Malaysian democracy has been turned upside-down. It has become so depraved and abrasive lately. There is no principle, decency and decorum anymore. It is all about raw power and bullying.
Between the yellow and red shirts, it is the red shirts that are dead wrong.
I do not care whether the yellow shirts are partisan or not. It is their right to promote objectives and ideals as long as they are within the purview of the nation’s laws and the Constitution. No matter how much we have been subverted, Malaysia shall forever remain a democratic society holding dear to democratic principles and practices. Malaysians should never lose sight of this.
The yellow shirts have never gone around subverting, preventing or bullying others who have different opinions or ideals from exercising their democratic rights. On the contrary, the yellow shirts are constantly being prevented and cowed for exercising their rights.
Have you seen the yellow shirts intruding or disrupting the activities of the red shirts? I would have given the same respect to the red shirts if they had organised their own rallies and promoted their own ideals.
Democracy is the contest of ideas . The yellow shirts must sell and it is up to the people to decide. The red shirts too must sell.
The red shirts can’t stop the yellow shirts from selling just because their own product has few buyers. The same applies to the yellow shirts.
What happens now is clear – the red shirts, after finding their product is not in high demand – are trying to prevent the yellow shirts from selling.
It is nonsensical to argue that if there are no yellow shirts, there shall be no red shirts. Skirmishes, disruptions and altercations are caused by deliberate and unreasonable intrusions. This is akin to one seller preventing customers from entering his competitor’s shop.
It is also nonsensical to argue that since there are constant altercations, both the yellow shirts and the red shirts should stop their activities completely. This is akin to asking all sellers to stop doing business simply because one of the sellers can’t sell his lousy product.
I think the people are wise enough to see the brashness. Interested parties can all argue and split hairs till the cows come home, but it is easy for most of us to discern who is being unreasonable, unruly, and intrusive.
The yellow shirts are part of our democratic tradition – the right to organise peacefully to sell ideas to the people within the perimeter of our nation’s laws and the Constitution. If we are cowed into submission, we lose an important character of our nation. The red shirts too must hold dear to the same principle for a day may come when they too may face the same harassment if people not aligned to them are in power.
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
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