The beginning of a Civil Disobedience Movement in the Country?

by P Ramakrishnan

My friends, for the first time in our existence, after struggling and toiling for over 23 years, we see some hopeful signs and encouraging trends in our society.

For those of us who have been in the thick of the struggle, fighting a hopeless battle in a lethargic and selfish society, today we have every reason to rejoice.

We are witnessing the unthinkable which must be distressing for Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional.

Unbelievably, democracy is on the march. And Malaysians from various ethnic groupings are standing up as a people and demanding their rights.

Police blockades don�t seem to deter them and governmental warnings of dire consequences don�t frighten them. They come in droves, they come from afar, they come in spite of the water cannons and police batons.

Some of us from Aliran who went to Taiping to protest against 40 years of ISA outside the Kamunting Detention centre were amazed to see a crowd that was more than 10 times the crowd that assembled outside this camp in 1997 to mark the 10th Anniversary of Operation Lalang.

They were very motivated, very spirited and extremely committed. We were very elated when they chanted Reformasi sampai mati. That was very stirring.

As if to silence the cynics that it was no flash in a pan, the mother of all gatherings took place a week later on November 5. What took place was astounding and the size of the crowd was astronomical. The entire Kesas Highway was filled with pro-democracy Malaysians. Cars were parked 4-abreast for more than 5 kilometers. Those manning the toll-booths bolted and everything came to a stand still.

Of course the Bahasa and English press down-played the crowd but the Chinese press to their eternal credit stated that there were so many people that it was difficult to count and printed fantastic pictures which spoke a thousand words.

I like to believe that what happened on November 5 is the beginning of a civil disobedience movement in this country. This is inevitable given the present prevailing circumstances.

When people realise that there are no other channels of communication available to them, when all other possible avenues are denied for articulating grievances and when there is no other way of securing justice, people will ultimately take to the streets. They will come to accept the fact that civil obedience is the inherent right of the citizen and a legitimate course of action.

A hopeless situation will drive people to desperate means. This is what is happening.

People have lost their faith in our system of justice, they have lost their confidence in the courts as a fair dispenser of justice, they no longer trust the police as a neutral force to maintain law and order. They are disenchanted with the government. This is the type of government Gandhi must be referring to when he said, �I can retain neither respect nor affection for a government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality.�

And in order to oppose this immorality, the people will be marching again on November 25. This time they will be marching to parliament to present a memorandum to the Finance Minister protesting against the denial of petroleum royalty to the government of Trengganu.

We must thank Mahathir for making the people frustrated and angry, and for shutting out all democratic avenues. This is what is helping to evolve a participatory democracy.

Change can only come when people realise that they can no longer tolerate this government. And when they move, we must be part of that effort. It is for us to make that effort. The result is always in God�s hands.