We are all big fans of more open democracy, and we applaud the Government’s moves to relax many of the laws governing public protest and election processes. But we were caught a bit off-guard when we saw, well, this:
Lim Kit Siang told the Government today to send Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to Myanmar to learn about fundamental liberties, after human rights activists suggested earlier that Yangon’s new law on public demonstrations gave its citizens more freedom than Malaysia’s own version.
Mocking the Najib administration’s Peaceful Assembly Bill tabled this week in Parliament, the veteran DAP politician said Malaysia should copy the Myanmar legislation.
Oh really? We should copy Myanmar’s legislation? Thanks, Kit Siang. Good idea. Even for the father of a prodigal son based in Penang this seems a trifle beyond the pale.
At first, we took the Kit Siang Book of Unusual Humour to be a mocking attempt at a joke; then we read Lim Kit Siang’s own blog, and he clearly is a committed man (or a man who should be committed). Then we thought about criticising Kit Siang’s writing on its merits, but couldn’t find any merit in what he wrote.
After due consideration and a great deal of very strong tea, we are persuaded that Kit Siang has a point. Instead of treating Myanmar as a pariah for its brutal repressions and decades of electoral suppression, we should praise it for what is absolutely not a mere window-dressing protest law but instead an admirable window-dressing protest law.
Indeed, in the spirit of taking good advice from unlikely sources, we offer some additional, well-tested reforms to our democratic process of which we suspect Kit Siang will heartily approve. Here they are:
Interim military rule
A time-tested and time-honoured approach to democratic reform, this gem is currently on display in Egypt, where the new government isn’ttaking things like popular sovereignty and peaceful protest lightly. Egypt is hardly the only fully functioning democracy to experiment with completely abandoning the democratic process as a means of strengthening it. Almost every Latin American state has at some point dabbled with this approach, giving this tool a pedigree as lengthy as it is impressive.
Kit Siang, by now an established fan of Myanmar’s approach to peaceful protest, will surely love this better-known facet of Myanmar’s thriving democracy, as permanent election-observer-in-residence Aung San Suu Kyi will surely attest.
(Is this perhaps why Kit Siang’s good friend Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim likes to trumpet the idea of an Egyptian-style Malaysian Spring?)
State guidance of critical media
Another old chestnut, this one will surely win Kit Siang’s plaudits. Not only is this yet another of Myanmar’s contributions to representative government, but this tool of democracy has a pedigree dating to the democratic reforms in Russia, 1917. Perhaps Kit Siang would like Datuk Seri Najib Razak to copy the Myanmar approach to media control, rather than insisting on relaxing rules on the press in Malaysia by planning to eliminate the annual newspaper licensing requirement. What do you think, Kit Siang? Shall we copy Myanmar or Russia on this one?
Russians have never been keen on resting on their laurels; they have built a customized, traditionally Russian guest program for journalists foreign and domestic over the years. With nearly one hundred years of unbroken, open democracy behind her, Russia surely offers Kit Siang and all of us a model for our democratic future.
Personalized government for artists
Lest we be thought to overlook our largest democratic neighbor, the People’s Republic of China has lessons for us as well. For example, China recognises the importance of a good customer service experience for its citizens as well. Recently, perceiving shortfalls in his basic human rights such as housing, food, and a lack of forced labor, China offered artist Ai WeiWei exclusive lodgings at one of its ritzier laogai. When he demurred, they insisted on providing that unique brand of hospitality that guides DAP to this day. As we thought about it, we realized that Kit Siang would have a host of potential future guests, some not even adults yet.
Clearly this child is a threat to Malaysia.
This is of course a small sampling of what developed democracies like Myanmar offer our country as we speed into the twenty-first century. We welcome more guidance like this from Kit Siang, and perhaps the opportunity to see some of these reforms in his son’s Penang.
From a safe distance.