SHEN YEE AUN DI PERSADA DUNIA

A letdown to democracy ( Jacqueline Ann Surin)

It would be reasonable for any citizen to expect that with the current administration’s promises of transparency and accountability, our national leaders’ response to independent research that disputes official data would have been met with a little more openness.

In fact, because this is a democracy - at least, that’s what we are all told - it would also be quite understandable for citizens’ groups, academics, think-tanks and opposition parties to question and hold government accountable for its public policies, in this case the New Economic Policy’s target of 30% bumiputra equity ownership.

Instead, what did we get when the media reported a finding by Asli’s Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) that bumiputra corporate equity ownership could be as high as 45%, more than double the official 18.9%?

We had knee-jerk reactions from top government leaders, brushing aside the findings as”baseless”,”inaccurate”,”rubbish” and”irresponsible”.

Even former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying the centre’s findings were”illogical” because bumiputra economic control was far below that of other races. Never mind that CPPS was only disputing bumiputra equity ownership - which forms just one part of economic control - that the centre argued was not helping poor Malays.

The result was Mirzan Mahathir, the president of Asli - or the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute - publicly declaring the centre’s report flawed and unjustifiable.

Ironically, not one of these government leaders was able to rigorously justify why the government’s methodology was superior to CPPS’s.

While CPPS itself was willing to hold discussions about its data and methodology, national leaders instead resorted to the easy but powerful method of labelling in order to denigrate and undermine.

We’ve seen it work before - label Muslims”terrorists” and it makes it easier to forget that Islam is a peaceful religion. Label women as”sex objects”, and it becomes convenient to blame them for being raped. Label research findings”irresponsible” and”baseless”, and maybe the rakyat may just forget to analyse for themselves its legitimacy and accuracy in comparison to the official version?

Once Mirzan withdrew support for the CPPS research, it was instantaneously seen as proof that the findings were”baseless”.

Umno Youth deputy head Khairy Jamaluddin was even quoted as saying that Asli should be more careful when publicising reports that touch on race and other sensitive matters. The irony of his statement, following his own recent racially-skewed remarks, is just too rich.

But more troubling than the lack of intellectual rigour involved in debating the CPPS report is the government’s insistence that government should not be challenged.

As the”political noise” around the issue intensified, what was even more disconcerting was the conscious and convenient use of fear and threat of sedition to silence independent research and thinking.

Funny, we thought this was a democracy. Which means that if the government acts in ways which are less than favourable to a democracy, surely citizens must be allowed to question government?

And whether or not we chose to believe in CPPS’s accuracy, what a letdown to democracy government response has been.

Wishing fellow Malaysians”Happy Deepavali” and”Selamat Hari Raya” could potentially be a”precious right” that will be threatened if all Malaysians - irrespective of religious creed - follow the path that some are trying to carve out for our nation.

The inability of several quarters - be it the state, a company or a religious authority - to acknowledge the diversity that is Malaysia is troubling, no less because it is creating a situation where one culture and one religion is set up as superior to others.

We should be reminded that from the 16th to the 18th century, the Muslim Moghul empire in India actually acknowledged Hindus as”people of the book” - traditionally defined as Christians and Jews only - because they recognised and accepted the diversity of the culture they inhabited.

And if the celebration of any religious festival is in effect, a celebration of good over evil, what really do any of us have to fear if we join in another’s religious celebrations?

There is much Malaysia can celebrate, and wishing one another good tidings does more to make us all better human beings and citizens, than seeking out the differences in the expression of our respective faiths.

Jacqueline Ann Surin believes that you cannot be neutral on a moving train. She is an assistant news editor at theSun. Comments: feedback@thesundaily.com