My reading is that there’s a lot of angles to this - story at Malaysiakini.

Two conversations I had recently with wise (actually young) elders who have walked these paths before me have induced me to believe that the government is launching a campaign to drive rifts into Malaysian society and tear it apart even further.

More on this to come very soon, but I think this case fits perfectly.

BN must have been jumping up and down in joy when Makkal Osai made their blunder, which resulted in calls by certain quarters for this suspension.

The most important thing to remember is that Makkal Osai is linked to S. Subramaniam, Samy Vellu’s rival who got trounced by G. Palanivel in the last MIC elections.

It turns out that being an intra-party rival is much more effective than say the MCA or Gerakan model which likes to whisper that it is actually the opposition within the government (sotto voce: no need to whisper yo, everyone can hear!)

I say this because almost to a larger extent than any paper in Malaysia (theSun being a possible contender) Makkal Osai has functioned more like the fourth estate a newspaper is supposed to be than any other daily.

It has kept the pressure tight on MIC re: the Maika scandal and Sujatha murder case - things all papers should be discussing, not just Tamil ones (nothing to do with the suspension? think again!)

This is the type of scrutiny and investigative journalism, not unlike what Malaysiakini has been doing pretty well of late, that all media should aspire to.

No need to say againlah, why ours fails in this sacred duty so miserably.

(Polytikus just told me that Samy’s mouthpiece Tamil Nesan reproduced the Jesus picture on Thursday, EVEN LARGER than the original. Remember what happened to The Sarawak Tribune, which reproduced the Danish prophet cartoons? Are we going to see justice for all, or the law of the jungle?)

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Almost all post-colonial governments learned the tricks of their predecessors extremely well - what we are seeing here is divide and rule at its best.

The whole BN formula is based on playing one community against the other.

Between Umno and MCA, a bit more is at stake for Umno.

But in this case, Umno (c’mon, do you think anyone else actually calls the shots around here? :P) is playing Christians against the Indians.

The suspension makes the infringement seem even more serious than it is, while painting a picture to the Tamil speaking community that the Christians have some sort of vendetta against them.

Classic divide and rule.

BN cannot survive without rampant narrow-minded communalist thinking running wild.

Seeing strong signs that Malaysians have grown up and want to leave this dinosaur thinking behind like the rest of the world, they know are trying to incite these divisive sentiments that would have long faded ago if not for BN’s destructive mismanagement of communal relations.

These conflicts only exist due to political incitement and manipulation. See Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

Anyway, getting ahead of myself.

In summary, let’s look at what has BN accomplished here:

- Struck another blow against independent press

- Incited hatred between Christians and Indians

- Weakened Samy Vellu’s enemies, and tightening his unholy grip

- Falsely appeared as some sort of ’saviour/messiah’ to the Christians, who never asked for this kind of salvation in the first place.

The last point is important.

Observe what Datuk A. Vaithilingam of the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (*runs out of breath*) said in a press statement -

MCCBCHST notes that Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, while expressing the hurt that Christians feel about such defilement of Christ, has accepted the public apology of the newspaper involved in this latest case and considers the matter closed in his public statement. The Council of Churches Malaysia through its General Secretary has also expressed a similar view.

When I spoke to the Chief Editor of the newspaper involved, I too felt that the apology he had extended was sincere and should be accepted.

Unlike Nazri (and apparently Keng Yaik) who are obviously not men enough to accept the apology of a boy, these more mature individuals and groups can accept a gesture of good faith and move on.

Seen in this light, I believe the suspension of Makkal Osai must be seen to be made in bad faith and with extremely destructive and divisive motives.

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Full credit to my colleague Bob, who has started what I believe is a very effective campaign in this particular context:

See also Lucia.

Incidentally, the abovementioned quote from Isiah 58:6 reads - “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”

Tags: Ethnicity, Religious Affairs, Responsible Free Speech //