Imaginary Hobgoblins

Aliran views with concern Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's labelling of the Malaysian Chinese Associations' Election Appeals Committee (Suqiu) as an extremist group whose demands are similar to the communists in the past.

We note that Suqiu handed its 17-point demand list to the Cabinet, which accepted it in principle on 23 September 1999, just before the general election last November.

Much of what was in the list was aimed at reaching the goal of a civil society, which is also the aim of Vision 2020.

So we fail to see why Suqiu should be singled out for stinging condemnation when the real culprits who harp on communal issues escape scot free.

We call on the government not to create imaginary ghosts with which to frighten the people. We hope the Prime Minister isn't playing practical politics of the type mentioned by H.L. Mencken who remarked cynically that "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."