AFTER an absence of about 10 years, Malaysians are once again taking to the streets ‘ and the differences between these demonstrations and the Reformasi rallies of a decade ago are patently obvious.

Although dissent today is organised chiefly by the federal opposition, party politics appears to have a negligible influence on the protests. Protesters themselves continue to defy traditional demographic categorisation: Old makciks in tudung march beside young Chinese entrepreneurs, lawyers walk beside estate workers, and journalists increasingly find themselves on the “wrong” side of the police line. This unity is a potent political force that obeys its own will, and evidence of it lies in the fact that we now have to say “federal opposition ” in reference to the Pas, DAP and PKR alliance, rather than just “opposition “. Things were set in motion on Sept 26 last year when some 2,000 lawyers walked 3.5km from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister “s Office in Putrajaya to demand a Royal Commission into the Lingam video clip (which they got) and to establish a permanent commission into judicial appointments (still pending). The monumental Bersih rally followed soon after on Nov 10, in which 40,000 Malaysians descended on Kuala Lumpur to demand free and fair elections. Two weeks later, the Hindraf rally shut down parts of Kuala Lumpur on a Sunday afternoon (unreliable headcount figures put participation at anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000). With the exception of the lawyers” rally, police have used tear gas and watercanons to disperse protestors, and government politicians have condemned the demonstrations for reasons as various as their being not within our culture, traf- fic problems, and inconveniencing businesses within the city. The authorities, however, appear not to remember that street rallies have contributed greatly to the development of our political consciousness: Just as they nearly destroyed us on May 13, 1969, public demonstrations played a key role in the defeat of the Malayan Union ‘ and the same movement saw the foundation of Umno in 1946. Furthermore, Malaysians today are slowly becoming aware (through films such as Fahmi Reza”s 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka) that organised political agitation predates Umno in the quest for independence. Young Malaysians now know of the nationwide All-Malaya hartal (strike) on Oct 20, 1947, called by our country”s first multiracial alliance (the Putera-All Malaya Council for Joint Action) in opposition to a Federation of Malaya that did not guarantee equal rights of citizenship and a fully elected legislature, amongst other things. Young Malaysians are also gradually becoming aware of the contributions to our history made by radical leftists such Datuk Ahmad Boestaman, Ishak Muhammad (Pak Sako), Dr Burhanuddin Al-Helmy, and the Lim family in Penang. If this trend continues, we shall perhaps start to revise our ! awed knowledge of the Malayan Communist Party, particularly its equivalence to the Chinese community in the colonial fiction that persists to this day. Maybe we shall soon recognise the leadership of Che Dat Anjang Abdullah (Abdullah C.D.), his wife Suriani (nee Eng Ming Chin), the late Rashid Maidin and others whose view of the world, however complicated, was nonetheless a great deal wider than the conservative nationalism of today. This historical consciousness is already snowballing into the present, and the same inclusive worldview seems to lie at the heart of today”s protests: People take to the streets now in universal protest against perceived inefficiencies of government, rather than in defence of ethnic or other narrow interests. This marks a fundamental change in the dynamics of protests, and it renders such movements less susceptible to manipulation via the appeal of communal politics. We should learn to deal with it constructively as others have. Mature democracies around the world recognise public protest as a legitimate form of political expression, and most of these governments try to strike a balance between individual liberty and public safety. Instead of ridiculing our demonstrations as a social evil, we should welcome an increased civic and political awareness as a positive sign of social development. This is something authorities can engage with without resorting to violence, and they should learn to do so soon before the rest of us learn tactics of civil disobedience that will prove even more difficult to deal with. U-En Ng graduated in mediaeval languages and is a journalist. He is parliamentary sketchwriter for the Malay Mail.

Source: Malay Mail – June 16, 2008