COMMENT | Who's promoting communism?

COMMENT | Many years ago, I was wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt at a rally near Parliament when a special branch officer approached me. He asked me whose portrait it was as he had seen it many times. I told him he was an actor.

The police officer said, “No wonder lah so familiar”, because he had seen him in football matches and the theatres. Yes, Guevara's (real name Ernesto Guevara) poster was portrayed at the Coliseum Theatre for the movie “The Motorcycle Diaries”.

Guevara has been a symbol of liberation and resistance. He was killed in Bolivia under the CIA’s instruction.

After hearing the news of the restaurant manager being arrested for using food and beverage utensils featuring images of the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Tse Tung, I was baffled that I was let go of wearing the T-shirt of another left leader.

I’m sure the police would be busy Googling Guevara now.

Our second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein met Mao in 1974 and the poster of their meeting was used widely by BN in the 1974 general election to gain the support of the Malaysian Chinese after losing a two-thirds majority in the 1969 election.

It was reported that during the raid in Klang, the police seized five white ceramic bowls with Chinese inscriptions and images of Mao along with his associates.

This is barely two weeks after the government lost the suit for seizing 172 Swatch watches from outlets in 11 shopping malls in May 2023 for promoting LGBTQ+.

Two weeks ago, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the Home Ministry should return the 172 rainbow-themed watches after finding that they were seized illegally.

Don’t the authorities know that the best way people learn about an ideology is through the internet and social media? Now, by promoting Mao, I’m sure many young people who have not heard about him will Google and find out.

PSM getting the heat

Similarly, in 2011, police said 31 PSM activists were arrested and were charged with “waging war against the king” based on police findings that the group was trying to resurrect communism in the country.

The report also said the police seized T-shirts printed with the names of Rashid Maidin and Suriani Abdullah, among others, all of whom were linked to the Malayan Communist Party.

However, the real reason was that, at that time, PSM was doing a roadshow campaign called “Udah La Tu Bersaralah BN” which started on June 24, 2011, as part of a build-up to the upcoming Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011.

All PSM members were released. However, six PSM leaders were arrested later under the Emergency Ordinance for being “movers” of Bersih 2.0 and not for any communist leanings.

Not a single word about communism, socialism or Chin Peng appeared in the government’s 37 affidavits served in reply to the habeas corpus application by the detainees.

Good for PSM though, because we took a civil suit against 82 individuals for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment of the E06 and we were compensated RM201,000 in damages to the six detainees in an out-of-court settlement in 2013.

I believe the only lesson from all this is that the shop owner will be able to take a civil suit and perhaps come out richer.

The attorney-general could only charge them for something else other than promoting communism while it would give Mao some publicity for those who didn’t know him. And yes, more taxpayers’ money and police resources will be wasted.

S ARUTCHELVAN is PSM deputy chairperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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