Today is the 28th anniversary of the Operation Lalang dragnet of Oct. 27, 1987 which saw the mass arrest of 106 people under the detention-without-trial Internal Security Act, with 49 persons, including Members of Parliament and social activists, served with formal two-year detention orders and the closure of three major newspapers.

It is sad and tragic that today’s 28th anniversary for one of the darkest periods for democracy and human rights in the nation’s history coincides with a global report which is a damning indictment on widespread abuses of power against critics and dissenters by a Prime Minister who had come to power six years ago promising a new era for democracy and human rights in Malaysia, who even had the temerity to launch a global movement of moderates which now lay in ruins.

The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s 145-page report “Creating a Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression of Malaysia” documents not only Najib’s repeated breach of his promise to repeal repressive and draconian laws, but the institution of new regime of fear and terror where criticism has become a crime.

This regime of fear and terror have escalated in the country with the twin mega-scandals of RM50 billion 1MDF and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts spiralling out of control, not only in the country but internationally, with half a dozen foreign countries opening separate investigations. Read the rest of this entry »