MCA comes out from hidey-hole to blame Home Ministry for Economist fiasco

At last MCA came out from its hidey hole. Vice president Gan Ping Sieu slammed the Home Ministry for censoring sections of an article in theThe Economist magazine relating to July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs should realise that overzealous censorship is counter-productive and can be perceived as an infringement of the freedom of expression and media interference," Gan (right) said in a statement.

"In the aftermath of Bersih 2.0, the authorities ought to have wised up to the fact that over-reaction on their part can fuel public anger towards the government. This can sway public sympathy to causes by organisations like the opposition-backed Bersih 2.0."

Zzzzz...

But sad to say, Gan's fine-sounding words drew a yawn in cyber-space where opinion-leaders dwell. Many point out that it was ridiculous for the MCA to try and stand on moral high ground in any Berish-related issue given its strong opposition to the rally.

Toeing the BN coalition, MCA president Chua Soi Lek (above left) and team had shut their eyes to the calls from the Chinese community to support the right to peaceful assembly.

But the party that used to represent the community refused to put its foot down even when Najib ordered a violent crackdown on the ralliers. In fact, Soi Lek was even more voluble than the UMNO leaders in condemning the rally as irresponsible, illegal and a ploy by the Pakatan Rakyat opposition to stir up racial unease.

In the aftermath of the march, Soi Lek further enraged the Malaysian Chinese, most of whom were ardent supporters of the rally, by belittling the courage shown by the demonstrators on that day. Bersih supporters had been forced to run helter-skelter by baton-swinging cops who showed no restraint in shooting acid-laced water and tear gas into the crowds.

Soi Lek was blasted for suggesting that he too could raise a crowd of 50,000 - which was the estimated rally size - but he wouldn't because he didn't the need to do so. The MCA would stick with politically "matured" methods, he said.

Passing the buck

Yet the slew of bizarre and heavy-handed methods the BN adopted to suppress the rally has not ended.

BN leaders including So Lek are now rushing to control the fallout from their "excessive" reaction that was described in the western media as intentionally creating an environment of "fear" and "repression".

This week, BN again messed up, displaying a crude lack of finesse and intelligence by blacking out three sentences in an article entitled Taken to the Cleaners in the July 14 edition of the Economist magazine.

"We went through the article and found the incorrect statements. Subsequently, we told the publisher to black out those sentences," said Abdul Aziz Md Nor, the Home Ministry secretary for publications control and Quranic text division, adding that 'affected parts may misinform readers'.

The sentences were:

“and one man died of a heart attack”

“The march itself was then banned, although the authorities offered Bersih a stadium to meet in — and then withdrew the offer.”

“The heavy-handed police tactics have provoked a lot of anger; the government has conceded an official investigation into claims of police brutality. In one instance (caught on film), police seemed to fire tear gas and water cannon into a hospital where protesters were sheltering from a baton charge.”

On Wednesday, Gan, who is also deputy youth and sports minister, made so bold as to disagree with the Home Ministry, a courage that was sadly lacking in advising Najib against the Bersih clampdown.

Indirectly, by refusing to make a stand and speak out, MCA and other BN partners are just as guilty of having made Malaysia the "laughing stock" that Gan is now so quick to pin onto the Home Ministry.

"This will only result in more people learning about the content of the article then it otherwise would have - in the process defeating the ministry's purpose of censoring the article in the first place. All this will only make Malaysia an international laughing stock," Gan said. - Malaysia Chronicle