A mother of 5, an Umno newspaper and a PM on his last legs

Coming across the controversy surrounding Lilian Chan’s tweet has jolted Malaysians back to the reality about this Nation’s set of priorities.

Chan Lilian who tweeted last month 'I think all Christians should march for all the persecution they had done to us and our Lord. Don’t you think so? I go sleep now, bye-bye. :)' is now being investigated as a possible ‘seditious remark’ after one Tony Yew made a Police Report, which was picked up by the UMNO-owned Utusan newspaper.

Lilian is now being investigated by the police and faces jail if found guilty. They have also confiscated her Apple computer and modem.

It's pure and unadulterated bull

What a crock of bull! But for a moment, let's humour her persecutors and give some helpful tips to our wonderful police force. Let's start by looking at the 28 words that she tweeted.

Now, a complete analysis on each word may show a distinct pattern, a secret code or a cryptic message that may change the World. It would probably take at least 28 days to decipher each word, given the current outdated technology that we have. If all else fails, perhaps the police may engage the Americans again for their expertise to decipher such a secret message. It will surely be another Mission Impossible that requires high-speed super computers to crunch the billions of bytes in seconds before we can even hope to understand what Lilian's cryptic message is about.

Some says that the unadulterated words will make Christians go crazy, and join the march or take up arms and join a Crusade. Sounds way-out but someone actually did go crazy enough to take this conspiracy theory seriously - the Malaysian police! Never mind that it was started by Utusan and the pro-BN bloggers again, but the police cannot deny that they seized Lilian's Apple. Now that's not nice. Why not confiscate the computer of the Utusan reporter who wrote the story and why is Tony Yew spared too?

The Guan Eng-link is glaring

The relationship of this case to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is again unmistakable, but DAP still has not taken the hint, and is still as loud-mouthed as always. For his efforts to speak on a CAT government, the CM was presented with women’s lingerie by the Indian Muslim association. But even if Guan Eng were to take a less brash approach, chances are high Penang UMNO will still continue to dream up all the wonderful plots against his administration.

Whatever it is, what says it all is the fact that the Police have seen the need to investigate Lilian’s short tweet, but not Ibrahim Ali’s clear history of seditious remarks. For such injustice, Malaysians from all walks of life will be the ultimate judge and jury.

Even so, it is still hard to figure out UMNO's strategy. Why pick on the Christians? What have they actually done? Are they seen to be against the government? Are they actually a threat? Doesn’t the BN government need their support anymore?

Lately, more people are also starting to question the professionalism of the Police Force, which seems to have lost much of its Independence and commitment to serve and protect the Public. The people are asking the government what the hell happened to social liberties and freedom of expression? Has the government become so paranoid that censorship must be employed to silence the critics when the truth hurts? Does the government actually think that it can silence the people?

Why target Christians

Prime Minister Najib Razak may say his government is doing a good job, but the fact is that the government is seen to be trying all means to stop, curtail and destroy the Internet's influence. At the same time, Najib is also being criticised everyday for not taking real steps to reduce racial polarisation. For example, what does the PM’s recent speech actually mean when he called on Malaysians to move from racial tolerance to acceptance. Does Najib actually know what he is talking about?

His recent visit to the Vatican was meant to show Malaysian Christians that is he is not a reserved Muslim politician, who is anti-Christian. But why doesn’t he walk the talk and put a stop to this? Why go all the way to the Vatican and now, with his silence, sanction the outright buylling of a mother of five who so happens to be a Christian and a videographer for Guan Eng's administration.

Instead of tackling the deep-seated unhappiness felt by the Chinese minority, the Najib administration has embarked on another attack involving a Chinese Christian, while the antics of Ibrahim Ali, a real Malay trouble-maker is left alone. How does this jive with racial acceptance and not just tolerance?

Christians must be meek and must not question the status quo. Do not rise and fight against injustice. Christians should keep quiet, be invisible and not try to fan the fires of change. Is this what the government wants the Christians to do? Sad to say, Najib has been caught just one too many a time for saying different things to different groups. But his indifference to the people’s grouses is seen as his greatest weakness as the government goes overboard to curb dissent.

Death knell for UMNO and money wasted on 1Malaysia

The stage has been reached when Najib can say all he wants and do what he thinks is appropriate. But in the end, it will be the people who will voice their disapproval through the ballot box. As far as we know, most of the controversies that have happened in the past have not made the people any more sympathetic towards Najib or BN. As they continue to flip-flop, fumble and stumble with their ill-concocted strategies, it won’t be long now before the people completely give up hope on them.

In conclusion, most Malaysians feel that Lilian’s tweet was harmless. In fact, she was over-defensive. It was obviously blown gigantically out of proportion by elements who are against a free democracy. They may have thought they were helping UMNO and will surely get a big reward, but what they did was actually sound the death knell for a once-proud party that used to make Malays feel proud.

As the final lap approaches, Malaysians may feel a tinge of sadness at Najib’s government, so out of sync and so out of touch with reality. All the efforts and public funds spent on promoting 1Malaysia to gain the respect and trust of the people have fallen through and come to nought. In the end, it is not what the Opposition has done that caused all this ill-feeling, but what BN did and didn’t do that made the people lose faith.

Malaysia Chronicle