In the early days of the Pakatan Harapan government of 2018, I was one of those who got carried away at the possibilities that seemed to now be open to us after 61 years of Umno rule.
It didn’t take long, however, before I realised that reformasi was not going to come in a torrent, but trickle, or maybe not at all.
In fact, it was often one step forward, one step back as the government dithered and occasionally blundered on key legislative or institutional changes.
My first scathing opinion piece came after then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin started showing his true colours.
I wrote, “Home minister, please get tough or step down” (March 23, 2019) partly because this “Malay-first” supremacist was not exactly leading the way forward regarding reform legislation or law enforcement.
In the case of the task force investigating Teoh Beng Hock’s death, he even named a string of insiders who may or may not have been biased, especially if law enforcement (or the MACC in that case) was to prove culpable.
When it came to finding Indira Gandhi’s child and resolving the cases of the missing pastor and other abductees, he was nowhere to be seen.
Indeed, sources from within the government told me that Muhyiddin was obstructing reforms as much as possible.
The next home affairs minister was the reactionary Hamzah Zainudin.
Now, in his case, there was no pretence of reform, progressive thought or humanitarianism.
His agenda seemed firmly based on might means right bully-boy tactics, and he even displayed some xenophobia towards undocumented migrants at a time when coordinating their Covid-19 vaccinations was of paramount importance.
No review
So what next? We have had nine months of Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
He has been loyal to PKR and reformasi icon Anwar Ibrahim for over 25 years and that’s great. But really I can’t say that he’s dazzled me with his handling of several issues.
I want to draw his attention to several issues.
When asked about the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) which has been used for draconian purposes in the recent past, he initially said in December 2022 that he had no intention of reviewing the Act.
He defended Sosma saying the law allows the court process to take place, unlike others like the now-defunct Internal Security Act (ISA) and Emergency Ordinances (EO).
As pointed out by rights group Madpet, of the 624 arrested and detained for the offences listed in Sosma in the period leading up to the end of 2022, only 71 were apparently charged and tried.
This means that almost 550 innocent persons have become victims of the law and possibly suffered detention or prolonged detention in police custody.
Sosma allows for detention beyond the maximum 14 days stipulated under the Criminal Procedure Code.
More proactive
I also thought he could have been more proactive this April when we raised the issue of statelessness involving Malaysians who did not get the proper paperwork processed like the late Lina Samuel from rural Sarawak.
This is not about undocumented migrants overseas but genuine cases of those born in Malaysia, particularly to nomadic or insular communities such as the Lun Bawang in Sarawak or the Bateq Orang Asli in the peninsula.
This statelessness mainly affects those from B40 households, especially those with limited access to education and it often denies them access to education, healthcare and other critical benefits of citizenship.
Saifuddin confirmed that the number of overall pending citizenship applications is 133,436, and his ministry plans to approve at least 10,000 applications this year.
While that seems commendable, he actually needs to make a much more determined effort like forming a task force to tackle the huge backlog of cases aggressively.
At this current rate, we are just plugging holes in the problem, not dealing with it once and for all. To resolve this would make such a difference to the lives of so many Malaysians.
Then in May, there was the Home Ministry raid on 11 Swatch stores to seize 172 items from the Swiss brand's Pride collection - which comprises watches in various shades of the rainbow - adopted as a symbol of the LGBT community.
This was followed by the controversial onstage kiss between two members of the British rock band, The 1975 during the Good Vibes Festival - in an apparent protest to Malaysian laws against homosexuality.
Downplayed
All Saifuddin did was urge for a more comprehensive screening and profiling process for foreign artistes before they could perform in the country.
And the latest thing is the book seizure when four officials showed up at the Toko Buku Rakyat bookshop and seized two titles: “Marx the Revolutionary Educator” (Marx Sang Pendidik Revolusioner) by Robin Smalls and Benz Ali’s book “Masturbation Poetry Collection” (Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi).
Despite protests from his own party members like Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung and PKR Youth vice-chief Tyra Hanim Razali, Saifuddin downplayed the incident saying only two books were taken.
He added that Home Ministry officials are empowered under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) to act upon public complaints.
Ultimately, Saifuddin is not covering himself in glory as a reformist.
Overall it feels like, yes he’s not as bad as those chaps who came before him, but he isn’t striking a progressive note in his handling of matters as home minister.
Holding pattern
What is the plan then?
Just keep a holding pattern until you lose the next election because your supporters are disillusioned.
Now, I am not one of those persistent whiners. I advocate picking one’s battles, especially given what happened in the aftermath of the treacherous Sheraton Move.
I know that we need to call them out for checks and balances and keep them honest.
Still, at the same time, if Anwar were to replace misfiring ministers, not to mention the possibly compromised Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, we could have a revolt or slew of defections and be left with a much worse regime.
By the way, many people vocal in the space provided by Pakatan Harapan and the unity government put their tails between their legs.
They kept their mouths firmly shut when there were more threatening regimes like Muhyiddin governing with Emergency powers during the pandemic.
Once again, I’m not advocating silence but the exercise of good judgement when deciding how and when to get excited.
I do think people like Saifuddin need a nudge in the right direction if they are going to make a difference and help us make a better Malaysia instead of the same old same old. Let’s see what happens next. - Mkini
Martin Vengadesan is an associate editor at Malaysiakini.
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