Simply inspiring =)
It's almost a foregone conclusion that my colleagues and I will be arrested when we show up on the street and walk towards Stadium Merdeka. Never mind the restrictive order published on the Star restricts only from appearing in the area around the National Palace.
When do the police believe in the rule of law anyway? They turn a blind eye to Perkasa, UMNO Youth and Silat Masters who threaten violence, and at the same time accuse people of "waging war against the king" for wearing the wrong t-shirts in their eyes and arrest people for wearing yellow, distributing flags and even organising neighbourhood cleaning-up activities.
So, any surprise that they will arrest us even if we do not walk in the restricted areas? After all, they have arrested more than 500 people by now and detained without trial six of them including Dr Michael Jayakumar Devaraj MP for possibly two months or longer under Emergency Ordinance.
How long will I and my colleagues be detained if arrested? May be a couple of hours, a couple of days, but if they are crazy, may be a couple of months.
The Police don't seem to care about public opinion. Not even the Prime Minister cares, does he? He extended an invitation to us to have a stadium for our gathering, then cancelled his invitation at whim and now ordered his security guards to imprison us for taking his words seriously.
Is it a crime to take a Prime Minister's word seriously?
The very reason why so many of our colleagues have been arrested since Wednesday and we may soon follow suit later is that we have a respect for the office of the Prime Minister. We have embarrassed him because he does not have the same respect for himself and his office, which explains the disrespect of his words shown by his ministers, the Police and even the management of Stadium Merdeka.
In this sense, the BERSIH 2.0 rally is beyond clean and fair elections. It's about decency in our public life. It's about a sense of shame and, as Ambiga nicely put it to the Police top brass in negotiation, conscience.
In the past weeks, not only the Election Commission, the Police, the judiciary and the bureaucracy have tried their very best to prove the case for the sixth demand of BERSIH 2.0 rally: Strengthening Public Institutions.
What do you call a country that makes Clean a dirty word? Kotorland? No, PM Najib and the police may believe that they are ruling a Kotorland but I will not be a subject of theirs.
I am a proud citizen of Malaysia. I believe in the promise of freedom and fraternity in the birth of Malaysia 48 years ago. If my belief that Malaysia is a free nation is seditious, I am guilty as charged. To assist the police, I will have my Constitution and Flag with me at my arrest as the evidences of my crime.
You may wonder why I take the shameless conduct of the Federal Government and Police so seriously. You may question if it is worthwhile to denounce the wrongs and perhaps lose my freedom for a longer period than otherwise.
Aren't you fearful?
My answer is simple. I am actually tired of being fearful. My generation was brought up at home, in schools and in society to fear and stay away from politics. We were indoctrinated to believe that we cannot handle freedom because of our diversity - in other words, because we are so different, we are inclined to abuse our freedom and inflict violence on each other, we therefore need a strong government. It's very Hobbesian.
I am tired of living in that Malaysia. I don't see anything wrong with the person next to me having a different heritage, professing a different faith, speaking a different language or believing in a different idea how this country needs to be run. Why do we need to be homogenous to coexist peacefully?
The real problem confronting country is our fear of violence. We fear ethnic riots so much that we are willing to tolerate authoritarianism which breeds corruptions and curbs progress. In that fear, we lose our independence. Fear becomes the new colonial apparatus and those who control it becomes our new colonial masters.
Fear is exactly the message that Perkasa, Utusan Malaysia, UMNO Youth and ultimately the Police try very hard to get into our mind. Live in fear and we will be peaceful.
I am going out to the street soon to defy that message.
I would be lying to say that I am not fearful of solidarity confinement, torture, never-ending court process, unemployment and most importantly, the distress that my mother and siblings need to endure.
I am fearful but I am more fearful of letting this country and the future generations continue to be colonised by fear.
I am fearful but I am going to overcome my fear because I want to be free. There is no peace in fear.
I want freedom for myself, for my nephews and nieces, for my students, for the children I may have in the future and all my fellow countrymen and women. I hope my families will understand and support me.
I want the freedom to wear any shirt and write a Facebook note without worrying about being charged for sedition!
I want the freedom from having police knocking on your door at midnight threatening detention without trials.
If the temporary loss of personal freedom can contribute in a very minute way to the permanent liberation of 27 million people, it will be a bloody good deal.
More than 500 brave Malaysians have lost their freedom to walk for ours, it would be an honour for me to join them to take the risk. Will you join me too?
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