Did Ban miss out on the real facts?

Was the UN secretary-general being 'politically correct' about the situation in Malaysia?

COMMENT

“You could say that I’m a man on a mission, and my mission could be dubbed Operation Restore Trust… trust in the organisation and trust between member states and the secretariat.” –Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of United Nations

When the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, made his first official visit to Malaysia recently, he had nothing but glowing praise for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, citing the latter’s 1Malaysia concept something worth emulating.

“Malaysia is multi-ethnic, multi religious, multi cultural promoting unity among diversity and 1Malaysia is a great vision not only for Malaysia but for the region and this is exactly what the UN tries to promote worldwide,” he had said.

Ban, the former South Korean foreign minister, took over as the secretary-general of the UN from Kofi Annan in 2007 and calls himself a “harmoniser and a bridgebuilder”.

That then explains why Ban was enchanted with his first “official” impression of Malaysia when he was here for two short days, from March 21 to 23. The 1Malaysia concept aside, he no less admires Malaysia’s progress under the leadership of Najib.

“I’m impressed with what Malaysia has achieved under the leadership of PM Najib in terms of political and democratic maturity, social economic development and the contribution from the policies that the PM introduced,” Ban was quoted by the New Straits Times on March 23 as saying.

Was Ban given the wrong impression by Najib about what is really happening in Malaysia or was the UN secretary-general being “politically correct” about the situation in Malaysia?

How did Ban come to the conclusion that all is well here when the status quo in Malaysia reveals otherwise?

Contrary to Ban’s belief about unity among diversity being the hallmark of Malaysia, a nation rich with multi-cultural and multi-ethnicity, the truth begs to differ; unity between Malaysians of different faiths has for some years now been compromised, no thanks to the politicking done by the “powers that be”.

In this regard, there is little the politically-motivated 1Malaysia concept can do. Branding “all things” Malaysia as “1 Malaysia” is not going to help the federal government led by the Barisan Nasional coalition grab the much-needed votes in the coming 13th general election.

What political maturity?

How did Ban reach the conclusion that Malaysia has matured “politically and democratically” under the Najib administration is anyone’s guess.

Had Najib the slightest hint of what constitutes political and democratic maturity, he would not have seen the July 9, 2011 rally demanding for electoral reforms a damning threat, so much so that both the rally and the non-governmental organisation helming it, Bersih 2.0, were declared illegal.

Had democratic maturity been a part of the Naji leadership, leaders-activists of opposition parties would not have been caught and mistreated while in police custody as that which happened to Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj and fellow Parti Sosialis Malaysia members after they were detained on June 26, 2011 under allegations of waging war against the King.

As for political maturity, clearly Ban has no inkling of what has been going on in Malaysia.

It is regrettable that political maturity has never been Malaysia’s strength; on the reverse, it is corruption, nepotism and cronyism that is the order of the day in this country. The modus operandi of politicians in Malaysia has always been “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”.

It is puzzling as to how Ban has failed to see the truth that democracy in its real sense has never been given a “breathing” chance by the Barisan Nasional government which has always been muzzling it via oppressive laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Emergency Ordinance, both which were supposedly revoked by Najib only to be replaced with the Peaceful Assembly Act 2011, which has been condemned as crippling justificable expressions of protest and not being in the interest of the rakyat.

Had Malaysia been “blessed” with both political and democratic maturity, the rakyat would not be threatened with harsh action under draconian laws like the ISA each time they dared discuss issues of racial discrimination publicly.

The topic of “Malay rights and privileges” as stated under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution is taboo to the non-Malays.

Then there is the restraint placed on the mainstream media under the Printing Presses and Publications Act that hampers them from reporting facts truthfully aside from burdening them with the “bureaucracy” of renewing their operating licence annually.

Did Ban miss out on the real facts?

The UN secretary-general also lauded Malaysia for meeting most of the 2015 deadline Millennium Development Goals which included eradicating extreme poverty and increasing literacy and also for actively promoting human rights.

There is no doubt left that Ban got his facts about Malaysia wrong. While the BN administration boasts of increasing literacy in the country, how does it explain the fact that despite completing their primary schooling, there are students who remain illiterate?

The most shocking of all was when Ban praised Malaysia for actively promoting human rights. Did the internationally-highlighted police abuse and the Najib leadership’s mistreatment of the July 9, 2011 “Walk for Democracy” rally participants not reach Ban?

Is Ban aware of the rapes faced by the Penan women and girls in Sarawak at the hands of timber loggers? Would it disturb Ban to know that the rapes continue and in spite of turning to Najib’s “vocal” wife Rosmah Mansor for help, these women received no empathy from her?

Looks like Ban has no idea of the “real” story concerning Malaysia. He might not even be aware of the human rights abuse taking place in the country, be it the right to speak up or the right to lead one’s life without fear and discrimination.

It was in November last year that the country’s only sexuality rights festival, Seksualiti Merdeka, was banned with Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar citing the excuse that the country did not recognise any “deviationist activity” that could destroy the practice of religious freedom among others.

Seksualiti Merdeka is an annual festival comprising talks, workshops, literary events, stage performances and an art exhibition focusing on the rights of “people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities”.

If this was not pathetic enough, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is better known for his racial slurs, in lending support to the ban, called the event “immoral”.

“Any activity that does not benefit the majority of Malaysians should not be carried out. It’s a waste of time, although they can say it’s their own right and freedom,” was how Muhyiddin reacted.

All not well in Malaysia

Despite calls for an end to the institutionalised system of discrimination against non-ethnic Malays, the BN government remains adamant in wanting to widen the chasm between the Malays and non-Malays, be it in the field of education or employment.

Not only that, Malaysia also has yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discimination (CERD), a UN treaty already ratified by 173 countries.

For example, non-Malay students are barred from studying at the state-owned Universiti Teknologi Mara, which has a student body of 120,00. In 2008, the federal government rejected a proposal to reverse this policy.

In May 2010, Malaysia was re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) through a secret ballot which provided a three-year mandate from June 19, 2010 to June 18, 2013.

This despite the fact that Malaysia is among seven countries accused of human rights violations apart from Angola and Libya.

With such a poor track record, why was Malaysia re-elected to the UN’s Human Rights Council?

Was it not Ban who in January this year urged African leaders to respect gay rights, saying discrimination based on sexual orientation had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long?

Ban had told delegates that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity “prompted governments to treat people as second class citizens or even criminals”.

“Confronting these discriminations is a challenge, but we must not give up on the ideas of the universal declaration (of human rights),” he was quoted by AFP as saying.

But during his official trip to Malaysia, the secretary-general failed to “practise what he preached” in Addis Ababa two months ago. Is Ban not aware of the discrimination and prejudice faced by the homosexual and transgender communities in Malaysia or was he playing safe by not touching on this topic, despite it contravening the rights enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948?

At the end of the day, all that could be said of the 67-year-old Ban’s working visit to Malaysia is this: “He came, shook hands with PM Najib, smiled for the camera and left.”

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.