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I refer to the Malaysiakini article Anwar, please accept democracy

Is Dr Dennison saying that Anwar is not practicing democracy? Why did he wait so patiently to complete his six years of political exile to contest at Permatang Pauh to become a member of parliament, if he did not believe in democracy.?

Dr Dennison, maybe your kind of democracy is different from Anwar and PKR’s? What Anwar and all of us believe is that democracy is about fundamental liberties and rights guaranteed in our constitution and enshrined in the international instruments. Democracy is about good governance and accountability where the pillars of democracy, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary are independent.

As a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you know that a simple feedback on the status of rights of the rakyat to parliament by the human rights commission, Suhakam, has been denied. If this in itself is controlled by the Executive, then there is no democracy but dictatorship.

The main argument you raised is that the people have made a choice on Mar 8 during the general elections and we should respect that decision. We should wait for the next 5 years and then get back to the people for a different mandate. I will accept this if it was free, fair and just elections. But the way general elections are held in Malaysia, it is nothing but a facade of democracy.

The election commission is not independent. The electoral roll is manipulated, unclean and false where the dead have risen to vote. The opposition has no access to the government /people’s media. Ceramahs need permit from the police force that is riddled with corruption and biased to the status quo.

The police function seems to be to issue warnings threatening the rakyat. It shows its force and instills fear with large numbers of FRU personnel. Is this the democracy you ask Anwar to practice? I am sure as a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you can see beyond these parameters and recognise genuine democracy.

Do we wait for five years for a new mandate to release our grassroot leaders under the ISA? Do we wait for more people to be arrested and threatened with the use of Sedition Act, Printing Presses and Publication Act or the Official Secrets Act? Do we wait for 5 years before Refugees are recognised and are free from torture, arrest, whipping and detention?

Do we wait for five years for workers to get a minimum living wage? As a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you will know these forms of rights violations must be halted as soon as possible. The incarceration of persons through such draconian laws cannot be tolerated as the liberties and security of persons are threatened.

And I will take your argument that people “have made” a choice. In this choice on Mar 8, 2008, the rakyat in 5 states chose the opposition where Pakatan Rakyat is the government of the day. But democracy does not work.

The federal government hordes the funds. It refuses to give money to these state governments. A classic case is the action of the tourism minister. A number of tourism programmes by these state governments have not got funding from the federal government.

In short, the federal government denies the voters in these states their right to the funds for development. The control and conflict between the federal government and the five states reveal that such democracy by BN strangles the rakyat’s growth and development.

And so Dr Dennison, do we wait and continue such a form of dominance that the rakyat suffers from the abuse of the federal government or liberate them through a process of legitimately taking over the federal government through a new decision by MPs who now realise that the rakyat and the nation come first before themselves. And what’s wrong with this process if at the heart of the change is the rakyat?

Is it morally wrong to move forward the process so that we practice genuine democracy, we fight corrupton and instill good governance, we protect the rights of the people, we ensure our resources and our land is protected not just for ourselves but for our children and we free our women, children and ourselves from the violence of the state institutions? Is this transformation immoral?

What is wrong now must be put right. I am sure as a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you will agree to this principle. And this is exactly what Anwar, the party and Pakatan Rakyat are working on, putting right the wrong so that genuine democracy reigns. This is the form of leadership we yearned for, worked for and struggled for in the last 50 years, not just March 8, 2008. We have waited too long.

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