POLITICS: No Place for Socialists in Malaysian Democracy

By Baradan Kuppusamy Reprint | | Print |

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 2006 (IPS) - In a tiny, dark, room in the squalid suburb of Brickfields, south of the national capital, a small group of people gathered to mourn yet another defeat for democracy, free speech and secularism – this time in the shape of a superior court upholding government refusal to recognise a socialist political party.

Among those gathered were students, factory workers, squatters and trade unionists. The room is what passes for the national headquarters of the Socialist Party of Malaysia.

“We will not give up on socialism,” said a student in the group. “This is a stupid judgmentàeven senior judges have become so naïve, politically.”

He was referring to a judgment handed down by a superior court on Wednesday that upheld a government decision not to register the party, effectively making it an illegal organisation.

The government gave ‘national security’ as the reason to refuse registration. Although the court did not buy that argument it, nevertheless, gave victory to the government on a feeble technicality.

“We have been fighting for recognition for a decade. We have thousands of members and have fought in three general elections and are recognised internationally,” party secretary general S. Arulchelvam told IPS. “But in Malaysia we are made illegalàwe are treated like pariahs when the constitution clearly guarantees freedom of association.”

“We have been denied our right to represent the people in a democratic system,” said Arulchelvam, an academic and acupuncturist. “It is clearly a political reason not an administrative reason for not registering the party. Why do they fear us so much?”

The party will now appeal the decision at the Federal Court, the highest in the country.

“Our members are deeply disappointed ,” said party president Nasir Othman. “We will continue to fight, in the courts or in the streets until we win,” he told IPS.

The court decision comes at a crucial time for the socialists who had banked on official recognition this month so that they can prepare for the next general election that is widely expected by end 2008.

“By refusing registration the government has blocked us from contesting in the upcoming general election,” Othman said. “Preventing us from contesting is a major blow to democracy and freedom.”

The party had already begun presenting itself as an alterative platform to the people – an alternative minus the race, ethnic and religious divisions that is characteristic of the ruling National Front coalition.

“Our alternative is based on equality and socialist justice. It is able to unite all the different races in the country,” Othman said.

While pro-government political parties win recognition almost overnight, the country’s sole socialist party has been struggling for registration for almost a decade. The party, consisting of progressive individuals and grassroots activists first applied for registration in 1998.

But officials delayed registration giving all kinds of excuses. A year later the government formally rejected registration without giving any reasons.

The party began a long process of appeals against the rejection but without success and finally took the matter to the court in October 1999.

The government argued in court that registration was denied because the party was a threat to national security. Government prosecutors did not specify the threat or give evidence but, instead argued that the police were satisfied that the party was a threat.

In 2003, the superior court accepted the argument holding that national security is government business and that courts can adjudicate on matters involving national security. This week, the court rejected the appeal, but on the technicality that the party’s leadership council did not have members from at least seven of Malaysia’s 13 states.

Lawyers and human rights activists have criticised the judgment saying the court failed to see the crucial importance of constitutional guarantee of freedom of association. “Instead the court got bogged down in technicalities,” a leading human rights lawyer said.

The membership requirement is a “secret” rule not written in the law but exists as one of several unpublished policies determined by internal security officials.

Lawyers said new rules are sprung on applicants who are considered as political undesirable such as the socialists. “If not this rule, it will be some other rule,” the lawyer told IPS. “They don’t want competition; they just want to hold on to power.”

Malaysia is considered one of the most stable democracies in Asia Pacific and every government since independence (in 1957) has been formed by the same National Front ruling coalition.

However political opponents say the coalition perpetuates itself through control over the print and broadcast media, legal restrictions on political organisations and other unconstitutional methods to defeat opponents.

‘’The decision is a serious blow to the notion of freedom of association in Malaysia which is a fundamental right guaranteed in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Part II of the Malaysian Constitution,” said Josef Roy Benedict, executive director of Amnesty International, Malaysia.

“We are also concerned over the use of national security as an excuse to deny the formation of the party. Issues of national security should only be invoked for specific reasons and have to be deliberated and proven in an open and transparent manner,” he said in a statement.

“This rejection also illustrates a systematic pattern by the Malaysian government of using the Societies Act as a means to block or impede the formation of societies, organizations and political parties which it considers undesirable,” he said. “The Act’s intimidating effect, along with its numerous bureaucratic requirements of the Registrar of Societies, has had a negative impact on freedom of association in this country.”

Historically, police, government officials and Muslim fundamentalists have seen socialists as wolves in sheep’s clothing. “We had one bloody communist insurrection before and one is enough,” said a prominent Muslim leader.

The insurrection by the now defunct Communist Party of Malaya, from 1948 to 1960, was so violent that many Malaysians remain angry and unforgiving.

Prejudices against socialists are compounded because of opposition to Chin Peng, the communist leader behind the insurrection, who is currently fighting a court battle to return home from exile in South Thailand.

Earlier this year, the government banned a road movie named ‘The Last Communist’ because the public associated it with the life and times of Chin Peng.