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| Freedom to Dissent
by Tanjong Po
Aliran Monthly 2003:10 Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. We also welcome donations.
Freedom is both the anti-thesis�of subjugation by evil and unjust forces�as well as �the laurels of victory over them. Freedom should be explored in its numerous dimensions, and the discussion should not be detracted by oppressors of freedom who would very much wish to derail the concept of freedom from its central and universal core. � Freedom has more often than not been won at enormous costs to individuals, communities�and nations: on suppressed mutinies on slave-ships bound for Europe and North America, then on the American Civil War battlefields, and in recent times on Robben Island of South Africa, Kamunting and Sungei Buloh Prison of Malaysia (the last two, not won!). Freedom has inspired legions of great men and women, many forever unknown to history. A few of the known: in the west, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Vaclav Havel; in the Third World, Jose Rizal, Sun Yat Sen, Mahatma Gandhi, Sukarno, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, Che Guevara, Kim Dae Jung and Aung San Suu Kyi. It is a good enough spread of skin colours, nationalities,�and violent and non-violent proponents, but also a reflection of a common universal human yearning for Freedom � common among pure-blooded Asians with pure Asian values (not the �Asian values� of the gutter kind, promoted to justify political persecution and oppression). � A long process
It is sadly true in the case of Third World countries too: having beaten off overt colonialism and imperialism, authoritarianism and feudalism cloaked in shades of democracies � attempt to deprive their subjects of freedom and inalienable rights. � The denial and suppression of the freedom of expression in some Third World countries has sapped them of their vitality. Instead of the�development of the democratic space and�the full intellectual potential of their citizenry, many a Third World country has spun malignant webs of social and political corruption�and economic feudalism, even surpassing those of their former Western colonial masters. Gargantuan physical edifices are�erected phallic-like�in modern times which fail to conceal abject poverty (poverty equates lack of freedom). Here in the shanty towns and slums, the great intellectual potential of a nation is wasted forever.�Thanks to Hollywood and the free western media, the world can�marvel at�the evil social dichotomy, which local eyes refuse to see, much less admit. � Freedom of expression When there is no place for freedom of expression, there is no compelling necessity to think. There is only the right thing to do: to chant the correct political mantras of the day, self-applauding and to be applauded. When the intellectual space is so diminished and intellectuals are shackled, it is the height of naivety for those in power to pretend they can catapult their crimped societies into the global village and the information age and be in the race for high technologies and lucrative export markets. Where�in the�modern world is�there�a �clever� society or nation � where there are people who are able to think but do not have the freedom to express � which has achieved the peaks of scholarship (read world class institutions of higher learning which will beckon knowledge hungry students to their shores)? Has any genius created the conditions where you are only allowed to think and express in the physical sciences and technology, without concomitant intellectual engagement in the social sciences and humanities? Yes, perhaps, in the brave new world of Orwell rediscovered�and modern day Bolehland! The Soviets sent up the first cosmonauts only to see their version of Bolehland crumble in 30 short years. Can other aspiring Bolehlands do better than the Soviets, and not crumble in a much shorter time? Even Bolehland people understand that in the information age a nation will not go anywhere without learning. But it needs world class learning, not�fourth-rate thinking dictated by the Great Leader. � If democracy is about the peaceful contest of diverse or conflicting ideas, it can only operate properly with freedom of expresion. Of course you have modified democracies, fifth generation, so advanced that no pre-requisites such as freedoms need be attached! The world applauds such Bolehland democracies! � Intellectual Dissent Freedom of expression is that indispensable check against abuse of state and institutional power, prejudices, outright public lies, and extremisms of all forms. In the open contest of ideas, better public policy choices are more likely to be made, and unjust positions become untenable. A more cohesive social consensus is more likely from a fairer debate on a spectrum of ideas in any community. The abusers of power naturally fear freedom of expression; no social input and no social consensus is deemed necessary when you have total legislative, executive and�judicial�powers, because the powers-that-be�are deemed to be the consensus! Better public policy is never top priority anyway. How then do you promote social purpose without some�intellectual basis? � Denial of freedom of�expression, a strong damper of thinking, is naturally�meant to suppress dissent. Intellectual dissent��is�often the prelude to social and political activism.�Here lies�an effective way of stopping people from participating meaningfully in the political process. Bled anaemic of more diverse thoughts and ideas, social, artistic and technological developments are all held back. The same intellectual spirit is fortunately (or unfortunately for oppressors),�also the essential ingredient of social and technological creativity and resourcefulness. Intellectual dissent is such a valuable asset to any progressive society that it should�be channelled through free media, academic and other wholesome social mechanisms instead of being bottled up by overwhelmingly regressive legislation.�How else do you then�retain high calibre�people in your country, much less dream of luring people back home? � Thus for the sake of communities and nations, shall we say not just �freedom�, but freedom to consent and dissent!
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The abusers of power naturally fear freedom of expression; no social input and no social consensus is deemed necessary when you have total legislative, executive and�judicial�powers, because the powers-that-be�are deemed to be the consensus! 