Time for Pakatan Rakyat to deliver

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PAS to protest against Rihanna concert said The Star today (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/25/nation/3116247&sec=nation).

I know many of you are going to get your knickers all twisted about this. After all, you are upholders of freedom of thought, expression, assembly, association, and so on. So why is PAS, you are going to ask, not respectful towards these freedoms?

Okay, you may not agree with PAS demonstrating its opposition to ‘sexy’ concerts. I too share your view. I think this is so, so petty when we have bigger fishes to fry. It’s not like we already have a perfect society. There is much to do and many more important issues that need resolving. We really must get our priorities right here.


Nevertheless, I will not take PAS to task on their opposition to ‘sexy’ concerts. It is definitely their right to oppose anything they want to oppose. Freedom of thought, expression, assembly, association, etc., is as much the right of PAS as it is ours. So they have every right to oppose ‘sexy’ concerts -- as it is our right to disagree with their opposition to it. That is what a civil society is all about: agreeing to disagree. If we can respect PAS’s right to oppose anything they view as ‘decadent’ and ‘immoral’, then we can demand that PAS also respect our views, although they need not agree with them. If we don’t respect PAS’s views then we certainly can’t demand the same from them.

So carry on opposing, PAS. I have no problems with that. What I want is only for you to set your priorities. Concerts are not the end of the world. It is far from the ‘Big One’. There are many other issues that also need addressing and ‘sexy’ concerts are way at the bottom of the priority list.

What I want PAS to address is the issue of the Internal Security Act. Read the following to recap on what I am talking about:

5 state govts back call to free ISA detainees, Guan Eng tells Makkal Sakthi crowd

http://anilnetto.com/civil-society/5-state-govts-back-call-for-isa-detainees-release-guan-eng-tells-makkal-sakthi-crowd/

Marina Lee receives a standing ovation

http://anilnetto.com/civil-society/marina-gets-a-standing-ovation/

Tomorrow, I shall be speaking to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to ask him to coordinate a five-state Anti-ISA Campaign. I want to see the five Pakatan Rakyat state governments putting their money where their mouths are. About 200 people have religiously participated in Anti-ISA Candlelight Vigils every Sunday since I was detained on 12 September 2008. Even when I was released on 7 November 2008 the vigils continued and a few days ago 21 people were charged for the crime of ‘illegal assembly’. These 21 were detained at the 9 November 2008 Candlelight Vigil, two days after I was released.

Incidentally, the bail for each of the 21 was RM1,500 and ten of them did not have the money to post bail. So I arranged to pay for their bail. The RM15,000 came from the money that was collected when I was sent to the Sungai Buloh Prison for three days in 2008. My own bail on the four charges that I face comes to RM7,000; so, thus far, we have spent RM22,000. We still have a balance of RM26,000, which will be used for future cases in the event there are further arrests.

Anyway, I am of the opinion we have achieved the objective of those Candlelight Vigils and maybe we need a change of strategy to get our message through to more people. After all, if we just hold the vigils in a dark car park in front of the PJ Civic Centre, only the 200 or so participants will be informed about the issue. What about the rest of the 26 million Malaysians? They too need to be exposed to the issue and the Candlelight Vigils are not achieving this.

What I want is for the five Pakatan Rakyat state governments to also join the Anti-ISA Campaign. They can do this by erecting a few signboards along the state roads just like how they do in Perak and Kelantan (like the ones that say’ Sembahyanglah sebelum kamu disembahyangkan’).

The signboards can read: ISA bertentangan dengan Islam, Islam opposes the ISA, Say NO to ISA, etc.). This will be the five state governments’ contribution to the Anti-ISA Campaign and in this way more Malaysians will get the message than what 200 people in a Candlelight Vigil can achieve.

PKR is having a Chinese New Year gathering at the Hokkien Association in Kelang from 1.00pm to 3.00pm tomorrow (Monday). I will be going there wearing my Anti-ISA T-shirt. I invite the rest of you to join me and do the same. We shall then ‘corner’ Anwar and get him to commit the five state governments to this second-level Anti-ISA Campaign. If they refuse then we will know that Pakatan Rakyat is merely paying lip service to the issue. We want them to put their money where their mouth is. There are no two ways about this.

Join me tomorrow and let’s hear what Anwar has to say about this matter. And it had better be what we want to hear. And after PAS has done with the ‘anti-sexy concert’ demonstration, maybe they can then start pressuring the five Pakatan Rakyat state governments, which they are also a part of, to do more for the Anti-ISA Campaign other than just talk. - Malaysia Today