Dr MK Rajakumar

For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity PP3739/12/2008(007145) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 2008:Vol.28No.10 Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 1 KHOO BOO TEIK The Long 2008 The impact of a community of dissent by Khoo Boo Teik ost of us are likely to MM look back upon the year MMM that’s about to pass en- tirely into memory as a ‘happening year’. Most of the no- table happenings were political ones, bearing surprises and changes. To be honest, it’s difficult to say anything new or useful about those changes; so much has al- ready been said, written and re- corded of them. But against some recent shatter- ing events – an ominous tsunami engulfing the world’s major fi- nancial systems, relentless pro- tests toppling the regime in Thai- land, and a terrible bloodbath striking Mumbai – it might not be contrived to sift through our no- table domestic developments for something inspiring for 2009. Past and present Some of the happenings of 2008 were startling for their audacity. Before 8 March, who could have thought that half of the electorate would rise to break the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) ‘two-thirds ma- jority’ stranglehold over Parlia- ment and drive the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to power in five states (and, properly speaking, Kuala Lumpur, too)? Who would have imagined, six months later, that Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE Who could have imagined the election results of March 2008! Khoo Boo Teik looks back at a long CONTENTS year and reminds us that we must continually turn to our community of dissent. It is only in this community that we can find the unifying hope for mean- COVER STORY ingful social and political change. ••• The Long 2008 222 Last year, we bade farewell to three leading figures FEATURES of the community of dissent in this region – the country’s leading public intellectual Rustam Sani, ••• A Great Man, A Great Friend 888 the legendary Singapore opposition leader J B ••• A Passionate Commitment To Jeyaretnam, and the former Labour Party of Malaya Equity And Social Justice 121212 leader Dr M K Rajakumar, who passed away on 22 ••• The Passing Of A Mighty Man 141414 November 2008. ••• A Life Devoted To His Fellow Human Beings 161616 Syed Husin Ali, who knew Rajakumar, well de- ••• Pedal Power 191919 scribes him as a role model for Malaysians. Here was someone who could have been a millionaire ••• Two Dramatic Days 222222 had he not chosen to devote his life to promoting the ••• A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward, cause of socio-economic justice and later looking Only Truth And Justice 242424 into their health care needs. We carry tributes by a ••• Remembering Dr M K Rajakumar 262626 host of Rajakumar’s contemporaries and others who ••• Driven To Serve 282828 knew him well such as Syed Husin and his brother ••• The Labour Party Of Malaya Syed Hamid, Ronnie McCoy, Tan Poh Lai, Lim Hock 1952-1972 303030 Siew, Tan Kai Hee and Agoes Saidin. Tan Kim Hong ••• ISA: A Death Blow To Organised goes on to trace the history of the Labour Party and its objectives. LabourLabourLabour 343434 ••• Yoga? I Remember ‘Mandi Safar‘ 383838 Rajakumar has handed over the baton to a new gen- ••• Dr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of The eration of political activists. In the Jerit “Cycle for People (1932-2008) 404040 Change” campaign, Rani Rasiah and Arutchelvan describe how a young group of Malaysians stun- OTHERSOTHERSOTHERS ningly overcame the odds to highlight the concerns ••• Subscription Form 181818 of the working class and marginalised groups. One of the cyclists’ demands was for the abolition of oppressive laws and for better protection of workers including a minimum wage. In fact, the ISA has been used not only against opposition politicians Published by but also against those championing workers’ rights, Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara as Sai N S Wigneswaran reminds us. (ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN) 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, Join us in the struggle for a more just Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. the coming year. Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197 Email (Letters to Editor): ALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to Justice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on the [email protected] roster of the Economic and Social Council of the Email (General): [email protected] United Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomes Homepage : http://www.aliran.com all Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contact the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Konway Industries Sdn. Bhd. Plot 78, Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 3 so many people earnestly wanted Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘916’ scheme to come true? Other changes have left unfin- ished repercussions. Can UMNO, unhappily led by Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, badly outmanoeuvred by Anwar, and farcically abandoned by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, survive its internal fissures and external pres- sures? Will BN be wrecked by the storm of bitter recriminations that have beset a coalition demoralized by the electoral results? Still other changes have created a stark contrast and, at least for the undecided, a difficult choice. Should we treat PR, promising a New Dawn, as ‘the angel we don’t know’? Should we liken BN, or UMNO rather, that won’t budge from a flaw-fraught status quo, to the devil we do know? The Long 2008 No matter how we think about Two weeks later, on 10 Novem- tion of the BN, or a Chinese swing these and related matters, they ber, about 40,000, mostly Malay, to the opposition, or Malay absen- took place alongside one of the supporters of BERSIH rallied to teeism from the ballot box. For that most inspiring changes we’ve demand the reform of the electoral matter, it’s merely self-serving for witnessed, namely, the expansion system. some UMNO leaders, or Dr and consolidation of a community Mahathir, to fasten all responsi- of dissent during a ‘Long 2008’. Then came 25 November when the bility on Abdullah alone. Hindu Rights Action Front’s By ‘Long 2008’, I mean a defini- (Hindraf) 30,000-strong demon- Indeed, by the time the campaign tive period that may be supposed stration became one of the most of the 12th General Election to have begun at the end of Sep- astonishing political develop- peaked in the first week of March tember 2007 although the 12th ments to have taken place since 2008, the PR parties were them- General Election became its focal Anwar Ibrahim’s fall in Septem- selves taken aback by the swell of point. ber 1998. (See AM, vol. 27, no. 9, multiethnic oppositionist senti- 2007: 2–6.) ment. The PR ceramah were mas- On 26 September 2007, 2,000 sively attended. Their campaigns people, mostly lawyers and NGO Worthless spins were charged with an exuberant activists, joined the Bar Council’s urgency as volunteers, bloggers march to the ‘Palace of Justice’ to Tracing the Long 2008 back this and ‘passive supporters’ contrib- protest the continuing judicial way, one can see that it’s futile for uted time, effort and money. degradation that was exposed by BN’s spin masters to blame the 8 Lingam-gate. March result on an Indian deser- On 8 March, therefore, it wasn’t Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 4 just ungrateful Malays, or dis- After the regime gruntled Chinese, or unreason- committed one of able Indians who wrecked the its biggest blun- BN’s hegemony. It was half the ders – detaining electorate who decided that only Raja Petra meaningful political change could Kamaruddin, bring a better future. Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng It was a multiethnic half that chan- under the ISA – nelled the exuberance of the Bar hundreds of old Council, BERSIH and Hindraf and young citi- into the euphoria that greeted the zens mounted PR’s triumph. weekly vigils in Kuala Lumpur, Rally, vigil and ride George Town and elsewhere to Since then, a community of dis- show their soli- sent has steadily grown by day, darity with the week and month. Its ideas, con- trio. cerns and hopes, whether courte- ously presented, angrily blurted Fewer, naturally, or even boringly repeated, have but naturally more energetic, ‘cy- Reformasi. Now, it’s alive and kick- taken root in the social imagina- clists’ organized a tour, a nation- ing. tion, crucially disseminated via wide jerit (yell) against the ISA. cyberspace and blogosphere. The police, helpless against the Finished, however, are the taboos Mat Rempit, harassed JERIT’s and bogeys used to contain, pro- In the real world, the community small band of cyclists as if they hibit and justify assaults on non- of dissent is made up of the politi- were a new menace. But with the violent marches, demonstrations cal parties, legally constituted generous support of well-wishers, and rallies. NGOs and ad hoc groupings. the cyclists maintained their in- They energize the community ventive protest against the persist- Today, the regime spokespeople through different modes of mobi- ing practice of detaining without no longer bother to disapprove of lization. trial dissidents of many persua- ‘dissent for the sake of dissent’. sions. Denigrating dissent in that man- When they choose to show their ner was always a silly stance any- physical presence at any one An end to taboos way, not unlike branding dissent- point, the dissenters vary in num- ers as being ‘anti-national’, anti- ber, of course, depending on is- At year’s end, there’s no mistak- government, or ‘anti-develop- sues, events, organizers, and lo- ing the social depth, geographi- ment’.

Load more