The Zen of protest

Like life, most things associated to protest are actually not essential to it.

COMMENT

To begin with, you don’t need a placard or a banner to stage a protest. This is however what police commonly perceive to be essential to protest.

They believe by seizing placards or banners, they can defeat a protest because the message of the protest will not be clear.

But why do you need a placard or a banner as the visual aid to get the message out to the public?

First, your message is not simple enough or not popularly known. If it is straightforward or already well-known, you really don’t need it to be written on placard, banner or anything. It can be a flower, a flag or anything not seen threatening for normal people.

In my protest against the Perak coup since Feb 6, 2009, black is the visual aid. It is the mourning colour for the death of democracy in Perak and potentially in Malaysia.

When you see a sea of black, you know it is a protest against 1BLACKMalaysia, the darkness of Najib’s 1Malaysia.

But, how do people know about this message? You need some collaboration from the other party. In my case, we didn’t get much media coverage initially but the police kindly lent us a hand by arresting me for three days.

Second, if you really need a written message, write in on your t-shirt, scarves, balloons or something not seen as disrupting the daily routine.

Always ensure that the authorities will have a tough time justifying why they must take away your visual aid. In my case, stopping me from wearing black will mean you have to first strip me off.

For the latest “Malaysians can … without police permit” protests at KLCC, you will have to explain why parents are not allowed to bring balloons with messages. It can’t be ‘balloons can be used as dangerous weapons to attack others’, right?

Voice

Many protesters feel that protests are incomplete until they hear some leaders giving speeches. But why do we really need a speech really?

I am not against speeches but speeches are really not essential to protest. If the authorities believe that they can stop a protest by stopping your speeches, then protest without a speech.

You don’t really need a speech from the leaders to the participants if everyone knows why they are there and does not need cues of motivation.

Speeches are often needed only to convey the message to the on-looking bystanders, the media and hopefully the wider public. But why must such message be verbal?

What is a protest message essentially? A protest message really just needs to be a sign of anomaly. In journalistic terms, it is to be newsworthy by being ‘odd and unusual’.

If everyone speaks, a sudden silence is enough to constitute a protest. If everyone eats, not eating is protest. If everyone walks, standing still is protest.

In 2010, we held two silent protests in KLCC. In the protest against censorship in newspapers, we simply read newspapers upside down. When 20 people did so, it’s a scene.

In another protest against politically-motivated sacking of radio DJ Jamaluddin Ibrahim, we simply wore facemask to drive home the message: 1MutedMalaysia.

And if you really like sound effect, you don’t need a public speech. You can sing songs or recite poems – which can be hardly seen as disruptive by most people.

Venue

What about venue? Are there any venues essential to protest?

The Peaceful Assembly Bill outlaws gatherings within 50m radius of 12 categories of prohibited areas including police station, schools, place of worships, hospital, petrol station and train station.

The government’s logic is to push protesters into closed stadiums so that protests cannot be seen by other members of the public.

While we must kill the bill which is an assault to our constitutional freedom and an insult to our intelligence, let us also recognise its loop holes.

There are many places besides the 12 categories of prohibited areas that are not blocked from the public’s view. Parks are not prohibited. Shopping malls, restaurants and cinemas are not.

If a big crowd suddenly turns out in the same costume, aren’t this a protest? That’s exactly what we have been doing in KLCC for the past two weeks. Hence, for this week, Christmas trees in the KLCC can be our perfect backdrop.

The reason why venue is traditionally seen as essential is because protests are organised as single-purpose activities. When protests are embedded into other activities, protests cannot be banned without having other activities disrupted.

So, if you want to ban ‘protesting’ yellow customers from shopping in the KLCC, you can’t do it without harming business in the KLCC itself. So, you see, protests won’t hurt business, but prohibition of business would.

Now, applying the ‘embedding’ modus operandi, even procession – assembly in motion – cannot be banned. All you need is to get a group of people occupying a coach on LRT, a coach or a ferry, and you will be doing an assembly in motion!

Everyone can protest, anytime, anywhere in Malaysia

So, what is essential in protest? It’s the will to register your dissatisfaction. All it takes is you. It can take any form your imagination and creativity take you.

Tony Fernandes says, “now everyone can fly”. We say, “now everyone can protest.”

And like the AAM auto rescue team, protest can happen Anytime, Anywhere in Malaysia.

Remember, one becomes slave not when slavery is imposed upon him/her, but when slavery is imposed upon him/her without any protest.

So, feel free to protest, and protest to feel free.

Wong Chin Huat sees the “Malaysians can … without police permit” protests at KLCC as metaphorically a public lecture on freedom of assembly. He thanks the KLCC management, its security team and its counsels for their unwitting role as teaching assistants.