2008: Annus Mirabilis: The year that was... Part 1

2008 must rank as one of Malaysia's most defining years, and perhaps too... for the world.

Here are the top events from my lenses:

1. The March 8, 2008 Elections.
For us Malaysians, 2008 must be ranked as one truly momentus Annus Mirabilis, for indeed after 51 years of shackled and distracted timidity, near half of all Malaysians, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Others, one and all, rose from the ashes of UMNO-dominated politics to decide that enough was enough. We were finally emboldened to think the previously unthinkable while overcoming the racial taunts and threats of disorder. In its wake, this spawned a new Malaysian political order.

The ruling Barisan government lost 5 states to the rag-tagged opposition parties, and shockingly lost its two-thirds majority trump-card. That night, the national TV channels were hopelessly shell-shocked, incredulous that the ballots were going against the government, that they refused to telecast timely disclosures, and purposely delayed the electoral results with idiotic racist commentaries by some pathetically out-of-date personalities. Recounting and postal ballot loading were insufficient to recast the foregone results, fortunately, and despite the odds, some 48% of the voting rakyat had given the opposition its unprecedented 82 seats out of the total 222—truly a most famous victory!

The opposition, whose loose coalition still managed to capture the imagination of change-minded citizens, who are simply put, fed-up with more of the same: top-down politics, arrogance, executive abuses, corruption; rising crime rates and crime-ridden cities, a discredited police force more attuned to political hijinks than civic protection purposes; a totally compliant judiciary; disproportionate and biased religious contentions; selective prosecution and high-handed suppression of public anger and demonstrations.

2. The Awakening of our Rakyat, Hindraf...
One uncharacteristic phenomenon which emboldened more of our unhappy citizens must be the eruption of Hindraf. This groundswell of long-forgotten and deprived Indians in many pockets of the country, grabbed the headlines by its boldness of purpose, its courage of conviction, its penetrating pervasiveness, and its shared anguish.

Many Malaysians of Indian origin could easily relate to and find the reality issues totally consonant with their sense of social and economic deprivation. Unemployment, unemployability, high levels of school drop-outs, growing gangsterism and entanglement with violent crimes among its restive youths serve as the stark underbelly of Indian marginalisation even in rapidly wealthy Malaysia.

This undoubtedly made many see the urgent need and the possibilities of unity of purpose and willingness to sacrifice, assimilate and participate in its causes with passion. Shouts of satyagraha and makkal sakhti became the clarion call for sociopolitical action and purpose. Short-message service texting (or sms's) and emails became the modus operandi for planning, collaboration and coordination. And boy, did they succeed!

Despite their announced plans for peaceful demonstrations and marches, they were denied permits and met with iron-fisted response from the government and the police. The Hindraf march on November 25, 2007 must rank as the determining focus of their concerted energy and sacrifice. The luckless police reacted by attacking these throngs of families—young and old—with laced water and tear-gas. They wrought unprovoked beatings and arbitrary arrests, in the full glare of the ubiquitous cellphone photography and videos.

They cast their idiotic paralysing police road-blocks around every arterial road entry into the city causing massive unprecedented gridlocks, which completely inconvenienced the rakyat without any justification except as a cynical portrayal of its silly attempt to show-off its clout—one supremely fatuous act after another, which further distanced the urban folk from the high-handed actions of the much-maligned police.

Videos and photos of police brutality were published in YouTube and the blogosphere, which further antagonised the disgruntled and the furious, and which lent the police and the government even less credence for their warped sense of powerplay!

3. The rise and rise of the blogosphere
Blogger extraordinaire Raja Petra Kamaruddin (aka RPK or 'Pete') led a motley crew of outspoken bloggers (Jeff Ooi, Kickdefella, Rocky, Tony Pua, M Bakri Musa, Kim Quek, Farish Noor, Azly Rahman, etc.) to vent believable (if somewhat unchecked) stories and alternative viewpoints.

Conspiracy theories and political shenanigans were told in such arresting conversational style and 'detail', that many readers believe these to be absolutely true. According to RPK, his 'rumours' have so far proven to be accurate in more than 90% of the time, and that he had all the documentation to prove them, which lent 'street cred' to his messages for change!

This internet chatter had earlier been the salt and grist of rumour mills especially when the main stream media (MSM) chose to be safe, sycophantic and self-censored, while remaining completely out of touch with the seething grumbles of the muffled grassroots. Thus, began the power of the blogosphere which were tapped with great elan by the opposition politicians, converted to printed pages, vcds, and roadshows—clearly offering an alternate if more plausible scenario of the inaptitude, corruption, arrogance and failings of the incumbent government and its tainted members.

4. The return & travails of Anwar Ibrahim and the Formation of Pakatan Rakyat.
Disgraced and imprisoned former deputy prime minister made a triumphant comeback, this elections, as he led as de facto leader of Parti Keadilan (Justice Party), although he was still barred from eligibility due to his conviction just short of 5 years ago. He managed to cobble together disparate opposition parties such as PAS and DAP, and led this loose coalition (then monikered Barisan Alternatif, BA) to a stunning if unexpected general elections results in March, 2008.

His charisma is unmistakable, but more importantly he had decided that he had to off-load many of his former archaic ideas and develop new ones which called for more openness, more egalitarian, more inclusive, less corrupt, more transparent, more meritocratic principles, which appealed to the change-agenda of many new voters and a restless rakyat. Setting priorities of cooperation rather than dwelling on ideological differences and unrealistic party political goals, helped the voters to focus on simply voting for change from the incumbent—the swing was decisive and impressive.

This led to the later amalgamation into the Pakatan Rakyat of today, a true blue alternate political front of substance, yes with its teething problems of sporadic spats of one-upmanship. It is hoped that this erstwhile if convenient alliance would outlast its trying differences, and become in due course, a worthy successor to viably administrate the next governments for the good of Malaysia.

But Anwar Ibrahim is still under the cloud of Sodomy charge II, one which was hurriedly brought about by an unashamed former aide, who happened to have met with the DPM Najib Razak, some days before. The timing could not have been better—Anwar was to stand for by-election after his wife resigned her place at Permatang Pauh in July 2008. The doctor who examined his alleged victim, was suddenly missing fearing for his safety, after he had been 'urged' to write a more favourable report.

Unfortunately, this salacious saga continues, despite urgent calls from many a disbelieving public to abandon what many feel is another trumped up charge. The silly attempts to move the case away from a sympathetic but brave judge at the lower Sessions Court to the High Court, again underlines the machinations which the Attorney General's office has decided to selectively prosecute its special cases. Clearly, Anwar Ibrahim is a special case... The final denouement has yet to be played out.

However, Anwar's attempts to persuade Barisan Nasional's MPs to defect failed miserably, despite rocking the equanimity of the governing leadership, whose tenuous hold appeared to be breakable at any moment. By September 16, Malaysia Day, it became clear that the Pakatan Rakyat could not pry away elected members from the BN camp to join their cause. Perhaps, the offers were simply not enough to entice the defections.

This failure has cast a shadow over the PM in waiting, and many wonder if his strategem had any substance to begin with. His popularity has taken a dip, since. Perhaps all this is for the better. Now, the PR seems resigned to its oppositionist role and appears more dignified. PR is finally beginning to look ready to seriously govern its 5 states, rather than acting as debutantes and tetchy oppositionists, whose intents and purposes appear to be too focussed on and mired in political ploys!

5. The inane spectre of the ISA
Following the March 8 electoral setback, the opposition and the rakyat became increasingly boisterous and began urging for greater freedom of speech and expression. The months that followed were difficult ones for all, with politicking and grandstanding taking the place of true governance and civic discourse. The insipid and debilitated premiership of Abdullah Badawi did little to assuage the mood of a restive populace clamouring for change and immediate if unrealistic reforms.

Challenges to the perceived fallout in authority of the police and the home ministry brought about swift and disjointed responses of confusion and knee-jerk stupidity. The public, finding its voice and now demanding greater transparency, appeared emboldened and testy—seemingly to kick the teeth in for the incumbent but beleaguered government.

Alas, when the chips are down and the tempo and pitch of political recriminations were turned upwards to jarring plangent decibels, the government reacted. Racist taunts were bandied about with unrepentent advocates on both sides testing the limits of each other's resolves. Ethnic bigotry was allowed to raise its ugly head, while seemingly tolerated if these were on the side of the governing political parties. Slanderous accusations were attributed to either sides, with the police appearing tardy or partial to investigate the veracity or otherwise. The ISA was invoked, and with some quickly shortened after huge public hue and cry--Sin Chew journalist Tan was released after 24 hours, purportedly her detention was "to ensure for her safety"; and opposition MP Teresa Kok after a week.

But the much feared and fearless RPK who was initially slapped with criminal defamation, had his detention confirmed by the incoherent home minister Syed Hamid Akbar, to a 2-year order for incarceration without trial. Then, after nearly 2 months at the Kamunting detention centre, a judge decided at long last that his detention was illegitimate, and RPK was freed! The government was in total disarray trying to ameliorate its public relations nightmare, for perhaps for the first time ever, its arbitrary decision had been successfully challenged.

His problems are still not yet over, as legal woes are mounting. But RPK has been as pugnacious as ever, challenging those who feel slighted to sue him, as was the case when he roundly condemned the pathetic performances and sorry excuses of the just retired Elections Council chairman.

Together with like-minded liberal Malaysians, such as Suaram, Jerit, the Bar Council, and even SUHAKAM, we are calling for the abolishing of the ISA, and we will continue to voice our strongest opposition against this unjust and arbitrary law. There is hope that Pakatan Rakyat will rescind this obnoxious law once it comes to power, so we can all hope for a better future, soon.