Bukit Aman has information that Penang, Selangor, the Federal Territory and Johor are the states most beleaguered by racial problems. These four comparatively more developed states have a stronger multiracial composition compared to the others.

Going by the above police profiling, Terengganu is apparently out of the loop, being predominantly Malay. I caught up with some old friends in their kampung there and they lent a heart-warming insight into how the non-Umno ummah think.

One expressed his sympathy for marginalised Indians. He said there are indeed the poor among his own people just as there are of other races. But he added the Malays however poor generally had their own land whereas Indians who lost their jobs in the plantations and estates … well, what have they got?

He holds that the ordinary Malay would not begrudge the Indians, for so long discriminated against, a fair shake in the country.

Another friend, Malay and also a PAS supporter told me that his mosque is aligned to the Opposition. He said in Terengganu they all shared a common racial and religious identity but their differences lay in political ideology. He had been at one ceramah by a guest ustaz come from KL who spoke sympathetically on the plight of the Indians, and he comprehended how the roots causes of their marginalisation manifested in the community’s support for Hindraf.

Naturally I heard some pro-establishment views too. Terengganu Malays in the other camp hold Hindraf’s use of the terms ‘mini genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ to be provocative and objectionable. They want the races to live peaceably together and view the Hindraf march as threatening the stability of our country.

If anything, in Terengganu what is seen is not polarisation along racial but ideological lines. Ultimately, it boils down to human decency how we react to the protests that have rocked Malaysia.

BN loses the plot

I learned of the developments through SMS as I’ve been two weeks in a remote area of Terengganu (and just missing the Raya Korban but my good wishes to all who celebrate), and thus incidentally spared the government spin. It was only yesterday morning and back in town that I read Aliran’s Dec 13 editorial, ‘Hindraf ISA arrests: BN govt has lost its moral authority’ which boldly and clear-sightedly laid forth the needful.

Dissecting the processes of the crackdown, Aliran pointed out Barisan Nasional’s lack of justification to frame a valid charge for taking Hindraf leaders to court. The editorial remarked: “Many Malaysians are not surprised by the government’s latest move given the relentless campaign of vilification of the Hindraf leaders by several ministers with help from the compliant mainstream media.

“Through this single-minded effort over the last couple of weeks, the BN machinery prepared the ground for the use of the ISA by heaping all kinds of allegations against Hindraf. Using one-sided media reporting and official statements, they conveyed the impression that Hindraf was a threat to national security – without adducing sufficient evidence to justify this allegation.”

Earlier on Nov 30, I had fired the first salvo for The People’s Parliament – an advocacy website administered by civil rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim – calling for a boycott of newspapers because “the way mainstream media (MSM) have painted our fellow Malaysians black makes me thoroughly sick”. Over the last fortnight, MSM’s portrayal of Hindraf leaders and supporters has obviously sunk from sick to downright sinister.

MSM needless to say spun itself silly on the government decision to charge 31 Hindraf men for ‘attempted murder’. The government had earlier also decided to charge the Batu Burok shooting victims for attempted murder, and not forgetting the same for Tian Chua in the Kampung Berembang episode ... in this aspect at least, it metes out an equal muhibbah treatment.

Ours is a government that perceives itself able to act with impunity and like some feudal overlord on the law of the BN, by the BN for the BN.

Mooting a boycott of the BN’s biddable newsboys is hardly original but we are serious about putting it into effect and were the ones to sound the clarion call. The People’s Parliament also notes that the Opposition (PKR has called for a media boycott as well) is allied with civil society to get the idea moving.

This boycott is all too necessary; MSM is guilty of aiding and abetting the ancient regime through propping up its propaganda.

Abdullah’s is an arrantly arrogant, apoplectic administration that has criminalised our freedoms. As Aliran correctly observed: “We cannot walk as a group, we cannot put up a banner on our own building, we cannot have access to information…” So if we cannot find it in ourselves to tolerate the BN’s curbs on our fundamental rights, then we cannot continue to endorse MSM.

Someone had been holding a copy of Harakah in his hands and I glimpsed its front-page headline screaming “Negara Polis” (Police State). My attention caught, I walked to the newsstand and asked for a copy. The vendor regretfully told me that he’s not allowed to sell the PAS party organ to the public. What we have is a government that will not permit you and me to even freely buy the newspaper we wish to read.

Since we don’t care to waste money on MSM, shall we please look to alternative reading material? Why not subscribe to independent socio-political magazines instead? For example, in the Aliran Monthly , one can read Anwar Ibrahim’s views on the police state: “It is unfortunate that the police continue to resort to use fear and intimidation as they become nothing but a tool to the ruling government”.

Reiterating call for Hartal

In continuing to read the BN mouthpieces, we are in effect dutifully swallowing their snake oil.

See if this sidebar to the New Straits Times’ cover story yesterday doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth. It’s on one Mohd Saiful Adil Daud, organising chairman of a ‘group’ calling itself Damai Malaysia which managed to catch the big ear of the PM with its memo where Hindraf’s countless memos obviously fell on deaf ones.

The NST quotes Mohd Saiful saying: “Once a couple of participants in these demonstrations get a bit emotional, the whole spirit of the demonstration can turn violent. It is also bad for our country’s image, which will result in tourists shying away. Businesses will also be affected. We are a democratic country and there is a proper way of channelling these issues to the government.”

Suffice to say, his disingenuous words accurately reflect the journalistic standards of that newspaper in which the comments are published.

There’s an Arab proverb that says “what comes from the lips reaches the ear, what comes from the heart reaches the heart”. MSM is in reality Umno transmitting its “Read my lips” message couched in the language of bared teeth and intimidating snarl. Spin-doctors should just dispense with the pretense that BN is anything but Umno calling the shots and the coalition’s minor appendages better than punkahwallahs .

People’s Parliament will be liaising with others to carry out the newspaper boycott more effectively. Please connect with us at this thread : ‘Do we, the people, have it in us to bring the falsehood mongers to their knees?’

Don’t you think it is for the greater good that we try to put a brake on MSM perennially deceiving and dumbing down Malaysians? So don’t buy. Decreased circulation will make the newspapers less attractive to advertisers. This will hit ‘em where it hurts – the pocket.

Hartal! Let’s just do it.