Freedom and the objectors of conscience
Most of the comments tend to be anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royal families and this is what has been used by the trashy NGO’s to accuse Malaysia-Today of racism and being anti-Royal. In the realm of the freedom of expression, Malaysia-Today has nothing to do with the comments posted by users, readers and possibly by enemies of its Editor in a bid to undermine him.
Written by Gema Minda, WORLD FUTURES
A number of NGO’s in Malaysia are acting like the sole beholders of the truth, running to the police to report what the free world is saying – and in some cases – not saying on blogs and online web portals. This is the scene of the battle between those representing the freedom of thought and of expression and the objectors of conscience.
This reminds me of the long history of struggle by freedom movements against suppression from France to South Africa. Indonesia is a recent nation that witnessed such a battle and the victorious party was the freedom fighters against an oppressive regime. Malaysia is now witnessing its own battle between the freedom movement under the banner of the ‘reformasi’ versus the ‘continuity’ or conservatism represented by what is left of the Barisan National (BN).
A long time ago in Paris, before the Bastille fell – it was the icon of the rule of the rich in France, a fortress-prison – the freedom fighters were challenged by ‘objectors of conscience’ and this became a political battle that marked French history for good. When the Napoleonic age was over and World War II was in the limelight, France was divided between the ‘objecteurs de conscience’ and the ‘Libertains’, or people who fought for freedom once again. The freedom lovers won the battle and after the World War II, modern France was born with General De Gaule as leader but this did not stop the storming of Paris by a fresh new generation of ‘freedom’ fighters in 1968 and the ‘objectors’ were there too but liberty won once again.
In Malaysia, history is repeating itself with the ‘objectors’ attempting at eliminating all the gains made by the Malaysian democracy in the past 5 years to pursue a rigid agenda of banishment of the freedom of expression. History is moving with a major twist in Malaysia. It is taking the route that it took in France. The battle was once between the ‘conservatives’ within the Barisan National (BN) and the United Malays National Organization (Umno) and the weak opposition forces but now it has been enlivened by the defection of a large number of ‘conservative’ Malaysians to the opposition.
It must be said here that the objectors are not only from the BN and that they are almost everywhere. It is a plague that the country will have to do without if it wants to progress further in its democratic march. There are objectors within the opposition ranks and among bloggers and web masters of online news portals too. At times they are referred as ‘liberals’ and at other times as ‘racists’ but the end game is the same: They object to anything and everything. The opposition based ‘objectors’ are basically anti-religion (targeting Islam mostly) and they are anti-Malay and they diminish the importance of the political and economic role of the Malays altogether. The Editor of Malaysia-Today, Raja Petra Kamaruddin showed his concern on the matter when urged readers not to bother about comments on his website. Most of the comments tend to be anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royal families and this is what has been used by the trashy NGO’s to accuse Malaysia-Today of racism and being anti-Royal. In the realm of the freedom of expression, Malaysia-Today has nothing to do with the comments posted by users, readers and possibly by enemies of its Editor in a bid to undermine him.
