Showing posts with label ISA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ISA. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 November 2017

Dr M ‘owes the nation an apology’

FOR the then 451 employees of Sin Chew Daily, Oct 27, 1987, was the most unforgettable day of their lives.
On that day, I reported to work as usual at eight in the morning, first checking the Bernama newsfeed, as I always did, for any latest notice.
Sunday, 5 Nov 2017
There was one: an emergency press conference at 9am by the then Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Hanif Omar (now Tun).
I was the assistant reporting chief at that time, and seeing that there wasn’t enough time to send a reporter over, I rushed to Bukit Aman myself.
Hanif was sitting on the stage, with the Special Branch director and later-to-be IGP Rahim Noor by his side.
Hanif picked up a list, and read aloud the names of politicians, Chinese educationists and NGO leaders detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Yes, 106 of them in all. Since the start of Operasi Lalang, a total of 106 individuals had been arrested, and Hanif did not rule out the possibility of more arrests.
Back at the office at 10am, I was greeted by gloomy faces as I stepped inside my department. A phone call had just been received from the Home Ministry that Sin Chew’s publishing permit had been suspended with immediate effect, and that the official letter would reach the office in an hour.
No publication from Oct 28. Sure enough, there was no need for me to prepare the news article from Hanif’s press conference.
I discovered later that we were not alone, as The Star and Watan were also suspended concurrently.
To keep himself in power, then Prime Minister-cum-Umno president (Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad started his iron-fisted rule by getting rid of dissidents and creating an illusion that the Malays were under serious threat.
He encouraged and condoned hateful remarks to tense up racial relations, a move that would give him a good opportunity to order mass arrests.
Then Education Minister (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim sent a hundred Malay administrators to assume senior posts at Chinese primary schools.
Despite strong opposition from the Chinese community, Anwar remained recalcitrant. A protest rally was staged by political parties and Chinese educationists at the Thean Hou Temple.
The protest leaders were later picked up by police one after another, and the extensive coverage of the event by Sin Chew Daily was seen by Dr Mahathir as an act of fanning racial sentiments.
Prior to this, Sin Chew Daily had been taken over by UMBC (now RHB) due to financial difficulty. Although we didn’t get our monthly pay on time, the operation could still be sustained.
But with the suspension order, the 451 employees along with their families and thousands of news agents and sellers had to struggle to make ends meet.
I still remember we got our full pay in October, down to three quarters in November, half in December and a quarter in the following January. No income for us from February onwards.
Most of us had to look for alternative jobs to feed ourselves and settle mortgages and car loans while waiting for the suspension order to be lifted.
Dr Mahathir destroyed the country’s judiciary and democracy, clamped down on press freedom and encouraged nepotism.
He has yet to offer an apology for all these till this day.
Sadly, Opposition leaders who were thrown into jail by him back then have chosen to forget his iniquities, teaming up with him instead to boost the Opposition camp with only one thing in mind: to capture Putrajaya.
On the 30th anniversary of Operasi Lalang, there was no mention of Mahathir from Opposition leaders who routinely issued strong statements to commemorate this day.
  • The writer is the Editorial Director of Sin Chew Daily.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/11/05/dr-m-owes-the-nation-an-apology-he-ruined-the-judiciary-freedom-of-the-press




‘There was a sense of helplessness’


Friday, 27 Oct 2017

Sin Chew pursued an independent editorial policy with a stance of defending Chinese education, says Tay.
Sin Chew pursued an independent editorial policy with a stance of defending Chinese education, says Tay.







WHEN Sin Chew Jit Poh, along with The Star and Watan, was shut down by the Home Ministry on Oct 28, 1987, it went through the darkest and most trying moments in its history, according to the book Walking Tall – 80 Years Sin Chew Daily.
Before Operasi Lalang, the paper was struggling for survival as its Penang-based owner then, Datuk Lim Kheng Kim, was facing financial difficulties after being hit by the 1986 recession. Pay cheques were often delayed and the paper came close to foreclosure.
For five and a half months after the closure, Sin Chew’s journalists pondered their bleak future.
While many loyal staff stayed on, those who needed financial certainty left for other jobs.
“We were hoping that Mahathir would lift the ban after three months. So we went to the canteen every day to drink coffee and waited patiently.
“But this wait turned out to be more than five months,” recalls Tay Cheong Hiang, foreign editor of Sin Chew before he retired.
“Initially, we were paid full salary but after that it became partial and less ... it was scary for a lot of colleagues who had no financial (buffer).
“I did some freelance work and my wife, a teacher, had to give more tuition after class,” the 75-year-old said in an interview at his Kelana Jaya home in Petaling Jaya.
According to Tay, Sin Chew had pursued an independent editorial policy with a stance of defending Chinese education. It was the voice of the community, with its wide news coverage and bold editorials on Chinese issues.
The main news just before the closure centred on the community’s complaints against the Education Ministry, under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which had sent teachers who did not know Mandarin to Chinese primary schools to take up leadership positions.
Fearing this could lead to the change of character of Chinese schools, Chinese educationists, associations and the MCA – which vowed it would “sink or swim” with Chinese primary schools – staged a series of protest rallies.
When Umno politicians viewed these protests, which were over education issues, as challenging the authority of the ministry and Malays, they organised counter-rallies. Racial tension rose amid such developments.
After the shutdown, Sin Chew’s journalists did not stage any protest, and this perceived inaction was criticised by outsiders.
“The atmosphere then was tense after more than 100 people were arrested. No one organised any protest and there was a sense of helplessness among us,” Tay explained.
During that difficult period, only Buddhist associations visited Sin Chew to deliver some aid to its staff.
In the meantime, C.C. Liew – the editor-in-chief then – went round talking to business tycoons about taking over the newspaper.
On April 8, 1988, when Sin Chew Daily hit the streets again, Sarawak timber tycoon Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King – who was also a Barisan politician in Sibu – became the new owner.

And Sin Chew was given a new lease of life.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/10/27/there-was-a-sense-of-helplessness/



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Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Ops Lalang: Malaysia 29 years later

TWENTY-nine years ago today, Malaysia began a security sweep starting with 19 politicians, activists and intellectuals detained without trial as racial and ...

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The mass rally of over 10,000 people organized by Umno Youth shortly before Ops Lalang was launched on Oct 27, 1987. Pic via Twitter.

 The mass rally of over 10,000 people organized by Umno Youth shortly
before Ops Lalang was launched on Oct 27, 1987. Pic via Twitter.
TWENTY-nine years ago today, Malaysia began a security sweep starting with 19 politicians, activists and intellectuals detained without trial as racial and political tensions rose over an Umno leadership crisis, issues over languages and the use of the word “pendatang” (immigrant) as a slur.
The total number held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) was 106 and three newspapers – English daily The Star, Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh and Malay daily Watan – had their publishing permits suspended.
One of the dailies, Watan, never came back. The other two were never the same again.
The Star's front page on Oct 28, 1987. Source: @kuasiswa.
The Star’s front page on Oct 28, 1987. Source: @kuasiswa.
But the issues that festered and exploded into the mass detentions continue until today.
Umno, or rather the new Umno founded by Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1988, is mired in a crisis with more Malay parties coming in for a slice of the dominant majority’s vote. And unsurprisingly, Dr Mahathir is battling another of his successors – Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The word pendatang or immigrant is still being thrown around as regularly as anyone getting a datukship, a state award that carries a title of some honour and respect.
And Malaysia is still under the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, the same government that launched Ops Lalang or Weeding Operation against government critics and political foes. Of course, the ISA, the security law that allows detention without trial, is no more.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak. Pic: AP.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak. Pic: AP.
Najib repealed the law in 2012, but came up with another security law two years later. Some things remain the same, even if we think that time and tide has healed and changed the nature of security threats in Malaysia.
Today, we are a rainbow nation, where colours define our identity as much as personalities are still required to lead various groups around. The only thing missing in this cornucopia of colours and personalities is the intellectuals who give heft to the struggle for a better, if not nicer, Malaysia.
Widely blamed as the architect of Ops Lalang in his bid to keep power and fight off political foes within and without the original Umno that was declared illegal in 1988, Dr Mahathir today is on the warpath against the Umno he founded – especially party president Najib.
He has allied himself with some of his political foes, including Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang, in the battle to unseat Najib. His fight today is no different from what happened in October 1987 when those held under Ops Lalang fought Dr Mahathir’s then government for good governance and accountability.
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad shakes hands with his long-time nemesis Anwar Ibrahim at a high court in Kuala Lumpur recently. Image via Twitter.
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad shakes hands with his long-time nemesis Anwar Ibrahim at a high court in Kuala Lumpur recently. Image via Twitter.
Yet, then and now, it has been a battle of personalities. Dr Mahathir against his Umno foes – Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam; Dr Mahathir against opposition leaders Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Nik Aziz, Yusoff Rawa et al.
Now, it’s Najib against the world, aided and abetted by a hand-picked Cabinet the best that BN can offer. There is not much of a fight here but incumbency pays. And some cash handouts.
And the laws that keep most of us cowed and the few that raise their voices are dogged by political thugs and bogged by needless police investigations. That there is a transformation, with people getting hassled rather than jailed, but it still reveals the lack of intellect in debates and discussions about Malaysia.
Always about the Who, not the What and Why. Or the How.
That’s where Malaysia needs to break out of. Go beyond the bickering personalities and figure out what the majority of Malaysians need and want. Cut the rhetoric, corruption, wastage and serve the people well from Padang Besar to Semporna.
Malaysians need to do more than just cheer from the sidelines and post caustic comments online. We need to stand up, raise our voices and be counted. The laws and jails are for those abusing their rights, not for those exercising them.
We need Ops Lalang to be the last such action where 106 people lost their freedom and Malaysians became fearful of their right to dissent and criticise. And you know what, we don’t need Dr Mahathir to apologise or for us to forgive him to move on.
We need to move on, beyond all these personalities. We need to move on, beyond all those costing us our future and taxing the precious little money we earn for our families. We need to move on. 
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of Asian Correspondent
https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/10/ops-lalang-malaysia-29-years-later/
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