Don’t take right to speak for granted, says Marina

Social activist instead asks Malaysians to fight for their right to speak up, before that too like our forests, are gone forever.

PETALING JAYA: The right to speak is not something Malaysians should take for granted as too many freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution have been snatched away from the people, said Marina Mahathir.

In her latest blog entry, the social activist and daughter of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, drew parallels to simple everyday life, noting how Malaysians tended to only appreciate things better after they had been deprived of it.

She used the fasting month as an example and remarked at how food was always better appreciated after having fasted all day, the same way one tended to enjoy clear blue skies better only after weeks of being shrouded by an ugly haze.

She said the same of how Malaysians only appreciated the trees after its disappearance caused heat from lack of shade and subsequent flooding and asked, “Is it a particularly Malaysian trait to appreciate things only after we’ve lost them? Or do we simply not think of that possibility, so we fritter them away as if there were no tomorrow?”

She pointed to the country’s “wonderful” multi-ethnic, multireligious society and cautioned that with the way things were going, living in harmony with each other would soon be something the people could only “look back with nostalgia” at.

She also said politicians could not be trusted to keep the different races united because they tended to say one thing and do another.

“Despite some assurances by our politicians that they value our diversity, we find ourselves unable to trust their words when we know that often, they aren’t matched by their actions.”

Touching on the issue of maintaining “harmony”, Marina said it did not have to come at the cost of accepting things the way they were in the typical “Malaysian way.”

“We think none of these will matter to the majority of us – only troublemakers need worry. But given the almost random nature of the current persecutions of people who speak their minds, how do we know we won’t be next?” she asked.

She said that it was not only “famous” people who needed to watch what they said, as many “unknown people” these days had also been ensnared by the law and thrown into lockups.

“There would be no point in being nostalgic then, to finally appreciate our right to speak once we’ve lost it. Once it’s out of the gate, it’s hard to bring it back. Better to do all that we can to protect it now.”