malaysiakini: Why I'm a socialist and will remain one... by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj

Why I'm a socialist and will remain one

Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj
Jul 20, 2011
11:33

COMMENT “Hey Kumar! Still tilting at windmills are you?” a doctor friend had greeted me at a Malaysian Medical Association event four years ago. 

There had been some news regarding Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) in the media that previous week.

For many, the socialist experiment has been assigned to the dustbin of history and they think that only deluded people would still work towards socialism.

But for us in the PSM, we believe that socialism has an important, even crucial, role to play in averting a colossal economic-ecological disaster that will occur within the next 30-60 years.

We believe that the world has to find a workable alternative to an economy driven by corporate greed. We offer three main arguments for this position.

First, Malaysia's current economic course recommends a 'race of the bottom'.

The global owners of capital and technological expertise who control market access are a relatively small number of corporations - about 500-1,000. They have become all powerful in the unipolar world of today and they can 'bargain hunt'. Even the biggest governments can't control them. 

The measures that Malaysia is taking to attract investors include:

• Lowering corporate tax and supplementing tax income by enacting a GST; the tax burden is being shifted onto ordinary Malaysians;

• Enhancing 'labour flexibility'; this is a misnomer - it undermines job security and workers' rights through allowing contractualising of labour and by weakening unions; and

• Privatisation of basic services such as healthcare and tertiary education.

All these measures pile economic pressure on the lower 70 percent of the population.

And these are measures other developing countries are also taking - each outdoing the neighbour in the mad rush for FDI. It is very difficult to build a caring society within this framework of development.

Second, chronic under-consumption leads to massive growth of financial capital and increasingly volatile financial 'bubbles'.

The ability of large corporations to 'bargain hunt' in the cheapest sites to station their factories has meant mega-profits for these corporations but at the same time, has stunted the aggregate consumption power of the global economy. 

When a US or European firm lays off 100 workers by shifting to China and hiring 100 Chinese workers at one-seventh the wage, the total buying power of the working class is reduced.

The absence of robust growth in consumer demand dictates that the profits of the corporations cannot be invested in the production of more consumer goods. So the corporations need to try other alternatives to make money, such as the futures market, currency trading, share market and other financial products like derivatives.

This tendency is highlighted by the fact that 'Quantitative Easing' - the release of more money into the US economy in an effort to stimulate industrial production and thus reduce unemployment - has backfired into the creation of more financial bubbles in various parts of the world. The problem is sluggish consumer demand, not a lack of productive capital.

The issue here is not insufficient regulations but a misdistribution of the world's wealth. To address this problem, the power of the corporations has to be challenged.

'For my grandchildren'

Third, we are reaching the environment limits of growth.

The global economy is heavily dependent on petroleum. This commodity is going to run out within the next 50 years or so. We urgently need to think not only of alternative sources of fuel, but also of much greater fuel efficiency. 

Global warming is with us. How soon and how fast sea levels are going to rise is still a matter of conjecture - but does that mean we can afford to ignore the issue if it only impacts our grandchildren and not us?

An economic model that requires a global average rate of growth of 4 percent a year to avoid downturns is clearly not sustainable - not for the next 50 years. We need to redistribute the wealth we already are creating more equitably. We have to cut down waste. Growth cannot be endless. 

All this is only possible if we are ready to challenge the paradigm that unchecked greed will lead to the best possible outcome for the world's majority because Adam Smith's 'Invisible Hand' is still operating in today's corporate-led globalisation.

The ordinary people of the world need to take power to dictate the direction of the national or world economy away from the hands of the 560 richest corporations of the world.

We need to empower themarhaen (workers) of the world to take on these tasks through a democratic process. These are the tasks facing 21st century socialism. These are not easily attainable goals.

But the problems we are facing are extremely serious. Unchecked, they could lead to an ecological, food or climatic disaster that will lead to a decimation of the world's population.

This is not the world that I wish to bequeath my grandchildren. That is why I am a socialist and intend to remain so despite being held under the Emergency Ordinance and Internal Security Act.

fmt: Najib and gang say the darndest things... By Kee Thuan Chye

Najib and gang say the darndest things

fmt, July 7, 2011

By Kee Thuan Chye

The government has two laws for Malaysians – one for itself and those it favours, and one for the rest of the people.

The Bersih 2.0 episode has taught us a few important things. About the officials who are supposed to serve us, the rakyat.

First, it has taught us that our prime minister, Najib Tun Razak, is a coward, a passer-of-the-buck, and a man with a slippery tongue.

Although he has now offered the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) a stadium to hold its rally on July 9, he refuses to say if the government no longer considers it an illegal organisation.

“This is a point whereby we consider them illegal, they don’t consider themselves as illegal but what’s important is public interest, I’m concerned with public interest,” he says. What kind of waffle is that?

Because he is wishy-washy about this matter, he appears utterly contradictory in allowing an illegal organisation to hold a public rally in a stadium that his government will provide.

Related to this, when asked by the media whether the police would continue to clamp down on Bersih 2.0 supporters nationwide, he said, “You have to ask the police.”

Asked if supporters would be arrested for wearing Bersih T-shirts at the rally at the stadium, he again said, “That is up to the police to decide.”

He doesn’t know? He doesn’t have a say? Who is the boss? The prime minister, who is the chief executive of the country, or the police?

He dared not even answer the media’s question about whether he was called to see the King on the morning of July 5 before the latter was to meet with Bersih 2.0. His lame and characteristically evasive reply was: “When I meet the King is my right, and as the prime minister, I am the chief adviser to the King.” He wasn’t man enough to be honest and transparent.

Same old trick

Now let’s look at Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. A few days ago, on the Bersih 2.0 rally, he warned that it could lead to chaos and invite “interference from major powers”. Where did he pull this out from?

“Based on the experience in the Middle East, we know that foreign powers are all too eager to send their troops on the pretext of helping to solve the crisis,” he said. What a hoot!

How ridiculous it is to draw from the Middle East experience (is the United Nations about to authorise the bombing of Malaysia?), and how convenient to blame it on some phantom foreign powers. It’s the same old trick the government used on Hindraf in 2007, linking it to the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. In the end, not a shred of evidence was ever produced. Once bitten, twice shy.

Sure enough, what Muhyiddin said was to provide justification for six Parti Sosialis Rakyat (PSM) members who were pro-Bersih 2.0 to be detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO), on suspicion of being involved with “foreign elements” and having “subversive tendencies”.

One of them is Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj. If you knew him for the soft-spoken, humble and dedicated helper of the poor that he is, you would laugh in Muhyiddin’s face. Jeyakumar would not be so stupid as to align himself with foreign elements to subvert the state.

Let’s turn now to Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim, who disparaged “desperate parties” for making use of Communism to drum up support for the Bersih 2.0 rally.

“They see this as an opportunity to stir up dissent and seize power,” he said. “Spreading Communism is against the law. It is evil and illegal.”

What wild words would these ministers not use against a rally that was aimed at nothing more sinister than asking for electoral reform, for the good of democracy? Do they not realise we can gauge from their words the level of their intellect?

How did Rais get his PhD?

PM’s undignified talk

Malacca Chief Minister Ali Rustam called on the government to strip Bersih 2.0 chairperson S Ambiga of her citizenship. “If she thinks that we should have democracy by going on demonstrations like the way other countries do, then let her be the citizen of another country,” he said.

He also said she was against the tenets of Islam for previously defending Lina Joy in her apostasy case.

Alamak! What has the Lina Joy case got to do with the Bersih 2.0 rally? But then, that’s the Umno-BN dirty tactic, isn’t it? Turn a non-religious issue into a religious one. Never mind if it’s irrelevant. Never mind if it’s divisive.

Najib was worse in making a similar personal attack: “We know who this Ambiga is. She is the one who threatened the position of Islam.”

He must have known it was totally uncalled-for and outrageously irresponsible, but his audience was in Kelantan, comprising mostly Muslims, reportedly about 20,000 of them there.

When Ali Rustam said that sort of thing, it was inexcusable. But when Najib, the advocate of so-called 1Malaysia, said it, it was unforgivable.

More than that, he warned, “Ambiga should not think herself so strong. We will not bow down to her at all, we will fight for the truth. We will simpan kuku kita.” This is menacing; the threat is in “simpan kuku kita”, implying Najib and his supporters will hide their claws for now and use them when the time comes.

This is undignified talk unbecoming of a prime minister. He sounds like a street brawler.

Let’s save the best for last. And who else might that be but the Home Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, already famous for the numerous bloopers he has made in the past?

When the police started arresting people for wearing the Bersih T-shirts, without any apparent law to back them up, Hishammuddin justified it thus: “If the Bersih T-shirt is related to an illegal activity, then whatever they are wearing is illegal.”

But the rally had not happened yet, so how could it have been an illegal activity? By the same logic, how then could the Bersih T-shirts be related to an illegal activity?

Caught in a corner, Hishammuddin then resorted to declaring Bersih 2.0 illegal. One of the reasons cited was that Bersih 2.0 had been spreading propaganda with the aim of toppling the government.

What propaganda? Its eight demands for electoral reform constitute government-toppling material? Which school did this minister go to?

And now that the King has met with Bersih 2.0 and the coalition has agreed to hold its rally in a stadium provided by the government, Hishammuddin is still clamouring: “They are banned. They are still banned… just because Tuanku met them doesn’t mean they are no longer illegal.”

One would have thought that the King, in showing respect to Bersih 2.0 in granting it an audience, would have legitimised the coalition, but Hishammuddin seems to have a different view. He must have felt the egg all over his face when the King granted the audience.

His reaction is therefore understandably defensive. He has screwed up big-time, but he won’t admit his mistakes. If he has been doing his job like he should have, he would not be vilifying Bersih 2.0; he would be going after Perkasa instead.

The real troublemaker
No matter how you look at it, there’s no denying that the real trouble-maker is Perkasa. It never had a real cause to rally for on July 9 except to disrupt Bersih 2.0’s serious purpose.

And now it wants to create further trouble by applying for the same stadium that Bersih 2.0 is applying for and hold its own rally there. And the reason for it? Merely to show that “there are others who feel differently”.

Perkasa is obviously envious that the King acknowledged Bersih 2.0 by granting it an audience, so it too is applying for an audience with His Majesty. Perkasa is nothing but an envious bulldog that won’t let go until it gets to spite Bersih 2.0. And all for what? Do its members even know?

If there were one organisation Hishammuddin should act on, it would have to be Perkasa. And yet for all its antics and for all the veiled threats of violence its president, Ibrahim Ali, has been issuing since the whole episode started, the minister has said or done nothing.

Hishammuddin is plainly inept in his handling of the entire mess. And for that, he should resign or be kicked out of the Cabinet by his cousin, Najib.

In fact, both of them have clearly shown in the past two weeks that the government has two laws for Malaysians – one for itself and those it favours, and one for the rest of the people. You can guess for yourself which side is the worse off for it.

But not to worry. What we the rakyat have learned, we can use to good effect. Taking the wisdom from Najib, we can simpan our kuku for now and reveal them when the time is right.

Dramatist and journalist Kee Thuan Chye is the author of ‘March 8: Time for Real Change‘. He is a contributor to FMT.

Oh Malaysia! Whither is thy just soul for all?

I decided last month to take a break from my erstwhile blogging, if anything just to sniff through the musty air for some balance, some freshness,
some insights for sanity...

Alas, during and following the Permatang Pauh by-election, Malaysian politics had descended into crasser and baser meanness.

Torrid mud-slinging wasn't enough, and when the chips and popular support appear to be slipping further down, ethnic emotions have been stoked and charged upwards, with growing senseless and ad hominem rhetoric rising decibels into deaf-piercing levels of plangency.

Personal and racial attacks have taken on an ugly momentum which only breeds a nuclear cycle of chain-reaction—with irrational fears and bigotry serving as fodder for mass incitement into hatred and jitteriness.

Political thuggery appears to have taken leave of the senses of some of our inane politicians, such that one wonders if we are living in a banana republic as currently exemplified by the chronically self-destructive Zimbabwe, Somalia and other failed states.

Perhaps, as passionate Malaysians who hanker for a renewed Malaysia to emerge as a developed first world nation, we are expecting too much. It is painfully clear that we have yet to be able to mature gracefully, without the insane retreat into tribalism and narrow-minded sectarianism.

In this regard I totally agree with Azly Rahman that we can do better and hopefully soon, we must "celebrate the end of racism with the sinking of Bahtera Merdeka. For too long race and religion has been used a twin-concept of fear and domination of those robber-barons who call themselves nationalists in a post-industrial tribalistic world." (see September 16: the end of nationalism and tribalism?)

Sadly, the embattled government is playing straight into the hands of a small band of unthinking, asinine 'territorial warloads', whose locked-in mindsets appear to be to protect or to preserve their parochial fiefdoms, now so overtly taken away from them since March 8, 2008.

The current leadership seems to have become tone-deaf to the rakyat's rising concerns and interests, supplanting these with erroneous and foolhardy tactics to stay in power at whatever costs!

The sudden removal of fuel subsidies, the hike in utilities rates, and the greatest inflation (7.7% then 8.3% in June and July 2008, respectively) ever in 27 years, have jolted the rakyat that this current government is fast losing its grip on reality and has lost its commitment to serve its citizens. (Latest August 2008 CPI at a whopping 8.5%, another 27-year record!!!)

Thus, isn't it understandable that more and more of the rakyat has joined in the rousing call to urge the government to be more accountable and fair, with clarion calls to place the rakyat’s interests first, to eliminate wasteful projects, cronyistic practices and rampant corruption?

Somehow, during these past few years under Pak Lah, the government has become impenetrable and impervious to the reality bites and bytes of an evolved emboldened rakyat who are clamouring for greater transparency, freedom of expression, and participatory engagement.

Most importantly, the urgent need to change from the archaic model of patently racial divide and rule, into one of greater participation and inclusion, sans ethnic or religious compartmentalisation. It is fervently hoped that race-based political parties might indeed be passé, soon in modern 21st century Malaysia.

But the emergence, rising popularity and acceptance of Pakatan Rakyat as a collaborative and viable if cobbled-up opposition front is frighteningly clairvoyant, of political changes to come. Such consistent opposition gains pose a severe threat to those hopelessly clinging on to power from their ingrained stranglehold of outdated top-down Umno-dominated politics and policies!

This sudden realisation of power loss, public disenchantment and disavowal, has made many an old-school politician queasy at the real possibility and prospect of becoming irrelevant, discredited and disempowered!

I am writing this during my lay-over in Dubai, en route to London, accompanying my son who is to begin his university studies at King's College.

Just before I left, my heart sank. Although we had feared that a desperate, embattled government might resort to whatever means to hold on to its challenged power, we had naively harboured thoughts that perhaps sanity and good sense would prevail. Alas, this was not to be so.

We heard that blogger-extraordinaire of Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Kamaruddin had been detained under Section 73(1) of the Internal Security Act (ISA), i.e. detention without trial! This morning, half a day later, we heard that opposition (DAP) law-maker Teresa Kok and Sin Chew Daily Tan Hoon Cheng had also been detained under this totally discredited and antiquated draconian ISA.

Newspapers, which had exposed the antics of this racist taunt, were also given show-cause letters as to why they should not be sanctioned! Flying in the face of natural justice is this ludicrous and totally misguided move to sanction and punish the exposers and not the actual perpetrators of this terrible racially charged misdeed!

Ironically indeed, the centre of the storm of these racist remarks and extremism—one previously unheard of but unrepentant UMNO chieftain—has simply been given a slap on the wrist: suspended for 3 years from all UMNO posts!

These rafts of undignified and uncalled for actions are to be condemned in the strongest terms. It would appear that the government headed by UMNO is stating in effect that if only the journalist hadn't reported (and the media hadn't exposed this!) on these outrageous remarks by that racist UMNO chief, then there would not have been any knowledge of this simmering racial tension, deviously stoked by this repugnant man and his coterie of supporters.

Never mind that selected people on the ground had already been inflamed, and jolted in their many targeted pockets about possible ethnic fears and strifes... that 'immigrant' and 'squatting' races don't need to be considered as citizens, and that they can leave the country, if they do not like the current policies!

Oh, how can we peaceful Malaysians counter such bigotry, such calls for racial purity and protection which harks back to the days of Hilterism and Nazist ideology, or former South African apartheid regime?! How can we ever hope to rebuild a newer more inclusive society that protects the rights and sanctity of all?

Worse this government is now resorting to all sorts of draconian laws to further extend itself, consolidate its eroding popularity and power, and repress disgruntlement from a fractiously impatient and angry rakyat clamouring for greater and greater freedom and change for the better!

As 'puny' rakyat there appears to be only so much that we can do, but each and everyone of us must rise up and speak our mind for justice, fairness, freedom to express and live, with due protection of our laws and our Constitution.

We must not let ourselves be intimidated by these new fear-instilling extra-judicial acts from our common purpose to rid Malaysia of such excesses of governmental decadence!

While we abhor and eschew all forms of violence, we urge the government to respect the rakyat's wishes and not dampen and dumb down our efforts to be heard!

By deceitfully creating a climate of fear and uncertainty, this government must not be allowed to fan and provoke public unrest. This would be to play into the hands of this beleaguered and unpopular leadership waiting to unleash possible emergency laws to promulgate and propagate their power indefinitely.

We urge our peace- and freedom-loving Malaysians to pray and speak out for the better good of our nations. I don't believe we are alone in this.

The world is watching, and we cannot allow this government to ride roughshod over all of us. The USA has already summoned our embassy staff to protest. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are condemning this desperate act of our current leadership.

Even the government's own de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim has protested these actions which he felt were totally inexcusable and has threatened to resign (see Law minister threatens to quit over ISA).

Thus, how can any sensible Malaysian view this differently, if not to believe that these dastardly acts reek of pure political overtures of cynical overkill and power play? Zaid Ibrahim has stated that "We have a government that commits to laws and reforms, we can't be using old-style politics or resort to creating fear. We have laws and they (the detainees) should be charged in court... The problem with the ISA now is that it is used against certain people, it is a very unjust law."

Another minister (human resources minister) Dr S. Subramaniam has also openly complained that "(t)he prospect of a person being detained without a chance of being heard and to defend himself is against the grains of present day popular belief," and that "a government sensitive to the feelings of the people cannot be blind to the fact that a significant proportion of the rakyat abhor the ISA." (See Another minister questions ISA dragnet)

Let's hope common sense will prevail finally, and a new dawn will rise for a truly resplendent and modern liberated Malaysia.

In the meantime, all Malaysians must call for these freedom fighters to be set free immediately!

This untenable ISA should be repealed and its arbitrary acts must be laid to rest forever!

These repeated acts of political desperation and social injustice seriously undermines the rights and the mandate of the present leadership to govern!

Perhaps, it is truly time for a new rebirth, a new leader, a new government of integrity, greater righteousness, transparency, social cohesiveness and promise, to take over.

Enough is enough, we cannot afford such callous abuse or any more of the same ineptitude to go on and on! It's time to call this government to accounts. It's time to say it's time for change!

"We shall overcome
We shall overcome.
We shall overcome the tyranny of an arrogant, ineffective, incompetent, corrupt and lazy government that
does not have any more respect for the rule of law
does not have any shame in showing its greed and lust
does not have any mercy in using brutal force to silent the voices of change
does not have much respect for the principles of human rights
does not have much intelligence when it comes to parliamentary debates
does not have a clue of what good governance means
does not have any regard for the plight of the poor and their livelihood
does not have any respect for the intelligence of the faculty and students in our universities
does not have any shame in overstaying their welcome
does not have any interest in controlling crime
does not have any will to fight corruption
and does not have leaders that are wide awake,
and does not have any idea that spoiled brats and greedy ones are running the country and finally destroying not only the party but also the nation."
~ Azly Rahman (Victory Speech)


An edited version of this blog appears in Malaysiakini's Time for a Just Malaysia