Is Malaysia the last refuge of the scoundrel?

A nation of scoundrels? A Big NO is my answer. It is true that some of us are 

 subservient to plutocrats in UMNO. These people  are found in the Judiciary, the Civil Service, the Police and the military and include those who prosper as UMNO cronies. But thousands of decent Malaysians have shown(at BERSIH 1, 2, 3 and other rallies)  that they have got what it takes to make Malaysia a united, peaceful, and prosperous country where there is equal opportunity for all who are prepared to work hard. They are the patriots. They want to be a free people and resent government telling them how to live their lives and practice their religions.

Ambassador Malott, I agree with you wholeheartedly when you said that “[T]he majority of people in Malaysia want political freedom. They want free and fair elections. They want genuine democracy. They want all races and religions to be treated with dignity and respect. They are asking only for what the Malaysian constitution guarantees them and what the UMNO regime denies them…”

I believe change will come to my country, maybe not anytime soon since the process is painfully slow, but it will come. Most of my fellow Malaysians are sick and tired of the political games played by UMNO.   UMNO leaders and their supporters claim to be helping the Malays, when in truth the Malays do not realise that they are victims of greed and lust for power. Scandalous 1MDB is the litmus test.–Din Merican

Is Malaysia the last refuge of the scoundrel?

by John R. Mallot@www.malaysiakini.com

COMMENT: One evening in April 1775, the English man of letters Samuel Johnson made a famous remark.”Patriotism,” he said, “is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”Johnson was criticising what he called false patriots – people who invoke the name of their country to advance their own political agenda.In America, we often refer to that kind of scoundrel as “people who wrap themselves in the flag.” It means people who pretend to do something for patriotic reasons or out of loyalty to their country when their real motives are selfish, and their real goal is their own personal and political gain.It means people who “play the patriot card” and try to diminish their opponents by suggesting they do not love their country, or are even traitors to it.

So it is in Malaysia. Anyone who has the courage to disagree with the UMNO regime today stands the risk of being arrested for sedition. Meanwhile, many hundreds of millions of dollars disappear because of corruption. The needs of the rural poor, primarily Malays, still are not being met after more than half a century of promises from UMNO.Instead, the government’s focus seems to be on checking Facebook accounts and Twitter postings, which are scoured for evidence of alleged disloyalty to the nation.Question: If you love your country, then why do you steal from it? After almost 58 years in power, the leaders of UMNO have come to see themselves and the nation as one and the same.

So if you say “damn UMNO,” or you make a humorous video about the Prime Minister’s wife, you will be arrested for sedition against the government, even though your target was UMNO and the self-styled First Lady of Malaysia. Just ask RSN Rayer and Teresa Kok and Zunar.

UMNO and Rosmah are not the government.

For years the government has tried to put the opposition on the defensive and imply that they are traitors to the nation, and that they are tools of foreign powers.Samuel Johnson would have understood the UMNO regime very well.”Scoundrels!” he would say. So the question arises – who are Malaysia’s real patriots? Who truly loves Malaysia and wants the nation to fulfill its great promise? Who really cares about making the dream that is Malaysia become a reality – a multi-racial, multi-religious nation, a genuine democracy, a model for Islamic nations around the world, a leader in Asia, and a developed nation where all its people may share in its prosperity? And who cares only about political power, money, and wealth for themselves, their families, and their cronies? Who are the greedy, selfish ones?

Not special treatment, but equal treatment

We know the answer. We know who the real patriots are and who really loves Malaysia.

 Fifty years ago this weekend, Americans, and primarily African-Americans, led by Dr Martin Luther King, were met with incredible violence on a bridge in Selma, Alabama. They were there to ask for their rights as Americans – to vote.The photographs and television videos of what happened that day were seen around the country – and shocked the American nation into action to counter the local racist authorities in the South, who suppressed democracy and political freedom “in the name of the law.”Like the violent racist white southern police of 50 years ago in America, the authoritarian political regime that controls Malaysia today still suppresses democracy and political freedom “in the name of the law.”As I watched the scenes of this year’s 50th anniversary commemoration of the confrontation in Selma, I thought about all the demonstrations for political freedom in Malaysia over the past few years that have been met by government force – and I realised that there is no difference between Malaysia and Selma.The majority of people in Malaysia want political freedom. They want free and fair elections. They want genuine democracy. They want all races and religions to be treated with dignity and respect. They are asking only for what the Malaysian constitution guarantees them and what the UMNO regime denies them, just like the racist white police of America denied African-Americans their rights 50 years ago.

The United States President Barack Obama spoke at the bridge last Saturday on the 50th anniversary. He said: “We gather here to honour the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof; men and women who despite the gush of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their (goal) and keep marching toward justice… They didn’t seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them almost a century before.”

 What greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?”Loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what’s right and (to) shake up the status quo.” And that is what so many brave Malaysians are doing today.They want Malaysia to be true to itself, to its constitution and its ideals, and to its potential.

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JOHN R MALOTT is former United States Ambassador to Malaysia.