by Liew Chin Tong
23 May 2013 marks a disturbing day for fundamental liberties in Malaysia as the Barisan Nasional government has initiated crackdowns on its political opponents with the arrest of political activists and clampdown on alternative media.
The Home Ministry today seized 1,408 copies of Suara Keadilan, 1,062 copies of Harakah, and 70 copies of The Rocket in an enforcement operation under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
This follows the detention of PKR’s Batu MP Tian Chua, PAS’s Tamrin Ghafar, and ABU activist Haris Ibrahim today, as well as student activist Adam Adli who was charged under the Sedition Act today.
Today, DAP’s Lifetime Advisor, Dr Chen Man Hin, MP for Serdang, Ong Kian Ming, state assemblymen for Bilut, Chow Yu Hui and Ketari state assemblyman, Lee Chin Chen were also called to give statements for various statements that were made during the recently concluded general election.
I strongly condemn the crackdown including the seizure of The Rocket, Harakah and Suara Keadilan. These completely unnecessary show of force by the Home Ministry is intended to strike fear in the hearts of all thinking Malaysians and demand obedience to the BN regime which uses any weapons in its arsenal to snatch victory from the throes of death.
In a crackdown chillingly reminiscent of the 1987 Ops Lalang, the new Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s true colours have been revealed and the Najib’s post-election charade of “national reconciliation” is shown to be an actual nightmare of “BN retaliation” against its political foes.
The politics of fear and threats have always been the hallmark of BN’s administration and successive Prime Ministers, in particular Tun Mahathir, have used the triple tools of the Home Ministry, police, and oppressive laws to maintain its grip on power.
While spouting soothing slogans to the public after narrowly losing the election, Prime Minister Najib Razak has outsourced the ‘dirty job’ of oppression to the Home Ministry, which portfolio was created for the purpose “to administer internal security to ensure peace and well-being of the people”. However, who are “the people” that the Home Ministry is protecting?
By their actions, the Home Ministry is making it abundantly clear that it exists to serve its political masters and not the best interest of the people.
