When the Arab Spring happened in January 2011, our
leaders reacted in a very odd fashion. The first response was to bring all our
students in Egypt, all 11000 of them, home as if Egypt had just turned into a
warzone and our students were in grave danger. It was very clear however, from
what the students themselves said when they got home, that there was no
physical danger at all. The ‘danger’ was more in the heads of our leaders who
were perhaps afraid that our young people might get some funny ideas about
democracy. Perhaps they thought the word doesn’t exist in Arabic.
There were also a lot of protestations by our
leaders that Malaysia is not Egypt and our PM is not Mubarak. Well yes,
Malaysia is certainly more economically advanced than Egypt. It doesn’t have
the high levels of poverty and great inequalities that that country has had for
decades, as well as the high youth unemployment, all of which added to the
recipe for unrest that was bound to come at some time.
So no, we are not Egypt. But you know what they say
about how people doth protest too much. What is this obsession with us NOT
being Egypt anyway? If we’re not, then why worry? Besides, who needs to worry
about the Arab Spring unless they identify themselves with Ben Ali, Mubarak,
Gadaffi and Assad?
And if our PM is not Mubarak – that ex-Air
Chief Marshall of the Egyptian Air Force who ruled for nearly 30 years and is
now on trial on allegations of corruption as well as the premeditated murder of
peaceful protestors – then what is he?
Mubarak used to torture people he didn’t like.
Mubarak was allegedly very corrupt.
Mubarak was much adored by the Americans, which was
why they didn’t know what to do when the revolution started. After all they got
Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel. During the Gaza siege two years ago,
it was the Egyptians who obstructed aid from going to Gaza through Rafah. Nice
guy, Mubarak.
Egyptian protestors were attacked by thugs on camels in Tahrir Square. |
So what exactly was wrong with the demands made by
the Egyptian people assembling in Tahrir Square? They want a greater say in the
policies of the government. They want an end to corruption. They want proper
elections with many candidates to choose from, not just those handpicked by the
rulers. They want an end to military interference in politics. They want proper
management of the economy and the many problems resulting from the
mismanagement of it. Aren’t these reasonable?
Egyptian police trying to arrest a female protestor in Tahrir Square. |
But our government will not acknowledge that these
demands are quite normal. Well maybe they’re not in an undemocratic country.
But by refusing to support the Egyptian people’s right to all of these, do they
support Mubarak and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)? You know, the
ones who attacked their own people in Tahrir Square and killed some. The ones
who did virginity tests on women protestors. The ones who tried to shut down
the internet during the revolution?
The ones who are trying to rig the elections?
Egyptian Muslims and Christians in solidarity at Tahrir Square --isn't this good? |
If the Tahrir Square occupiers brought down someone
like Mubarak, is that necessarily bad? They still wanted to have proper
elections afterwards. And lo and behold, the Muslim Brotherhood won many seats.
Well, that’s democracy, it doesn’t necessarily give you the best government.
But that’s no reason to get rid of democracy.
If Malaysia is not Egypt and our leaders are not
Mubarak, then why are Malaysians who went to Bersih treated like Egyptian
protestors? As Tommy Thomas has pointed out here, Malaysians are not much into
occupying anything. They did not bring out tents and blankets so that they can
sleep in Dataran Merdeka til the government was brought down. If anyone had
gone down to Dataran on the Sunday after Bersih 3.0, apart from the barbed
wire, everything was back to normal. The cars were out in the streets. The
malls were packed. The restaurants were full. Made our point, now let’s go eat.
This is why we are not Egypt. In this we agree with
our government. We are NOT Egypt. But then why respond in such Mubarak-like fashion?
The National Fatwa Council has issued a fatwa to say
that demonstrations against the government are haram. This is exactly what the head of the Al-Azhar University Fatwa Committee said in the days after January 25 2011 when the
Egyptian revolution started. He seemed totally out of touch with his people and
the events that were unfolding. Even the Muslim Brotherhood, or at least the
younger members, were out there demonstrating, along with their more secular
fellow citizens, Muslim and Christian, men and women, young and old. So getting
the NFC ( hmmm…dubious initials…) to issue such a fatwa seems very
Mubarak-like, doesn’t it?
Does this mean, by the way, that demonstrations
against the governments of Penang, Kedah and Selangor are now haram too? Or
only if they are against the Federal Government?
If I now want to have a demonstration against, say,
Perkasa, I can, right? Since they’re not the government?
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