Only in Umno-ruled Malaysia, can Christmas carolling jeopardise national security

Malaysian churches are concerned and well they should be. Targeted by Prime Minister Najib Razak's government, they have borne the burnt of all sorts of accusations including that they were part of a plot to over throw him and install a Christian prime minister in predominantly Muslim Malaysia.

Now, one of the Christians' core rights is being challenged. There is a huge debate over whether the very act of carolling requires a police permit and amazing as it may seem, this is a real situation and part of a greater problem caused by greedy and irresponsible political leaders.

Malaysia is reversing into a state of fear. Ruling party UMNO and its cohorts in the BN coalition are using racial politics plus religious bigotry to garner votes to stay in power. So caught up are they in their quest to retain the federal government at all costs, Najib and his colleagues have regressed Malaysia into a state much like the old Soviet Union.

Hisham and a total blank!

As usual, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is Najib's cousin, was in a total blank about the matter. This is the second time, the Home Minister has publicly declared that he was uninformed of the going-ons within Malaysia. The first time was when Hisham's own brother was embroiled in a banknote scandal involving an Australian company.

Hishammuddin had blatantly insisted that he knew nothing of brother’s business dealings, which is the oddest thing considering it involved national security - the printing of Malaysian currency notes!. Also quite a statement to make when you are the Home Minister, and have direct access to all the nation's intelligence services.

The latest admission that he was not informed that police permits were required in order to conduct carolling sessions is just as incredible.

Additional requirements this year

Actually, the practice of applying to the police has been going on for 30 years. It is only this year that additional requirements have been laid down and churches need to comply in order to be given permission to conduct carolling sessions.

Johor police insisted that carollers must apply for permits two weeks before going ahead with their musical visits. Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff was quoted as saying that organizers should inform the police on the number of participants, the places they planned to visit and the time. It is known that the police were asking Christians for more details than usual this year including the full names and contact details of homeowners whom they intended to visit this carolling season.

And though it is clear Johor police are making life difficult for the churches, BN ministers refuse to admit this. Different ministers appear to have been tasked to say different things to different people. “No permit is needed for Christmas carolling. You don’t even need to inform the police,” said Deputy Home Lee Chee Leong. Lee’s statement echoes Hisham's own statement made on Twitter that federal police have told him no permit is required by Christians organising their musical visits over Christmas.

But Information minister Rais Yatim has also come to issue a rather rude statement that Malaysians should not take the government for granted just because "the prime minister has liberalised several aspects of our life. The police still have their power." Rais was referring to KLCC flash mob to protest the Najib administration's harsh law on peaceful citizen gatherings.

Deliberate confusion

There is clear confusion by the ministers and the police force. Who really has the final say? By right, the Home Minister has final say in any matter because the police answer directly to him. Yet, the Johor and Klang police have acted contrary to the minister’s wishes. Several questions immediately pop out over this issue.

Firstly, is carolling a threat to national security? The manner in which the police have asked for information seems to conclude, that in the eyes of the police; carolling is a threat worthy of being monitored. Carollers seem to be accorded the same status as tracking criminals or drug-dealers.

It seems that the police now have the power to decide which household is worthy and deserving of being able to receive and listen to Christmas songs sung by carollers. How strange? Are they trying to protect the position of Islam, to demonize Christians, to pander to the right-wing Muslims in UMNO or a combination of all three?

Secondly, the sudden need to place attention on Christians and their activities is worrying. Why the need to monitor these activities? Is it wise to allow public money to be wasted on frivolous activities such as stalking carollers or forming special carolling monitoring units?

Police a wing of UMNO?

Indeed, the over-zealous nature of the police actions speaks of a deeper truth, harking back to the recently-passed Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011, which gives the police huge discretionary rights over the citizenry.

Because they now have a bill to persecute a gathering of people, the police chiefs may feel inclined to wield their power in the way they think best helps the cause of the political master. After all, carollers is a “movement of people” and can also ingeniously be compared to a street demonstration if shrewdly interpreted against the letter of the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011. And when persecuted, it will be organisers who would bear the brunt of the law and in the case of carolling groups, it will be the churches.

And this is how the police can take the heat off their political masters by initiating the very action that their bosses want to carry out but do not wish to take the rap for in case it boomerangs. And what the police are trying to 'prove' to the targeted Malay and Muslim community is that UMNO-BN is defender of the position of Islam, to demonize Christians and to pander to the right-wing voters. This is how it gels up.

The state of play

What then is happening to Malaysia? We now live in an environment where laws are created to ensure citizens can be persecuted and detained with the greatest ease.

We have social activists being barred from entering certain states, whilst gangsters and drug-pushers come and go as they please.

We have the police busy detaining simple folks who voice out their dissatisfaction at a failed government, while the officials within the government squander public funds on luxurious condominiums in shocking displays of corruption.

What has happened to Malaysia after 54 years of UMNO-BN rule? We have become a people scared of our own shadow, thanks to the BN government. Above all, what is right and what is wrong now fully depends on UMNO.

Indeed it is a sad day for Malaysia to have to look for answers from a party that has the least clue of what is moral and what is not.

Malaysia Chronicle