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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No 24. September 18, 1974

Razak and the death of democracy

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Razak and the death of democracy

Dear Sir,

It is always said that human nature is hard to change. An evil man cannot divorce himself from evil deeds even though circumstances did not dictate it. Take for example, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak and the recent general election. It is well understood for obvious reasons that the National Front of Malaysia would win the 1974 election and many people have predicted it. I would say the Party cheated its way to victory. Richard Long, in his article "Chinese improve their voting strength in Malaysia" published In the Dominion of Sept 2, 1974, stated that: a) "He (Tun Razak) would never allow a party with a non-Malay majority to take control." b) In the unlikely event of the DAP, even being voted into power. Parliament would be disolved.

c)".... it is not a healthy development to have a predominantly Chinese party as the only opposition party."

d) "Over in Sabah where Kuala Lumpur's influence is minimal, the local bosses ensured they won by arresting 10 opposition candidates and confining them till it was too late for them to file their nominations."

e) "Opposition claims it lost 10,000 votes on average in each electorate because of the missing names."

The above allegations would go a long way to give a fair idea how Razak's regime got into power. In sum. Tun Razak bulldozed his way into power by:
1)threatening the ignorant masses and the opposition party;
2)arresting the opposition candidates;
3)censoring people's suffrage;
4)uniting the Malay elite and bourgeois and a few degenerated Chinese;
5)dividing the masses — poor Malays, Chinese and Indians.

Points a) to e) spell out the death of democracy in the Malaysian Government clearly. It is a pseudo-democratic and corrupted government. He makes a mockery of the word "democracy". Point e) in particular had been confirmed by the OMSA president who mentioned in the last "NZUSA Conference on Malaysia" that his members were so asked to register a year ago because they were qualified to vote for the 1974 election, but what happened, no voting forms were sent to them. They like many others were deprived of the right to vote as citizens. Why?

The NZUSA Conference on Malaysia demonstrates very clearly that most of the Malaysian students in NZ are interested and concerned with their home problems.

The NZUSA conference hints that we cannot take what is going on sitting down. For progress to be made Action is the word. The Malaysian Government is not going to hand over your rights as citizens on a golden plate. You have to fight for it, if it need be. And judging by what the government is doing — wilfully leaving out the Chinese voters from the voting registers — it looks like we have to make a move or else more and more repressive actions will follow.

The NZUSA Conference also called to the stage aspiring future 'Tuns' and 'Datos' who showed their support for the government in very definite terms. They opposed the demonstration. Why? Because the government does not like it. Our beloved David Cheung's well-rehearsed oratorical performance was enthusiastically greeted with boos and hisses. Malaysian students here know him for what he is. His argument was self-contradictory. On the one hand, he strongly opposed the demonstration fighting for democratic rights in Malaysia, on the other hand, he participated in the demonstration. Why did he go if he opposed it. What ulterior motives he had is obvious. People can well analyse his actions and his motives:
1)He went up there to blow his own trumpet, to sell himself to the audience, in fact an early campaign for the presidency of MSA' Judging from the hundred odd votes he had for cultural officer, one would think he would have more sense than to aspire for the post. It would be easier for him to sell himself to the Malaysian Government.
2)He tried to prevent the demonstration from taking place. He tried to discredit it.
3)Since the demonstration could not be stopped, he took part in the demonstration so to find out who were those under the masks that he could score a credit for his future 'Tun' or 'Dato' by selling them to the Malaysian High Commission.

Some one had asked: Could we change our bloody and chauvinistic government? Could we alter our unjust constitution? The answers are positive. Nothing is absolutely fixed. But let us always keep in mind. Changes need time and need action, action and action. More important is that changes to lot of the cases requires sacrifice of life.

For the sake of the majority of the poor people, for the sake of your next generation in terms of better education, better environment and more democratic rights, we have to fight. Now, it is time to stand up to struggle, it is time to unite to fight and it is time to speak up and to act.

Struggle! Struggle! Struggle! A Malaysian

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