Last year might well be labelled as the year of the ‘Arab Spring' by historians.
It was when one Arab country after another, beginning with Tunisia and spreading rapidly to other Arab countries like Yemen, Syria, and Libya, experienced a revolt from their citizens.
These countries share some common characteristics: they are in the main, oil-rich, governed by autocratic and dictatorial leaders for long periods, use Islam as a weapon of suppression, and pay lip service to democracy.
The citizens were tired of these suppressive, autocratic and dictatorial regimes. So they clamoured for more equality in income and wealth distribution, and for fairness and justice to replace oppression and suppression in the practice of the law and in governance.
Their revolt was basically for political, social and economic reform.
Our blessed country Malaysia shares some of the basic characteristics of these troubled countries: we are also oil-rich, and we have been projecting Islam as the official religion.
We have been governed by autocrats and virtual dictators like Mahathir Mohammad for a long period. We profess to practice democracy -our PM Najib Abdul Razak, has even boasted to make our democracy the best in the world!
Will we be experiencing a form of Arab Spring by virtue of the shared similarities?
"No", says the Ketuanan Melayu leadership as voiced by the likes of Najib and former PM Mahathir Mohammad (right), "we won't".
And why not? Because here (they say) we have democracy and we goody-goody citizens love peace (or words to that effect); we resolve issues via the ballot box.
I contend the leadership's denial is misplaced. Having an election once every five years is not really democracy, and far and away from ‘the best'.
So, issues in this country have far more been resolved not via the ballot box but by strongarm might-is-right tactics supported by the use of draconian laws like the ISA and OSA. (I am aware that the ISA might be on the way out but that's another story).
In fact I believe we have been having our version of Arab Spring.
Anwar Ibrahim coincidentally stated so when in India recently. To me the roots of our spring had been planted far earlier - ever since the ascendancy of cyber media.
These countries share some common characteristics: they are in the main, oil-rich, governed by autocratic and dictatorial leaders for long periods, use Islam as a weapon of suppression, and pay lip service to democracy.The citizens were tired of these suppressive, autocratic and dictatorial regimes. So they clamoured for more equality in income and wealth distribution, and for fairness and justice to replace oppression and suppression in the practice of the law and in governance.
Their revolt was basically for political, social and economic reform.
Our blessed country Malaysia shares some of the basic characteristics of these troubled countries: we are also oil-rich, and we have been projecting Islam as the official religion.
We have been governed by autocrats and virtual dictators like Mahathir Mohammad for a long period. We profess to practice democracy -our PM Najib Abdul Razak, has even boasted to make our democracy the best in the world!
Will we be experiencing a form of Arab Spring by virtue of the shared similarities?
"No", says the Ketuanan Melayu leadership as voiced by the likes of Najib and former PM Mahathir Mohammad (right), "we won't".And why not? Because here (they say) we have democracy and we goody-goody citizens love peace (or words to that effect); we resolve issues via the ballot box.
I contend the leadership's denial is misplaced. Having an election once every five years is not really democracy, and far and away from ‘the best'.
So, issues in this country have far more been resolved not via the ballot box but by strongarm might-is-right tactics supported by the use of draconian laws like the ISA and OSA. (I am aware that the ISA might be on the way out but that's another story).
In fact I believe we have been having our version of Arab Spring.
Anwar Ibrahim coincidentally stated so when in India recently. To me the roots of our spring had been planted far earlier - ever since the ascendancy of cyber media.
It has enabled us citizens to rediscover our voices, or act as the vehicle to express our frustrations and grouses.
Civil societies
Since then many civil societies have sprung up to present their spheres of interest to the public and the authorities. To me our Malaysian Spring has evolved via the mechanism of the civil societies.
Indeed civil societies like Sisters in Islam and Hindraf and Bersih1 and 2 might represent specific interests singly, but when taken together they are show dissatisfaction, disenchantment and disgust over a repressive and suppressive central government.
They demand the same things the Arab revolt had been asking; they want reform, they want change.
Of late, the success rate of Malaysian Spring seemed to have improved.
Last year the Bersih 2 rally made a dramatic repeat show of public frustration and discontent.
A few weeks ago Niat, a newly minted pressure group, managed to influence the withdrawal of the novel ‘Interlok' from the compulsory reading list of school children.
Today the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) is cornered in a very defensive mode, trying to fend off (pathetically to me) public calls for its alleged patron, Family affairs Minister Shahrizat Jalil, to resign from the Cabinet.
The MACC and /or the police are under pressure to investigate her husband Salleh Ismail for possible criminal breach of trust, or corruption. And of course, early last week Anwar Ibrahim was declared innocent of the (popularly perceived) trumped charges of Sodomy 2.
With these successes, are we to assume our leaders, used as they are in getting their ways by arrogantly pushing aside public calls for reform and change, now able to see the light?
It is a point worthy of ponder.
To be sure one swallow doesn't make a summer and sincerity is subject to test. So our leaders will be tested, and regularly so, by the many civic societies in the near future to ascertain that our spring does not suffer from a late winter chill but instead to graduate to a nice warm summer.
Indeed civil societies like Sisters in Islam and Hindraf and Bersih1 and 2 might represent specific interests singly, but when taken together they are show dissatisfaction, disenchantment and disgust over a repressive and suppressive central government.
They demand the same things the Arab revolt had been asking; they want reform, they want change.
Of late, the success rate of Malaysian Spring seemed to have improved.
Last year the Bersih 2 rally made a dramatic repeat show of public frustration and discontent.A few weeks ago Niat, a newly minted pressure group, managed to influence the withdrawal of the novel ‘Interlok' from the compulsory reading list of school children.
Today the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) is cornered in a very defensive mode, trying to fend off (pathetically to me) public calls for its alleged patron, Family affairs Minister Shahrizat Jalil, to resign from the Cabinet.
The MACC and /or the police are under pressure to investigate her husband Salleh Ismail for possible criminal breach of trust, or corruption. And of course, early last week Anwar Ibrahim was declared innocent of the (popularly perceived) trumped charges of Sodomy 2.
With these successes, are we to assume our leaders, used as they are in getting their ways by arrogantly pushing aside public calls for reform and change, now able to see the light?
It is a point worthy of ponder.
To be sure one swallow doesn't make a summer and sincerity is subject to test. So our leaders will be tested, and regularly so, by the many civic societies in the near future to ascertain that our spring does not suffer from a late winter chill but instead to graduate to a nice warm summer.
KemSMS is gathering
There is one such civic society actively doing so. It's called KemSMS (that's Kempen Sejarah Malaysia Sebenar) a body of NGOs and concerned parents and individuals. It is an apolitical therefore non-partisan organisation. I am a member of this ‘campaign'.
We have noted that history is to be made into a compulsory subject in schools, a controversial issue in its own right.
Secondly, our members have made studies on current history text books for Forms 1-5, and found them laced with inaccuracies, half-truths, omissions, errors, racial bias, and religious bias.
Thirdly we contend that the challenges they face are tough indeed, some of them the following:
Internally, an increasingly less competitive economy, the pull back to conservatism and conformity by the religious fundamentalists, a poorly trained professional class, increasing external debt, fractured citizenry, broken public institutions, slow to absorb change.
Externally we face a techno-savvy international market, the rise of China and India in the world economy, globalisation, the k-economy.
It is imperative for the elder generation to start educating them at an early age. Mainly we have to educate them to be able to think; well, not only to think, but to thinking objectively, correctly and scientifically.
Short of this would render our future generation to be less literate when compared with their counterparts like the present young generation Singaporean, Japanese, Korean, or Indonesian.
So if history is to be made compulsory then at least let it be taught interestingly, correctly, scientifically and objectively.
There is simply no ground for us to teach our future generation with prejudice, bias, error, omission, half-truths. These are emotive, not scientific principles.
In fact if the present status quo had consciously been imputed into the history books, then this amounts to intellectual dishonesty. We must never teach our young intellectual dishonesty!
Shame on the authorities if they did so, and greater shame on us if we did nothing to put things right!
Thus one of the basic purposes for the setting up of KemSMS has been to inform the public of the current unhappy history teaching situation, to mobilise their awareness and support, and to make representation to the authorities with the view of reforming it.
In fact KemSMS has done this. A team visited the Ministry of Education recently and members were given the opportunity to present our case. There followed the government's stand on the case, a good case of a two-way dialogue.
I am happy to note that the officials were prepared to lend their ears. All said and done, here we have a civic society agitating the government to have a good look at the current history education situation, and it appears to be listening!
Will this amount to another civic society success story, another item that would ensure the Malaysian Spring maturing into summer?
Only time will tell.
We have noted that history is to be made into a compulsory subject in schools, a controversial issue in its own right.
Secondly, our members have made studies on current history text books for Forms 1-5, and found them laced with inaccuracies, half-truths, omissions, errors, racial bias, and religious bias.
Thirdly we contend that the challenges they face are tough indeed, some of them the following:
Internally, an increasingly less competitive economy, the pull back to conservatism and conformity by the religious fundamentalists, a poorly trained professional class, increasing external debt, fractured citizenry, broken public institutions, slow to absorb change.
Externally we face a techno-savvy international market, the rise of China and India in the world economy, globalisation, the k-economy.
It is imperative for the elder generation to start educating them at an early age. Mainly we have to educate them to be able to think; well, not only to think, but to thinking objectively, correctly and scientifically.
Short of this would render our future generation to be less literate when compared with their counterparts like the present young generation Singaporean, Japanese, Korean, or Indonesian.So if history is to be made compulsory then at least let it be taught interestingly, correctly, scientifically and objectively.
There is simply no ground for us to teach our future generation with prejudice, bias, error, omission, half-truths. These are emotive, not scientific principles.
In fact if the present status quo had consciously been imputed into the history books, then this amounts to intellectual dishonesty. We must never teach our young intellectual dishonesty!
Shame on the authorities if they did so, and greater shame on us if we did nothing to put things right!
Thus one of the basic purposes for the setting up of KemSMS has been to inform the public of the current unhappy history teaching situation, to mobilise their awareness and support, and to make representation to the authorities with the view of reforming it.
In fact KemSMS has done this. A team visited the Ministry of Education recently and members were given the opportunity to present our case. There followed the government's stand on the case, a good case of a two-way dialogue.
I am happy to note that the officials were prepared to lend their ears. All said and done, here we have a civic society agitating the government to have a good look at the current history education situation, and it appears to be listening!
Will this amount to another civic society success story, another item that would ensure the Malaysian Spring maturing into summer?
Only time will tell.
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