Zan Azlee
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2013

MAY 24 — I’m going to be honest and say outright that I’m afraid of the recent turn of events in our country, with the numerous arrests being made and copies of newspapers being confiscated.

But it’s a complicated situation that everything is in right now. And I am seriously tired of all these complicated situations that we’ve been in since the election.

Yes, the election has come and gone. And yes, Barisan Nasional (BN) won and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lost. It’s the worst faring by BN and the best by PR.

BN was quick to swear in their prime minister, while PR was quick to declare the election process being a fraud and not recognise the results.

And since they won the popular vote, PR leaders started organising rallies all around the country, knowing full well that the turnout would be huge.

Yada yada yada. And that’s when all hell broke loose in the BN camp.

It started out with racist statements being made by the BN camp which rightly angered not just the PR camp, but many Malaysians, me included.

And now, the cavalry has been set loose. Four people have been detained, Adam Adli, Haris Ibrahim, Tian Chua and Tamrin Ghafar, for sedition.

The cavalry also went on a spree around Malaysia, confiscating PR newspapers Harakah, Suara Keadilan and Rocket from newsstands, and even from the back of the distributor’s lorries.

Any sane, logical and rational human being will realise that this is a wrong step to take by the ruling government if they want to improve their standing with the rakyat.

I dare say that no matter how hardcore your support is for the ruling party, it has to be very difficult to justify this sort of action in this day and age.

It may have worked in 1987 when they carried out Ops Lalang where 106 individuals were arrested and three newspapers were banned. But it doesn’t work now.

The rakyat are not as susceptible and gullible as they were decades ago when information was limited and not accessible as it is today.

Some may argue that it’s all legal, and the PR camp and the activists knew the consequences when they did what they did.

Of course they would have known the consequences of their actions. But I feel that this is hardly an argument since there really is no other way to express what they have to say.

Aside from the legal aspects (of which its ethics can be debated), I really see no wrong in whatever they have done. Not even the sedition part.

I may not agree to violence as a form of overthrowing a government, but I agree to the fact that they have a right to say what they want to say.

And I definitely agree that the rakyat have a right to gather and assemble to express their beliefs as this is one of the basic tenets of democracy.

So when I said at the start of my article that I am afraid about the recent turn of events that have occurred in our country, I wasn’t afraid of the current situation.

What I am afraid of is the consequences of the actions taken by the ruling party in handling the situation, and whether they realise it or not.