solution is
only a short-term measure.
The
reality is that Malaysia is dependent on migrant workers and we are not looking
at the long-term implications of such a need. Gone are the days where rights
could be overlooked.
As
a country going all out to secure our place on the United Nations Security
Council and a country that sits on the Human Rights Council, what a disservice
we do by not being party to conventions like the International Convention on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families.
What
then will our excuse be when our representative stands in front of the world to
report on our human rights track record as part of our Universal Periodic
Review report in October?
What
we need is foresight; leadership that is able to set the stage, shape policies
and identify the real tigers. We need to go past the thinking that human rights
is zero sum in nature. Instead of being reactionaries, we need to start
becoming progressives without giving up or acting in a contrarian manner
towards our core values and beliefs.
Our
short-term reactionary thinking is now laid testament to all the evidence that
the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah is churning out.
What a mess it has become. Staying silent once the RCI has concluded will only
add discontent within the country – can we afford it?
In
a 1946 interview with American journalist Anna Louise Strong, Mao Tse-tung talked
about living tigers, iron tigers, real tigers, who are powerful in appearance
but in the end turned out to be paper tigers, dead tigers, and bean-curd tigers
– nothing to be afraid of.
What
Malaysia and Malaysians need is that ability to tell the different tigers
apart.
Natalie hopes that Malaysia's new parliamentary mix
will be wise enough to work together in dealing with the different tigers.
Comment: letters@thesundaily.com
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