-S Thayaparan 8:49AM Dec 5, 2012 .
“As the society’s needs evolve, the police force must also evolve to meet new needs and assure the public of their safety.” – Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (Bernama)
COMMENT All this Umno ‘war talk’ of late naturally leads to the question of the role of the Malaysian Armed Forces in the event of a repeat of a ‘May 13′ scenario, which Umno foresees will occur if BN loses federal power.
The most common question people who read my Malaysiakini comment pieces ask is, “Which side will the armed forces take?
” My answer is, “No side, hopefully”. But this rather glib response masks some very real concerns on my part (and of many other retired military and police personnel as well) about the negative perception of the armed forces by the general public.
This would, no doubt, have been cultivated by the atrocious partisan posturing of the military powers-that-be.
Pro-opposition (good friend and comrade-in-arms for a better Malaysia) blogger Zorrounmasked in his blog post ‘Think out of your tanks, think-tanks’ asks, nay demands, that the military top brass reaffirm in a very public manner their impartiality (no matter the outcome) during the coming general election.
In his words: “This is no time for pundits and know-alls to expound their feel-good or doomsday wares. This is the time the rakyat wants assurance that whichever way they exercise their vote, the outcome is for a better Malaysia through a smooth transition into Putrajaya! And this assurance can only come out from the mouths of the generals and the inspector-general of police as per the oath they took.”
I will end this piece with why I think this is a futile demand, but as a retired military officer, I am sympathetic to those who need this assurance and am mortified (for my former profession) that it needs to be given in the first place.
‘Coyness’ of the PM
To be honest, this question, or fear if you like, has been on my mind for some time now. The coyness of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in not coming out and directly stating that there will be a smooth transition of power is alarming.
Surely, such a basic reassurance of the most mundane of democratic practices would not be an issue for a regime that aims to be the “best democracy in the world”?
Instead, what we have been ‘promised’, by no less a person than former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is that the opposition will “take to the streets” if they lose this election.
There were constant references to Egypt and other populist revolutions across the globe. Malaysians were ‘warned’ to be grateful for the peace and stability that Umno offers and the war song coming from Putrajaya is that opposition rule will lead to chaos and anarchy is a forgone conclusion.
This fear of ‘military intervention’ is not unfounded. Or rather, this fear of the possible collusion of Umno and the military is the unspoken fear of many opposition supporters, especially of late when Putrajaya is seen as a mission that can be possibly accomplished.
A recent example of this is when the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) lodged a police report against Perak opposition leader Nizar Jamaluddin for saying that Najib met with senior military officials and asked them to do “something” if BN loses the coming general election.
Nizar is reported to have claimed that these “senior military officers refused” to do so, saying “they would side with the people, leading to an argument”.
Let us examine the response of MAF chief General Zulkefli Mohd Zin, as reported by Bernama: “Of late, some irresponsible quarters with vested political interests have been trying to poison the minds of the people with the aim of eroding public confidence in the MAF and ruling government.”
Now, nowhere in his response does he reaffirm the impartiality of the MAF but instead chose to engage in politics by addressing BN talking points. A proper response to Nizar’s allegations would be a denial and a very public affirmation that the military is apolitical.
It would up to Najib (and the relevant authorities) to address this very serious question of ‘sedition’, and not the MAF through its police report.
But let us look at it another way. In 2010, Azhar Ibrahim was suspended for six months from the Penang state assembly for making “references to the May 13 incident and inviting the armed forces to take over the government”, not to mention his threat that “Malay triad organisation ‘Tiga Line’ would be called in to teach the state government a lesson.”
So, why no report against the Umno assemblyperson?
Umno distanced itself from these inflammatory remarks but my question is, why didn’t MAF chief Gen Zulkefli lodge a police report alleging sedition against Umno’s Azhar Ibrahim?
Of course, there was a retraction, besides “parliamentary privilege” called into play. However, there was not a word from the general, who seemed more concerned that the reputation of Umno has been besmirched, rather than that of the MAF that was mentioned in the same breath as a “Malay triad organisation”, not to say anything of the fact that what Azhar was advocating was a military coup d’etat.
Malaysia’s Stockholm syndrome
But this is not the first time the top brass of the MAF has been silent when dragged into the political scene.
Whether it is a question of vote-rigging or the sale of arms or the Bersih demonstration (about which the MAF has no jurisdiction to comment), the powers-that-be in the MAF have been quick to issue statements normally echoing the partisan rhetoric of the ruling BN coalition.
As we have witnessed, Umno is quick to conjure the ghosts of May 13 and to allude to the fact that the MAF is unquestioning loyal to the government. Sometimes though, principled retried armed forces personnel respond to these provocations, as Lt-Kol (Rtd) Mohd Idris Hassan did when confronted by an Umno politician who summoned the spectre of May 13 on national television.
In his an opinion piece in The Star in 2008 under the heading ‘Bury the ghost of May 13 once and for all’, Idris wrote: “I am shocked and saddened that some politicians are still making threatening reference to the May 13 racial riots of 1969.
“One seasoned politician was on national TV Channel 101 on March 15 making reference to the May 13 racial riots, saying that if the opposition parties continue to fan communal sentiments, another May 13 will happen, adding with a raised index finger, “Dan jangan salahkan kami.” (Then don’t blame us.)
Idris goes on to describe what he witnessed on May 13, 1969 and suggested a possible solution to all this May 13 provocations: “On that fateful day, I was a young officer serving in the army. I witnessed firsthand the carnage as it unfolded. People were attacked because they were of the wrong race, at the wrong place at the wrong time. Everyone suffered.
“It is thus my fervent hope that our new, revamped government will pass specific laws making it an offence to raise threats of another May 13 racial riots.
“No one should be allowed to hijack peace and stability in our country.”
Another retired military officer who is quick to respond to provocations from Putrajaya concerning issues involving the military is Major (Rtd) D Swami, whose blog ‘7thRangers’ is a veritable treasure trove of military lore.
The major, who was part of the Malaysian contingent in the UN peacekeeping force in Somalia, is perhaps the foremost chronicler of the roles played by non-Malays in the armed forces.
More importantly, Swami’s blog is a testament to the historical, multiracial composition of the MAF and contemporary efforts to downplay the role of minorities in the service.
It would seem that Malaysians, or at least a certain section of the electorate, has been suffering under some kind of Stockholm syndrome when it comes to Umno and the state’s security apparatus.
Waking up the very real concerns of military involvement in the electoral process has resulted in renewed calls for Umno political leaders and the Malaysian Armed Forces to unambiguously declare that there will be a peaceful transition of power and that the impartiality of the MAF will remain sacrosanct.
In the concluding part of this piece tomorrow, I will draw upon the writings of a retired general in an attempt to briefly contextualise the problems this ‘fear’ involves and explain why I think, in the current Malaysian political atmosphere, such calls are exercises in futility.
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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
