The ordinary citizen's voices never mattered for many, many decades in this country. Globally, the ordinary people's voices never mattered for centuries. The world was controlled and shaped by the elitists - whether political, corporate or religious.
Now that has changed. The INTERNET has given a platform to the ordinary citizen to voice his opinions, his views, his findings and his criticisms. He or she can express herself freely and present her ideas for others to share and benefit.
The Internet has also become a source of alternative news and alternative information. We are able to get the other picture and other perspectives. If once, the elitist and the politicians had the power to shape opinions and present "truths", now the "real" truth may be found on the internet. This is a big blow to the politicians and the religious elites because their power to influence has been reduced. Trust me, the politicians and the religious gurus do not take this lightly.
They do not like this. They will find ways to restrict the common folks access to and use of the internet.
You have to guard this freedom for those in power will want to enslave you, your mind and your soul.
Rapera on mobTV hopes to have chats with various people who have impacted Malaysian society in some way on various issues. We do not have to agree with the views as we believe that diversity of views is good for the development of Malaysia
If you know of anyone, please email to rapera.jay@gmail.com
The "government administration" which is made up of the civil servants, the various agencies such as Police, Bank Negara, Elections Commissions, etc, etc goes on automatic mode irregardless of who the "political government" is. For example, even if Pakatan Rakyat was to take over the country, the same civil service wil be serving the Nation.
I cannot but help notice that the Barisan Nasional political government is increasingly being put on the defensive by various events in the country. Some of this defensive position, in my view, is a choice that BN seems to make! There are many occasions where the BN government does no have to be defensive in my view. Anyway, I digress from the point I want to make in this article.
The point i want to make here is this: that the actions of the secure civil servants affects the image and the tenure of the insecure politicians in power. Let me explain.
Firstly, most of the Rakyat deal largely with civil servants and agencies and not with the political masters. The manner in which these civil servants deal and engage with the Rakyat is what really matters to the Rakyat. If these agencies exercise their powers unreasonably or do not address the Rakyat's complaints in a reasonable manner, the Rakyat gets very frustrated. If these agencies do not respond positively by having discussions with the Rakyat on specific complaints and refuse to interpret the law in a just and helpful manner, the Rakyat gets agitated.
Frustrations and agitations lead to feelings of helplessness. Ultimate feelings of helplessness leads to collective actions against the agencies and often, these feelings are directed against the political masters. It is this fact that the political masters must understand clearly.
Hence, in my view, when the Rakyat has a legitamate complaint against a certain law or an agency, the ruling political masters must side with the Rakyat. They cannot adopt this automatic defensive position and be pro-agency because, the political masters are expected to side with the Rakyat. It is very plain and simple. This has got to be the new thinking among the politicians if they want to remain relevant at these times where the Rakyat is increasingly becoming aware of their rights.
However, I find it almost ridiculous and self defeating that quite often, the political ruling class goes on the defensive whenever the actions or omissions of a government agency is challenged or brought into question. When this happens, the political opposition sides with the complaining Rakyat and projects itself as the champion of the oppressed Rakyat. It is almost as if the fact of continued incumbency has infected upon them the disease of defensiveness and ousted the attitude of embracing the Rakyat's complaint.
In this regard, I have often mentioned to my friends in the ruling class that their "takut bayang2" attitude and the incapacity to embrace new political responses creates more problems for them even in situations where they are right.
It is about time that the ruling class pay serious attention to the exercise of discretion by the civil servants and the various agencies (including the state agencies, especially that which relates to religion). Whatever they do or do not do will impact on the support the ruling class gets.
The ruling political class must learn to stop being defensive. Get new advise on the new ways to respond. The whole world is changing, you should change too if you want to remain relevant.
How could I not follow Bersih 3.0 when
my guys and gals from MobTV.My have so bravely gone to get live coverage for
the people of Malaysia? It is after all a group of NGOs – all non-partisan –
trying to exercise their right of free speech and freedom of assembly as
enshrined in the constitution. Dato’ Ambiga, the co-Chairperson of Bersih and
the steering committee, promised a peaceful rally.
Rapera is all for peaceful
expressions of views or even dissent by thinking and responsible citizens.
However, Rapera is unambiguously against violence among its citizens.
Around about 1pm, when I had to go
off from the Bersih event, I was happy to note that the event was peaceful and
almost carnival like. I was pleased, at that moment that my worst fears of
confrontation had been proven wrong. I was confident that the Bersih crowd will
not go beyond the barricades that was erected around Dataran Merdeka (DM).
However, as events unfolded
subsequently, my fears were unfortunately proven correct – political parties
and several irresponsible quarters hijacked the Bersih event and turned it into
of Malaysia’s most violent and shameful exercise of freedom of assembly. This is why I had always held that it is not
politicians that can save the Nation but savior citizens or Raperas.
You can just youtube to see the
shameful behaviours by some of our citizens, whom, I would say should be
prosecuted under the law for their irresponsible and violent behaviours. At the
same time, the behaviours of any police officers who had been over zealous in exercising
their power should also be investigated. If this does not happen, there will be
these accusations: Firstly, that politicians are exempted from the law.
Secondly, that there are agent provocateurs arranged by Barisan Nasional and
hence they are not prosecuted. Thirdly, that there is selective cover-up.
Many I met seem to believe that PKR
has simply hijacked the event in the most irresponsible way and are contributory
to the violence and rioting that ensued. This has to be verified by PKR itself.
Many people I
know already perceive PKR as a party that would do anything to wrestle
political power.
Politicians and political parties should have just
stayed out and let it be an NGO event.
In retrospect I wonder if all these
unwanted events would have occurred if the Datuk Bandar had simply not interfered
with Bersih’s intention to sit-in at the Dataran. I had voiced the view before that
Bersih 3.0 is unstoppable and so the most logical thing for the authorities to
do would be to simply provide police protection for the sit-in and for them to
facilitate the event. The moment I heard that DBKL took the position that DM was off limits for Bersih 3.0, I was concerned that this may be a catalyst for disaster. In fact, I was of
the view that even the “occupydataran” by the students should have police or
DBKL protection instead of the opposition they had experienced. These are after
all college kids learning to exercise their right of expression, even though
they may not be correct on the issue.
Such “training” if properly “guided” may make them mature Raperas in the
future. However, old methods of
exercising authority seem to die hard. My views too seem to have fallen on deaf
ears or “dinosaurous” ears!
On another perspective, one must
also ask why was there such a huge turnout? How and why did so many people turn
up for the event? On one hand, it is heart warming to note that more and more
Rakyats are beginning to learn that they cannot depend on ANY politician but on
themselves.
Hence, if I am the ruling party, I
would not be automatically defensive. I will embrace the Rakyat’s interest in
the well being of their Nation. On the other hand, if I am the Opposition, I
will not automatically gloat and think that I have the support of the people. I
will be wary of the way I serve in politics. This and other such events could
very well be a sign that the Rakyat seriously do not trust politicians anymore,
which is a good thing. This is, in my view, taking back control of the destiny
of our home, our Nation.
Freedom of expression and assembly
aside, the sanctity of the law must also be protected. There is simply no
excuse for any irresponsible persons to destroy or to cause to destroy or
incite anyone to destroy public property which, we must remember, belongs to
the Rakyat. I believe that the genuine Bersih folks are peaceful. Hence, the
urgency of prosecuting the culprits who have marred the exercise of a
fundamental constitutional right.