Some Political Unrest

We passed Batu Caves on the way back from Genting into KL and saw a huge crowd there. Later we heard that there had been a demonstration in KL. The Indian population from all over Malaysia held a rally at which they wished to petition the Queen (Elizabeth that is). An advocacy group here is suing England for 40 trillion ringgit (that's 12 or so trillion Canadian). They claim that the British brought Indians to Malaysia in the 1800s as indentured labour. They further claim that Britain failed to protect Indian interests when they granted independence in 1957. They want the queen to provide them legal representation for the law suit.

This is all very political and is based on a form of "affirmative action" that gives preferential treatment to the Malay race. It was originally meant to help raise the Malay out of poverty that came from their historical position as rural subsistence farmers. The Indians claim that they too are marginalized and should be granted equal treatment under the National Economic Policy (NEP) as it is called officially. Unofficially, it is called the "bumiputra" policy. 'bumi' means 'sons' or 'princes' and 'putra' means soil or earth. Literally translated it means 'princes of the soil'. The term is not exclusive to Malaysia. It is also used in Indonesia where a similar language is spoken. However, in Indonesia it is not a label for an official government policy of "affirmative action".

We had heard mention of the rally earlier in the week and we had run into police roadblocks. The rally was opposed by the police who set up road blocks around KL as early as Thursday in order to prevent the Indians from 'outstation' from getting to the protest in KL. They also shut down the LRT station near the British embassy. Then on Sunday they told the crowd to disperse and forced the issue with tear gas and chemical laced water cannon. We don't get much about this in the news media in Malaysia because it is not nice to talk about things that reflect badly on the country. In addition, the news outlets are licenced annually by the government and may not be renewed. To top it off much of the new media are wholly owned by one of the parties that make up the BN which is a coalition of parties that has governed since 1957. The BN is predominantly Malay/Muslim and it is not possible to be PM if you are not both. The minority and opposition parties also have their media outlets. Thus we were pleasantly surprised to see local reports of the incidents. The most reasonable and balanced view of things is available to us here via Al Jazeera on the Internet. (check the link for more)

Constitutionally, the people here have the right to peaceful assembly. This is subject to certain controls as a result of some emergency measures instituted in the 1960s as a result of some inter-racial rioting. At that time it is estimated by the most conservative figures that over 200 Chinese citizens were killed by Malays over the outcome of the general election. Some of the Chinese had gathered to celebrate a minor election victory and some of the Malay were insulted...and the fight was on. The emergency measures were never repealed and now all assemblies must apply for and receive police permission. These permits are almost never granted despite a local Human Rights Commission recommendation that they should be routinely granted. In the case of this recent incident the police are said to have claimed they feared that gangs were involved in the gathering and that violence would erupt.

You may also have heard about a rally on November 11 at Merdeka (Independence) Square. The opposition parties called the rally to demand election reform. In that case no permit was granted. The official reason was that it would interrupt traffic and cause local merchants to lose trade. The police then shut down streets for 10 blocks around the square. The rally was due to start at 10:30 AM and the police had the water cannon and tear gas in place by 10:00. The outcome was much the same as the most recent one. We were in Bali at the time and we saw the Al Jazeera report and video on television news there. When we returned to Malaysia we found there was and had been no local coverage.

We are safe and have never felt nor been in danger. The rallies are usually in a very limited area and we don't travel in those areas especially when difficulties are possible. Fortunately we have a colleague at the school who keeps us well informed.

This may all be a lead up to an expected general election in the next month. It is estimated that the election campaign will last less than three weeks so everyone gets started early.