No more secrets, please

A GOVERNMENT that implements a law that puts itself to account speaks a lot more than one that spends public funds to advertise itself. Come April 28, we may finally have a law that promotes government accountability and transparency; the Selangor state government tables its final draft of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. It is worth noting that feedback from civil society was taken into account in its Select Committee’s amendments. We must ensure this momentum of questioning an archaic assumption whereby information held by governments are to be secret by default, but that it is the government’s obligation to ensure the public’s right to that information. The lack of information is an impetus for weak public discussions. In the case of the Klang Valley MRT, certain media or individuals made it out to be a simplistic debate of rich vs poor. The use of stereotype-based accusations must be the easiest manner in which to derail meaningful public discussions. This is further made worse by access and quality of information that is ultimately decided upon by the state. Being able to limit or control the kind of information to be released can influence public perception. Is it acceptable that the state – whom we as taxpayers fund – in turn can arbitrarily decide what we know, or don’t know? Except for narrow exceptions (for example, military secrets) the public should have every right to information held by governments, such as those concerning public transport, land deals and water concessionaire agreements. We waste a lot of time in trying to access information to make informed decisions. The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has promised to consider all feedback obtained during the three-month period before proceeding with the MRT project. A transparent process and longer period for feedback would certainly enable communities to better organise themselves; a factor perhaps deemed as a hindrance if one needs to expedite a project. Despite the less than favourable conditions for communities to take part in meaningful ways, residents associations in parts of Klang Valley have come together to make a united stand and petition athttp://kvmrtwatch.blogspot.com/, calling for a responsible implementation of the MRT and outlining reasons why it should go underground. We must engage and hold decision-makers to account. Questions surrounding the appointment of American consultants in relation to the MRT project were raised by Chua Tian Chang in Parliament, who also revealed the disposal of valuable land parcels to certain companies at below market value. If we had an FOI Act in place, anyone – not just MPs – will have the right to request for such information that are of public interest. Eighty-five countries including India and neighbouring Thailand have implemented some form of FOI Act. In the United Kingdom, FOI requests were made from how their government spends on media and PR relations, to documents revealing serious safety issues in one of their atomic power stations in 2006. Man-made disasters are aided by the lack of accountability in decision making processes. Who and how was it decided that a rare earth plant was to be built in Kuantan that would generate radioactive waste? As with plans to build nuclear plants in Malaysia, there are too many questions for projects alleged to be economically advantageous but present great risks to the people. The energy, green technology and water minister saying that the "government will not do it (build nuclear plants) secretly without informing the public" does not mean a thing if decisions are made without transparent due process and genuine public consultation. While it may be a long way before an FOI law is implemented nationwide, the passing of the Selangor FOI Bill will be a historic and important step towards accessing information that rightly belongs to us.

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=59177 Updated: 09:34AM Fri, 25 Mar 2011

Racism - The Semantics

The following is a letter to editor (The Sun) which was not published. The writer then sent it to me. With the writer's permission, I'm reproducing the letter in its entirety here:

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I have followed KK Tan's articles on racism in The Sun (July 29, Aug 26, Sept 15, Sept 24) and despite Zalifah Azman's letter (oct 4) I can only agree with the views of Leow Mei Chern(Sept 30) that redefining terms doesnt help and may be even more damaging.

The meaning of a word depends on the way it is used by the people who speak the language - and dictionaries record and describe this in their definitions. The meaning of a word cannot be what an individual thinks the word ought to mean. Everyone has a right to one's own opinion; but if you redefine a word in your own way you are going to be linguistically incorrect, and not calling a spade a spade! The words racism and racist appear regularly in the media and as far as I can see they have been used appropriately to mean what they do in Malaysia and the rest of the english speaking world. Racism refers to dislike or unfair treatment of people based on a belief that one's own race is best, rather than K.K Tan's insistence on a 'systematic oppression of one or more races by another'.

When a section of a crowd at a football game in some European countries verbally abuses a player because he is black, this is despicable and it is racist, even though you wouldn't call it systematic oppression of a race. Hence Fifa has a campaign to kick racism out of the game. The slogan is 'kick racism', not 'kick out racial chauvinism', which has the virtue of being accurate as well as shorter and snappier.

One can readily acknowledge that some forms of racism are much, much worse than others, but racism is racism whatever the degree. Stealing a million dollars is worse than a thousand dollars, but both are theft. Poverty in Malaysia is no where as bad as other places in the world but we still talk about eradicating poverty. The difference between manslaughter and murder, however, is not one of degree. The former is unintentional killing.

There have been a couple of wilful misinterpretations here:

1. No one has denied that racism experiences by black people as slaves in America or under apatheid in South Africa was worse than racism experienced by others.

2. I don't think anyone has accused Tan of trying to excuse or downplay a problem or of pretending it doesn't exist - its just that and danger of this happening through redefinition should be avoided.

Tan is surely well intentioned (at least in his first two articles) and the sad thing is that the 'seven sins' he describes, and the proposed public declaration may deserve to be read and considered carefully, reflected upon, and discussed. But I feel that all the good work done is undermined by the redefinition issue.

Any attempt to impose or prescribe one's own definition of an accepted term can only bring confusion and obfuscation which is unhelpful for an honest and correct analysis of a social problem.

-Linguistic Observer

Celebrating Women’s Wisdom Festival

Dec 18th! Join IWP's Celebrating Women’s Wisdom Festival in Chiang Mai:

We welcome everyone to our center in a rural village surrounded by rice fields for a time of relaxation, rejuvenation, and joy.

Schedule of Events for Saturday, December 18:

2-4:30 pm simultaneous workshops including belly dance (led by Kristen Beifus), body and energy awareness (led by OmSunisa Jamwiset), Kundalini yoga (led by Faeng), and community theatre (led by Ann). Learn more about yourself, your body, a new move or two!

5:00 Women and Spirituality keynote by Dhammananda Bhikkuni, Thailand’s first female monk

6:00 delicious meal

7:00-11:00 concert under the stars, featuring:

Mei Chern, singer/songwriter from Malaysia

Fagan Shephard, singer/songwriter from the USA

dance performances, including Shan Kinneri and sword dances, belly dance, modern dance

and so much more!! A community bazaar with a wide range of local and handmade products will run throughout the event. Booths offering a tantalizing assortment of services, like foot massage, reiki, face masks and more will please your body and soul.

Delicious snacks, organic coffee, and shakes will be available for purchase, and the ticket price includes dinner.

~ guests also have the option of spending the night, in dorm or tent accommodation, and joining us for morning yoga and breakfast.

coming and going: trucks will depart from the front gate of Wat Suan Dok at 1:00 pm on the 18th and return there after the concert. For people staying the night, trucks will leave the center at 10 am on the 19th to return to the city.

pricing: ticket price includes workshops, keynote, concert and dinner, 500 baht. For guests spending the night, 800 baht. truck service to come and return to the city: 100 baht/round trip

The Celebrating Women’s Wisdom Festival is a fundraiser for IWP and a new program we are organizing in 2011 called Buddhist Education for Social Transformation. All workshop leaders and performers have generously donated their time, skills and services for the concert. We heartily thank them for their kind support and willingness to share their talents.

contact us to reserve your ticket: ginger@womenforpeaceandjustice.org (english); info@womenforpeaceandjustice or 086.944.3989 (Thai)

Ops Bilang*

Ops Bilang* was an artistic response to 12 contentious issues explored in a newly launched English-Malay e-forum called "Let's Talk About..." or "Bicara Pasal..." Organised by the Centre for Independent Journalism, Ops Bilang invited 12 artists to give a take each on those issues that are often hushed up or riddled with myths. It was held on 26 October 2010, at Annexe Gallery, Central Market Kuala Lumpur, to a capacity crowd, with not even standing room left!

An eye for an eye is one thing, but a life for another? Contemplating on the death penalty, singer-songwriter Mei Chern penned and performed this song to ask what we hope to get when we send another human being to their death. And what we really get:

Cold night, at midnight
Is this the closure we fight for?
So careful and measured
some kind of way to make it better
Is it any better?

We're ordinary people
who cannot see another
with the games they play from hell
to this calculated spite.
So caught up in the circle
with monsters that will blind you
keeping you beside
when nothing's left inside.

Cold night, at midnight
Is this the closure you fight for?
So careful, and measured
some kind of way to make things better
Are we any better?

Are we any better?

More arguments against the death penalty here: LetsTalkAbout.cijmalaysia.org

*Bilang: Malay word for "count, "to tell"; also a play on "Lalang", to commemorate that other operasi launched by the State under the draconian Internal Security Act on 27 October 1987. A total of 106 people were arrested and four news publications closed down within days, creating a long-lasting climate of fear when it comes to the exercise of our citvil liberties, especially freedom of expression. Hence, Ops Bilang is a way of reclaiming that space to speak up on issues that affect us as citizens.

Bilang 1 - hitung (satu demi satu), jumlah, congkat, campur, kira

Bilang 2 - bercakap, katakan, sampaikan, khabarkan, ceritakan, adu, beritahukan, nasihatkan

Racism, racialism or brownwashing?

IS the language used by Malaysians to reflect their aspirations being diluted in recent years? Words like unity and inclusiveness are now used like never before, but seem to mean even less. These aspirations can be diluted by co-opting the language used, or in some cases re-defining it.

A possible example is a recent article that highlighted the different forms of racism; the "systematic oppression supported by an ideology on the inferiority of the victims based solely on race" (eg those experienced by Jews and African slaves) – in which is exclusively termed "racism", and that which is "mere racial prejudice, racial chauvinism, etc to be called "racialism". It was argued that it was politically and morally incorrect to use "racism" in our Malaysian context, but that what we have is "racialism".

It was suggested that by appreciating our problem to be not as bad, then we would be able to address the issue better. But in our Malaysian context, redefining terms this way doesn’t help and may even be damaging. We do not need to reduce a problem before addressing it. Are Malaysians supposed to be less concerned because our Asian experience of racial prejudice isn’t as bad as those oppressed by the Nazis?

If the aim is to reduce divisiveness and demoralisation among people; mature dialogue, and having those in power able to manage the situation aptly and justly would help, not by diluting the message and telling people to appreciate their problems to be less than the Holocaust.

It was also suggested that by using the term racism in our Malaysian context, we belittle the terrible sufferings of those it defined as "real racism", whitewash past atrocities, and insult the historic struggles of great leaders such as Martin Luther King.

I believe Malaysians have no interest in "whitewashing" or belittling the terrible sufferings of holocaust victims or African slaves, nor to my knowledge have oppressed groups raised this concern. But by attempting to redefine racism as used by Malaysians to be "racialism" and "not so bad", isn’t that akin to "whitewashing" (or since we are Asians, shall we say "brownwashing") the racial problem in Malaysia?

If King were alive today, I’m guessing he will not be so hung up on the term, but would rather empower us to recognise the prejudice that, if encouraged and allowed its space in society, can manifest into its worst forms.

Most definitions today define "racism" and "racialism" to be the same, and some even define "racialism" to be a neutral term as an "emphasis on race or racial considerations, as in determining policy or interpreting events." Why further dilute and confuse what we mean to say? Perhaps a quote from a historian and friend sums it up well: "You do not need to gas a whole community before calling it racism."

Re-defining terms the public have been using (and that which is widely used) but authoritatively stating it as fact, is a tad insidious in diluting the message when people are speaking out against an injustice.

We can collectively and proactively address the issue, but not by immature reactionary measures, PR campaigns that gloss over issues, or by redefining terms that dilute public discussions. It would, however, help if we can acknowledge and deal with whatever prejudices there are in our society, and we can do so responsibly without making things worse when we ourselves are mindful of our own prejudices.

Published in The Sun, Wed, 29 Sep 2010