Recently, during a podcast hosted by former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had claimed that the Malaysian public can no longer talk about sensitive issues touching on the 3R - race, religion and royalty!
He went on to assert that if anyone spoke up, the police would arrest them and take action including handcuffing them; he further claimed that Anwar’s tenure in office had been marked by intolerance for public discourse on sensitive 3R-related subjects.
The truth is PM Anwar has repeatedly stressed that there were limitations when it came to media freedom, particularly on inflammatory topics concerning the 3Rs which could disrupt peace and harmony in this multiracial country; this is especially so with the popularity of social media which is often abused by irresponsible parties.
In fact, in the past, several notable personalities have been detained and charged in court; this includes controversial Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Md Nor who was charged last July for uttering seditious and insulting remarks in relation to the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
Meanwhile, others who have fallen afoul of the law have been outspoken Bersatu information committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin aka Chegubard, notorious opposition blogger Wan Azri Wan Deris aka Papagomo and Salim Iskandar - all for allegedly posting false content and spreading false information about the government on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
Meanwhile, last July the Malay Mail had also reported that police were investigating PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for accusing the DAP of carrying out the plan started by the British colonialists to annihilate Malay and Bumiputera supremacy with the support of some Malays. Incidentally, that was not the first time the Marang MP had made such preposterous and slanderous accusations. Yet, until now isn't he still a free man in Rusila?
Likewise, what about the current Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh? How many times has he spewed racially provocative words, even repeatedly touching on the extremely sensitive topic of vernacular schools, though as an ethnic Malay, he has nothing to do with it. But so far, has the current government stifled him or thrown the book at him?
In fact, Dr Mahathir himself has been called out countless times for making incendiary remarks that blatantly violated the 3R rule; among others, he had alleged that the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia were not so loyal to the country - hurting the feelings of the minority communities here. But was any action taken against him? Isn't he still free to post whatever he wants on his popular Facebook page?
While the nonagenarian had accused PM Anwar and his unity government of being intolerant towards public discussion on 3R-related issues, many may ask:
“How tolerant was he during his “authoritarian” rule spanning more than two decades?”
Moreover, while often lecturing others about justice (including for the oppressed in Palestine), did he ever openly accept responsibility for the hundreds of fellow Malaysians forced to languish in confinement under the dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA)? Or does he even care to recall the infamous Operasi Lalang under his watch that brought anguish and untold suffering to the lives of hundreds of people - even cruelly separating families with young children?
Whether he likes it or not "Operation Lalang'' which took place on 27 October 1987, and which saw the brutal political crackdown on opposition leaders and social activists, will forever remain as Dr Mahathir’s most infamous legacy!
Tragically, until today it still sends shivers down the spine of some people. Undoubtedly, it was a “black day” in the nation’s history which saw the arrest of some 106 people under the draconian ISA; it also led to the revoking of publishing licences of two popular dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh in addition to two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan.
Apparently, the saga began when tension started to build up over the government's appointment of some 100 senior assistants and principals - who were not Mandarin-educated - to vernacular Chinese schools, thus triggering a backlash from furious Chinese community leaders.
In an act of solidarity, politicians from the MCA, the DAP and Gerakan then joined Chinese educationist groups in holding a protest in Kuala Lumpur which allegedly saw racially provocative speeches from several angry ethnic Chinese politicians.
Inevitably, this drew an immediate response from the Malays, led by Umno Youth's Najib Razak, with a mass rally of 10,000 held at the TPCA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Not contented with the sabre-rattling ,Umno then threatened to hold an even bigger rally.
This led to fears that racially provocative speeches by the nationalist party's leaders may spark riots and that another bloodbath similar to the May 13 incident may happen; then purportedly as a trade-off to prevent the Umno mega rally, several prominent Chinese politicians (forever the fall guys?) were arrested together with some activists - all mercilessly bundled into remand and detention centres. Strangely, Najib was exempted despite his active involvement - thanks to his boss?
In fact, not only did Dr Mahathir allow the use of ISA quite “liberally”, but the following year even the Printing Presses and Publications Act was tightened with stricter requirements for renewal of licence together with a harsh prison term added whereby the publication of false news could land a publisher in jail for up to three years!
The truth is, the oppressive ISA remained in force throughout Dr Mahathir’s term in office and it was only much later in 2012 after he had long vacated his Putrajaya office that it was finally repealed and replaced with another act.
Bearing in mind all that, shouldn't the 98-year-old witty but extremely finicky ex-premier be grateful that the unity government has been letting him off lightly despite his “regular” trademark racially charged statements and hate speeches? In days gone by wouldn't his blatant actions be deemed to be “a threat to national security?”
Furthermore, no matter how much he lashes out at the current government's so-called brutal and repressive laws on 3R, does it come anywhere near to matching the barbarity of his notorious ISA?
JK Joseph is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
