Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
— Benjamin Franklin (January 17 1706 — April 17 1790)
Category: Liberty
Categories
[1467] Of politics of fear
The government says it is taking a tough stand against street demonstrations because it fears they could lead to violence, but opposition parties say the government is merely using this fear as a pretext to clamp down on free speech and popular dissent. [Malaysian police halt human-rights day march. Reuters. December 9 2007]
And concurrently:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian police detained 21 opposition members, lawyers and activists Sunday, including nine people who joined a banned human rights march, officials said, in a widening crackdown following a series of anti-government protests.
Twelve members of an opposition coalition were among those rounded up in nationwide raids for taking part in a banned rally on Nov. 10 demanding electoral reforms, coalition spokesman Syed Azman Syed Ahmad told The Associated Press. The coalition plans to hold a second demonstration on Tuesday outside Parliament.
The arrests are part of a growing crackdown on disgruntled Malaysians who have held a slew of anti-government protests and demonstrations, jolting the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ahead of elections expected soon. [Malaysian police detain 21 people for illegal rallies. IHT. December 9 2007]
The crackdown on those that exercised liberty by the current administration occurs as the Human Rights Day approaches. Ironically, as highlighted by myAsylum, Malaysia sits on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Categories
[1463] Of Malaysia is a democracy
Recent events had provoked outrage amid those that sympathized with the idea of individual liberty. With a stake of woods burning, BN-led government threw fuel into the fire, allowing it to burn more brightly than before. One of the more angering statements, to me personally, was made by a minister that had the cheek to claim that no force was used to disperse protesting crowd whereas on the contrary, clearly caught on camera, the police did fire tear gas and water cannon. Another claim which I wish to address here concerns claim that Malaysia is a democratic country. While many understandably would like to fiercely dispute that, Malaysia is a democratic country. What it is not, in practice, strictly speaking, is a liberal democracy.
When the minister made that assertion, my initial reaction was of pure disbelief. Frankly however, I need time to rationalize something and any reaction that comes immediately after an event may be prompted by emotion without proper consideration. As emotion subsided, as it always does with time, I began to impartially reassess at the minister’s assertion. My conclusion is that, Malaysia is a democratic country, in the purest sense of the word.
As written earlier, democracy in its purest form is majoritarianism. Many however assumes the term democracy is liberal democracy instead of, well, simply democracy.
To the defense of those that disagree with the minister, the term democracy and its underlying assumptions have evolved ever since the ancient Greek popularized it. The ideological triumph of liberalism over socialism in the 20th century later made the word liberal in liberal democracy redundant. Slowly as liberalism proliferates everywhere, many come to associate democracy with liberal democracy. Day in and day out, what was simply an act done in simplicity’s sake has become an act of redefinition as far as popular opinion is concerned. As liberal democracy becomes accepted norm and taken for granted but is referred to democracy instead, the fact that the word democracy today enjoys a polymorphic but inaccurate definition is forgotten. Those that take liberty for granted usually are less rigorous in rationalizing their liberalism. These people especially are unable to recognize the difference between pure democracy and liberal democracy.
But ignorance is no reason to erase that line that separates the two types of democracy. While I am uncertain if the BN-led government as a whole realizes the difference between the two, it is quite clear that the government refers to majoritarianism when it talks of democracy. Under this definition which is perfectly fine — and I would argue, the most accurate — Malaysia is a democratic country. Elections have been held on regular basis. There are serious flaws in Malaysian democratic processes but Malaysia fits the shape of crude majoritarianism. Nothing compels a society of pure democracy to respect liberty.
With that respect, Malaysia is not a liberal democracy; a democracy that respects individual liberty which includes free speech and freedom of assembly, among others.
One may argue that BN-government is stuck in the past and has yet to move along the evolution of ideas that transformed the popular definition of democracy but in all honesty, both definitions of democracy, of majoritarian and of liberal, are perfectly valid. The former appeals to majority rule while the latter fuses the best of democracy with liberalism.
In the end, what this highlights is the importance of definition. Without being on the same page, it is hard to move forward.
I’m not an isolationism — an isolationist. I want to trade with people, talk with people, travel, but I don’t want… to send our troops overseas using force to tell them how to live. We would object to it here, and they’re going to object to us over there.
— Congressman Ron Paul during the November 28 2007 Republican Presidential Debate, in response to Senator John McCain.
Should the state stop meddling in marriage institution?
As Nancy Polikoff, an American University law professor, argues, the marriage license no longer draws reasonable dividing lines regarding which adult obligations and rights merit state protection. A woman married to a man for just nine months gets Social Security survivor’s benefits when he dies. But a woman living for 19 years with a man to whom she isn’t married is left without government support, even if her presence helped him hold down a full-time job and pay Social Security taxes. A newly married wife or husband can take leave from work to care for a spouse, or sue for a partner’s wrongful death. But unmarried couples typically cannot, no matter how long they have pooled their resources and how faithfully they have kept their commitments.
Possession of a marriage license is no longer the chief determinant of which obligations a couple must keep, either to their children or to each other. But it still determines which obligations a couple can keep — who gets hospital visitation rights, family leave, health care and survivor’s benefits. This may serve the purpose of some moralists. But it doesn’t serve the public interest of helping individuals meet their care-giving commitments. [Taking Marriage Private. Coontz, Stephanie. New York Times. November 25 2007]
Though the article is written with the US society in mind, the idea is applicable in Malaysia too. Plus, the act of shooing the state out of marriage institution may be one of many methods to dismantle Malaysian moral police.