The next level

If Najib is sincere and honest about reforms, then he should invite the opposition (or at least those from the civil society movements) to sit down with the government to discuss the new laws. And if the opposition too is sincere and honest about reforms, it should stop screaming about who should take the credit for the repeal of the ISA and try to approach the government to ask to be part of the team that is going to formulate the new laws to replace the ISA.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

For decades we have been fighting for the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) -- at least I have, for about 35 years since the 1970s (that was about the time the government detained Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Syed Husin Ali, and others who opposed the government). By then, the ISA - a weapon used to combat terrorism and the Communist Terrorists (CTs), had been around for about 14 years.

No one had any objections to the ISA before that. But once it was no longer used to combat terrorism or the CTs, but instead was used against student leaders, university lecturers, activists, and those viewed as dissidents or anti-establishment, then the ISA began to attract attraction.

Finally, after half a century, the government is considering repealing the ISA -- although it was indicated that a new law would be introduced to replace the ISA (and we do not know yet how this law is going to look like and whether it will be better or worse than the ISA).

But what are we doing? What is the opposition doing? Everyone is arguing about whether the repeal of the ISA is proof that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is walking the talk and is serious about his reform agenda or whether this is proof that the government has admitted defeat and is repealing the ISA because of the pressure from the opposition.

The government is taking credit for the repeal of the ISA. The opposition is also taking credit for the repeal of the ISA. It’s all about who should be credited for the ISA finally being abolished.

Is anyone sitting down to sort out what the new law is going to look like? Yes, the ISA is going to be repealed. But there is going to be a new law to replace it. Should we not be more concerned about this instead of whether Najib or the opposition should take the credit for the ISA being repealed?

I have said this before and I am going to say it again. Both the government and the opposition must become more matured and open. Yes, BOTH the government and the opposition.

If Najib is sincere and honest about reforms, then he should invite the opposition (or at least those from the civil society movements) to sit down with the government to discuss the new laws. And if the opposition too is sincere and honest about reforms, it should stop screaming about who should take the credit for the repeal of the ISA and try to approach the government to ask to be part of the team that is going to formulate the new laws to replace the ISA.

On another issue, I have received ‘hate-mail’ from people who allege that Malaysia Today has been ‘compromised’. Umno has bought off Malaysia Today, they say. These people argue that in the past Malaysia Today focused on revealing corruption and the wrongdoings of those who walk in the corridors of power. Now we no longer do that (actually we still do).

I suppose these types of people just love to read about scandals. And that is all they are concerned about -- to be entertained with stories of scandals. But Malaysia Today is not in the entertainment business. We are not here to entertain you. We are in the business of seeing change in Malaysia.

Honestly, if Malaysia Today publishes more stories about corruption and scandals, is that going to make you any more a hard-core opposition supporter than you already are? Those who come to Malaysia Today are already BN-haters. You can see this from the comments. The BN-lovers do not come to Malaysia Today.

So whom would I be trying to convert? The BN-haters? The BN-haters would still hate BN never mind whatever I say. No amount of reports about corruption and scandals would make the BN-haters any more haters of BN than they already are.

We need to reach those who DO NOT come to Malaysia Today. And since they already DO NOT come toMalaysia Today, then we have to find a way to go to them instead. The mountain must go to Muhammad, as the saying goes.

And we are doing just that, trust me. But we are not doing that through Malaysia Today because they DO NOT read Malaysia Today.

We are currently talking to some people to come out with a Bahasa Malaysia version of Malaysia Today. Everything will be in Bahasa Malaysia and it will be a totally different site.

There are many Malay-educated readers, even those from towns in the Malay heartland, who read Blogs. But they do not come to ‘English’ Blogs like Malaysia Today. They only read ‘Malay’ Blogs. So we need to create a ‘Malay’ version of Malaysia Today. And this is in the cards.

Then there are many Malay-educated Malaysians in the rural areas who do not access the Internet at all. They do not even own a computer. So we need to reach them through other means.

And that plan has already been launched. I will not tell you what it is just yet in case the government shoots us down before we can take off. But rest assured that hundreds of thousands of ringgit is being poured into this new project to reach the rural, non-internet savvy population. We are trying to raise the money for this project even as you read this.

Now, back to Malaysia Today.

Malaysia Today is now seven years old. We started life on 13th August 2004 soon after the March 2004 election ‘disaster’. The first few years were spent in exposing the wrongdoings of the government and in trying to convince you that we need change.

Those who come to Malaysia Today are already convinced we need change. I cannot convince you any more than you are already convinced. Exposing the wrongdoings of the government is not going to convince you any further. We need to now take this to ‘the next level’.

What we are now attempting to do is NOT to convince you that we need change or ABU (Anything But Umno/Asal Bukan Umno). That you already know. We want to talk to you about what type of change we should be looking at.

It is not enough we scream and shout that we need change. We must also be clear in our minds about what type of change we should be seeking. And my piece on the Bill of Rights is one of many examples of how we are trying to do this.

We must not be naïve and think that as long as we kick our Barisan Nasional then all our problems will be over. They thought that as well when they kicked out Charles I of England, King Louis XVI of France, President Batista of Cuba, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Shah Rezā Pahlavi of Iran, etc. What they got in the end was an exchange of one tyrant for another.

No, I am not saying that Pakatan Rakyat will be a tyrant or that it will prove worse than Barisan Nasional. I am saying that Barisan Nasional will never be kicked out and Pakatan Rakyat will never take over unless we, the people, do that.

So let’s be clear about one thing. Pakatan Rakyat will never be able to kick out Barisan Nasional. It will be we, the people, who can do that. So we, the people, have a say in what type of government we want as a replacement to the current government that we have.

This is what I mean by ‘the next level’. The next level is to teach you what you should be looking at. The next level is to teach you what you should expect. The next level is to teach you what you should demand.

Enough with all this ‘Barisan Nasional is corrupt and should be ousted’ talk. We all know that. We do not need further convincing. What we should focus on now is to make sure that what we get in exchange is really something better and not just the same old wine in a new bottle.

And let’s start with the new law that is going to replace the ISA. Why have we not heard anything from the opposition other than arguments about whether Najib or the opposition should take the credit for the repeal of this draconian law? Who cares who should take the credit? We want to know what it is going to be replaced with.

That is ‘the next level’.