You know that Malaysia is moving into the Dark Ages when:

  • Two opposition newspapers ( Suara Keadilan and Harakah ) are suspended for three months

  • Online news media are not given access to the Umno general assembly

  • There is a blatant miscarriage of justice in Malaysian courts

  • Any statement offending the BN government especially about the prime minister-in-waiting is deemed as seditious and you are pulled to court

  • Parliamentarians who are vocal are thrown out of Parliament or suspended

  • A racist protest is allowed and given police protection, but a peaceful protests for justice and human rights are attacked

  • The Pakatan Rakyat governments are constantly being threatened

  • Racism is highly propagated in mainstream media

  • The rakyat are doused with chemically-laced water by the FRU for attending ceramah by opposition parties

  • The police are used to silence political opponents as the crime rate increases and nothing much is being done about it

  • A RM60 billion stimulus package is launched but nearly 80% of the money is used for bailouts and given to private sector to ensure the capitalists’ support.

    • Yes, repression by the new regime has just begun. An act of desperation to cling onto power. An act of ego to show off to the rakyat who is in charge. An attempt to create a fear climate among the rakyat . A cheap and dirty tactic to break the spirit of unity among the rakyat using race issues.

    On top of the repression, the rakyat are also neglected. No policies or plans to help the rakya t out of the worst economic crisis. The people’s money is being used to save cronies and big businesses will the average Malaysian suffers to make ends meet.

    The BN government continues to cheat the rakyat saying ‘all is well’. When the alternative media reports the truth they are banned and threatened.

    However, what premier-in-waiting Najib Abdul Razak has forgotten is that Malaysia and Malaysians are not the same anymore. Banning of newspapers and arresting opposition leaders are not going to break the spirit of change in the rakyat.

    Information flows easily now through the Internet and the advancement of the technology has made it accessible to the younger generation who now are a significant number of voters. The rakyat has had enough of BN and its component parties for the past 50 years.

    The younger generation wants genuine change and is ready to throw out the old system. Even the older generation in their middle age is fed up with BN and its suffocating and repressive machinery.

    The overdose of propaganda by the mainstream media and its biased reporting really makes the average Malaysian feel stupid. Do they think Malaysians are dumb and the BN government’s spin doctors can continue to spin out unbelievable, pro-BN stories that are known to be twisted?

    Now with increased repression, the BN government is further losing its credibility in the eyes of the rakyat . But does BN care? No, they don’t and for as long as they have the power, money and the machinery they will not care.

    Five years down the road, they will again come begging to us to vote them in. Not only beg, they will threaten, they will bribe and they will do all kinds of things to remain in power.

    But we, the rakyat , do care. We want a Malaysia free of BN tyranny. We want democracy restored. So we need to work hard. It should not be about taking power alone. The work we should do now is to empower the rakyat !

    The people’s power should be nurtured and sharpened so that when there is a change of government in the future, the change can be defended from all unscrupulous tactics by BN. Not only that, the rakyat should be empowered and enlightened so that they will not tolerate power abuse, repression and the violation of their rights no matter who is in power, BN, Pakatan Rakyat or any other party.

    The rakyat should always fight against repression by the government of the day so that Malaysia will come out of Dark Ages and march towards a new dawn in democracy. Only People’s Power can bring genuine change in this country!

    The writer is attached to the Jerit secretariat.