Art by CHUAN ZUI
By CHUA SUE ANN

Last week the authorities had their hands full, arresting lawyers, Bersih, Hindraf and human rights activists and various other “inconveniences” to the government.

Dec. 9 was certainly a busy Sunday with a group of lawyers proceeding with their “People’s Freedom Walk” from the Sogo department store to the Malaysian Bar building where the Bar Council was celebrating International Human Rights Day, a day earlier than the rest of the world.

The march of about a hundred people proceeded for a distance under the watchful eyes of the police. They had two helicopters circling the protesters.

Earlier in the week, the Bar Council had decided to call off their annual human rights march in good faith, after being pressured by the authorities to obtain a police permit. They were even told to apply for a permit to hold their annual human rights festival at Central Market. The Bar Council nevertheless moved their celebrations to their own building, just behind Central Market. It was a compromise.

The Malaysian Bar council held a protest to celebrate the International Human Rights Day. Photo by MICHELLE GUNASELAN

The Bar Council did not expect the following response … Click here for the full article!

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Art by CHUAN ZUI
By M. NITHIYANANTHAN

Looking out into the cold, damp and gloomy weather of northeastern United States, I fondly recall memories of Deepavali excursions into the homes of jubilant relatives. There were smiles, there were the customary oil lamps, beautiful kolam designs littering the ground, the constant chattering of gossipy aunts, and the jingling of bells that laced the feet of my female kin.

But this gaiety was smeared with tinges of economic strife, and political servitude.

I remember visiting an uncle in a cramped shantytown around the Sunway area, with the posh facade of an Egyptian shopping mall contrasting the rusty tin roof of my uncle’s humble wooden home. I remember the huge longkang we had to cross to reach his place, where piles of rubbish was dumped from the squatter settlement in which he resided, and how the stench of rotting … Click here for the full article!

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Photo by CHUA SUE ANN

By RASHAAD ALI

This is not some second-hand story. This is an account from the frontline.

This is a frame by frame recollection of the Bersih rally in Masjid Jamek on 10 Nov. and how pandemonium descended into the city centre that afternoon, where my entire view of the present government was shattered the moment I saw those first gas canisters fly.

You can read it in the papers, on websites, in forwarded e-mails, but the magnitude of the brutality will never compare to the panic that infiltrated into my being, and the fear that I now harbour for the government.

You could feel the stillness in the air, the sudden … Click here for the full article!

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By RACHEL LEOW

What follows is a transcript of the telephone interview that Malaysia’s Minister of Information Zainuddin Maidin (ZAM) gave Al-Jazeera yesterday, moments after the Bersih memo was delivered to the Royal Palace at the close of the biggest anti-government protest in Malaysia in ten years.

ZAM: ….I commend your journalists trying to project, to exaggerate more than what actually happened. That, that, that, that’s it. We, we are not, the, the — and I, I congratulate your journalists behaving like an actor, that, that’s —

AJ: As you say that, sir, we’re watching scenes of protesters being sprayed by chemical-filled water … Click here for the full article!

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Parti Keadilan Rakyat Information Chief Tian Chua getting caught in the clashes near Pasar Seni.

Article and photos by CHUA SUE ANN

Nov. 10 will probably go down in Malaysian history as one of the greatest show of people power.

Thousands took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur yesterday to show support for electoral reform in this country.

There were different reports on the number of protesters at the rally. Bersih and Malaysiakini reported 40,000 individuals, and the police estimated the figure to be 4,000 to 8,000.

Bersih is a coalition of almost 70 civil society groups and opposition political parties.

Bersih protesters marching to Istana Negara.

They planned this public gathering and drew up a memorandum to … Click here for the full article!

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Pro-Mahasiswa candidates rallying for support - Photo by Richard Lim

By FAREENA J.

Student elections at various universities across the country ended as expected - with pro-government groups in power - after vicious mudslinging and tactics from all parties. The two major players were pro-Aspirasi (pro-government) and pro-Mahasiswa (pro-opposition) student groups.

Voters at university campuses throughout the country were overwhelmingly in favour of pro-Aspirasi parties, with the exception of Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM). Pro-Aspirasi groups swept all the positions at Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia in Terengganu and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Perak.

In Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), pro-Aspirasi candidates took 42 out of 48 seats, in Universiti Malaya (UM) it was 33 out of 41, in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) it was 30 out of 34, and 30 out of 37 in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Pro-Aspirasi is pro-government, and usually sides with the university’s policies. And pro-Mahasiswa is known to be anti-government or anti-establishment. Some university administrators have no qualms hiding the fact that they do not like pro-Mahasiswa groups … Click here for the full article!

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