Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in a Twitter feed on Merdeka Day, reminded the people not to forget the sacrifices of past leaders in freeing Malaysia from the colonialists.
"In the joy of Aidilfitri, I hope we do not forget the struggles of our forefathers in fighting for the country's independence. Happy 54th Merdeka Day," he added.
Very ironically and in reality, the rakyat of Malaysia are still being “colonised” till this day by a colonialist power name “Umno” with the current Colonial Master being Sir Najib Tun Razak.
The re-colonisation began in 1981 when Dr Mahathir Mohammad donned the mantle of British supremacy and with his Executive supremacy even outdid the white colonial master in many ways during the 22 years that followed!
The former PM and his cohorts who once detested the oppressive laws of the British, brandished a gamut of harsh executive powers during his reign which were deeply and undeniably derivative of authoritarian colonialism.
Najib desperately continues this colonial tradition that he has inherited in order to survive. He waves and wields this power most unabashedly (even at his own race), especially those who can see through the colonialism of Umno
Below is an article which I wrote 10 years ago. Nothing has changed since then. Umno is still very much the same (in spite of its many claims of “transformation”).
The Once-Colonised Are Now the Colonial Masters
44 (54) years and more ago, British dominance ensured that the political representation of the people, in the local and central administration of this country, was limited to the lower administrative levels, with little or no decision-making power.
Today, Executive dominance has reduced the political representation of the people, as embodied in Parliament, to nothing more than a rubber stamp, a symbol shorn of substance, stripped of essence, sidelined and side-stepped by the Executive...without significance.
44 (54) years ago, the British carefully selected and instructed locals to exercise power on behalf of the regime. The power of these locals were largely contingent on their loyalty and subservience. They functioned as vehicles of indirect colonial rule.
Today, the local Colonial Master selects those who are very "useful" -- those, who, for power, privilege, position, profit and/or political expediency -- pliantly do his bidding, allowing themselves to be figureheads and footstools...pathetic puppets and parrots.....
44 (54) years ago, the British claimed they acted "in the interest of the people". They determined the nature and content of those interests. Their justification was that the people lacked the education and expertise required for the determination of their own interests.
Today, the local Colonial Master and his cohorts mouth the same. Development is pushed and imposed on the people -- and it benefits mainly "dominant interests" -- who, very often, are the elites and the unscrupulous cronies of the powers that be.
Once, we suffered under a White Supremacy manifested in arrogance, now we have a Executive Supremacy synonymous with contempt for the people. Those who rule, believe that once elected they have the prerogative to pontificate and decide for all -- and do what they like.
Examples of Umno’s Colonialism
British "propaganda" is now replaced by a powerful "brain-washing" machine -- the broadcast media, owned by the Government and allied companies, and regulated by the Broadcasting Act, 1987, which gives the Information Minister vast powers of control and manipulation.
44 (54) years and more ago, the all-powerful British Colonialist was lord of the land. It was his playground. He plundered it as he pleased, for pleasure, and for profit. What he gained were not the fruits of "his" labour, but by the "cheap labour" of the "natives" of the land.
Today, the all-powerful local Colonialist uses the Land Acquisition Act (Amended, 1991) to "grab" land from poor farmers and land pioneers -- for a "public purpose" such as tiger prawn farms, luxury housing, highways, golf courses, playgrounds for the rich...
Yesterday, the well-being of the Orang Asli and other indigenous peoples, the Indian rubber estate worker and other minority groups in the country, did not matter at all to the British Colonialist-- they were shortchanged and marginalised.
Today, they are displaced, deprived, disempowered and dislodged from their social environment and natural resource support system. Disillusioned with the promises of their leaders and the local Colonial
Master, they, especially their young, often end up dysfunctional.
The British who once repatriated profits or raw materials from this country to the Empire, are now replaced by locals in power or position, who stash their bags of money in secret bank accounts overseas, and are ever ready to "repatriate" themselves.
Resistance to British colonial rule was met with strategies to eliminate dissent. Reprisals resulted in local activists being incarcerated, journals banned and burned, groups kept under close surveillance and individuals dismissed from service.
Resistance to today's Colonial Master is met with a gamut of harsh executive powers. Laws left behind by the British, are amended and made even more draconian -- to contain, cripple and crush legitimate dissent by the citizens of this country.
The Sedition Act (1948) was a British law used to stifle Malay nationalists (especially those in UMNO, which was born two years before the Act came to be). Today, the Act has been amended for selective prosecution of political opponents and to protect UMNO.
The Internal Security Act (1960), a relic of colonialism, meant to combat the then communists, has been amended 20 times. It is more repressive than the original, and its powers have been abused to protect the "security" of the present Colonial power.
The Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) originated from the Printing Press Act (1948). Amended in 1987 to exclude judicial review of the Executive's action vis-a-vis publications, it serves as a stranglehold on the press and opposition publications.
The Official Secrets Act (1972) was based on the British OSA of 1911. Amended in 1986 to provide for mandatory jail sentences, it is used to reinforce the cult of secrecy and to hide the misdeeds of leaders. It has also resulted in self-censorship by the press.
The local colonialist’s arbitrary use and abuse of archaic laws was very glaring in the recent re-arrest and incarceration of six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) political activists under the Emergency Ordinance (EO) (also known as “The Other ISA”) which a Royal Commission in 2005 had recommended to be repealed because it had outlived its purpose.
The Police Act (1963) was amended in 1967, 1981 and 1987 to further enhance the wide array of police powers, thus making the constitutional right of assembly quite "irrelevant". It caused the late Tunku Abdul Rahman to call this country a "Police State".
Even the Special Branch was a creation of Britain in 1887. It was meant as a direct response to Irish anarchist terrorism. Today it is perfected by the Royal Malaysian Police to "trace", threaten, torture and "turn over" political dissidents.
Every trick by the local Colonialist -- "divide-and-rule", purveying a "culture of fear" or a "siege mentality", manipulating ethnic fears, trotting out a bogey, e.g. "Communist", the "Militant" and "Terrorist" -- are tools of British Colonialism.
Just as Colonial rule created British Residents whose arrogance made them Frankensteins beyond control, the present Colonial Master has created and unleased monsters like Tan Sri Rahim Noor who beat a handcuffed and blind-folded former Deputy Prime Minster to near-death.
Just as the British changed what they did not like, today's Colonialist has made many constitutional amendments (according to Prof. Shad Saleem Faruqi (an expert on the Federal Constitution), as of 2005, the number of individual amendments to the Constitution was around 650!) -- not to strengthen rule of law and basic rights -- but to erode and erase constitutional checks and balances.
Just as there was hardly any separation between the judiciary and the Executive in early colonial days, the Judiciary has been made subservient to the Executive. In the eyes of the public the judiciary has allowed itself to be intimidated, its independence and impartiality interfered with, and its integrity reduced to ignominy.
Are we really free?
There is nothing more hypocritical than a Government which professes to believe in the "democracy" that comes with Independence, but in truth practices and perpetuates authoritarian rule -- which is deeply and undeniably derivative of authoritarian colonialism.
There is nothing more ironic than a Government so deeply indebted to its Western Colonial Master - for its plethora of repressive legal instruments and institutions -- and yet has the audacity to accuse its National Human Rights Commission of being "Western-influenced".
There is nothing more shameful than a Government that preaches the need of having "our own system" and "Asian values" and "our own kind of democracy" and yet in reality dons the mantle of its former Colonial Master and monkeys the West.
There is nothing more tragic than citizens of a country being "colonised" by their very own leaders whose political survival is very dependent on an array of repressive laws borrowed and honed to perfection, from the very Colonial Master which these leaders once fought against and detested.
(There is nothing more insulting to the rakyat than Najib trying to fool the people on Merdeka Day, that we are free from the colonialists when in reality we are still fettered by archaic laws made even more repressive today. Have “the struggles of our forefathers in fighting for the country's independence” been in vain?
Just as the sun set on the once-supposedly all-powerful British Empire, today's all-dominant and repressive local Colonial power will also meet its day of reckoning. Those who believe that justice will have her day need not faint, flinch nor falter.
