Democracy : derived from the Greek demos (meaning “people” ) in combination with kratos (meaning “power” ). People power. It envisages the fullest possible number of eligible citizens having an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives and participating as fully as they choose to in the self-determination of the policies and direction of the demarcated territory in which they reside. Wikipedia has a useful starting point for anyone who wishes to do some reading up on this.
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FMT, reporting on a Gabungan Janji Demokrasi (GJD) press conference last Friday, reported my friend Hisham Rais as saying that this call to gather at Dataran Merdeka on 30th August is to demand that the Federal Constitution be upheld, to demand for greater reforms and for a free and fair electoral process.
Malaysiakini, reporting on the same press conference, reports that GJD plans to join the Merdeka eve celebrations at Dataran Merdeka, with participants wearing yellow to remind the government of its unfulfilled promises on electoral reform.
I attended one meeting of the (GJD), representing ABU at the same.
At that meeting, I shared with others present that for some years now, the commemoration of 31st August, 1957 had, for me, been more a day of mourning rather than rejoice.
Who revels on the day, I asked the others present at the meeting, if not UMNO /BN and their cronies who have made a killing from the vast amount of public funds spent in the days and weeks running up to the 31st of August every year to give the impression that all is well in this Malaysia of ours?
UMNO and BN continue to hold out that this 31st August marks the 55th year of the founding of Malaysia.
But that takes us back to 1957.
The sham independence of Malaya.
Malaysia was formed in 1963.
49 years ago.
What about Pakatan?
Will they acknowledge this untruth that has been celebrated all these years?
Pakatan billboard in one of the Pakatan states
Even my colleague in GJD seems to think we are celebrating 55 years of Malaysia this coming 31st August.
In the same Malaysiakini report I refer to above, Raja Retinam of Warga Aman is quoted as having said that “The goal is that in conjunction with the celebrations for the 55th National Day, we wish to remind the rulers that our democracy is crumbling. It has been eroded many times. We wish to return it to the original democracy, as stated in the constitution”.
So, this 30th August, as we assemble at Dataran Merdeka, are we all to become accomplices in this continued distortion of the truth of what Malaysia was, in 1963, intended to be, and, how, by subterfuge most foul, for near half a century, the Janji Demokrasi of 1963 has been obscured away and denied to the people of Sabah and Sarawak?
I will be there at Dataran Merdeka with all of you and, yes, in yellow, but my presence there is to mourn the denial, these past 49 years, to the people of Sabah and Sarawak, their fullest rights under the Malaysia Agreement, 1963.
And my demand, on behalf of the people of Sabah and Sarawak, is that they be given what is rightfully theirs.
No more, no less.
Please make time to watch the video below.
KHURGUN
August 26, 2012
Reblogged it on http://malaysianbossanova.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/janji-demokrasi-from-the-peoples-parliment/.
Paul Warren
August 26, 2012
I have recently come to find out that 31 August is the day we got played out by the British. Yes they handed over the sovereignty of the country, its independence, its governance, administration and Railways and Postals to the UMNO led leadership. But what did they keep for themselves? Yes, all the revenue generating assets were still very much British owned companies. Rubber, Palm Oil though not much, and Tin. It was almost 23-25 years later with our hard earned money in EPF that we began to BUY back at market rates the ownership of these companies and these revenue generating assets. So not really much of an independe3nce was it?
S. Menon
August 27, 2012
I think we should be in mourning! And wear BLACK T-shirts!
Joe Keegan
August 28, 2012
Well said, Paul and Menon. The “independence” of Malaya since 1957 has been a change from the old form of direct colonial rule by Britain to a new form, that is, neo-colonialism.
The incorporation of Sabah and Sarawak, together with Singapore in what came to be known and internationally accepted as Malaysia was also planned and carried out by Britain with the co-operation and collaboration of the Rahman-Razak regime in Peninsula Malaya and the Lee Kuan Yew clique in Singapore. Local chietains of the British Raj in Sabah and Sarawak, like Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Stephen Fuad, went along with this London plan under enormnous pressure and bullying backed by the might of the British armed forces, Gurkha regiments and all. The Malayan armed-forces and the Police Field Force too played their role in effecting this change of masters in the the early 1960s,
Moreover the masses of the people, especially from the various native communities, were in the dark or kept misformed about the hand-over of their national sovereignty and independence to Britain’s Rahman-Razak-Lee Kuan Yew puppet regimes in KL and Singapore.
Throughout the 1960s till the mid-1970s, the Tentera Pembebasan Nasional Kalimantan Utara fought for liberation of Sabah and Sarawak. It was unsuccessful because the consciousness of the people was not high enough for them to see the necessity for armed-struggle to win national liberation then.
Today, the voracious plunder of Sabah and Sarawak by the KL bureaucrat capitalist class in power, facilitated by their political parties in the BN, has brought growing numbers of people to raise the question of independence and national sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak.
baronvonchesto
September 3, 2012
Dear Haris,
While its certainly true that Malaysia has only been around for 49 years, its is still perfectly correct to say Hari Kemerdekaan ke-55 ie: it is the 55th Merdeka day celebrations, as As the first “Merdeka Day”celebration occured in 1957. That for the first 6 years it was the national day of merely Malaya and not Malaysia is of no consequence. So it is not wrong for the West Malaysian states to celebrate it as their 55th Independence. For Sabah it would be Hari Kemerdekaan ke-59, Hari Kebangsaan ke-55. Sarawak is an anomaly since they got their independence in July 1963…
A good analogy is the USA, only the 13 original colonies have cause to celebrate teh fourth of July, yet it remains the national day for the whole of the US. Hawaii for example only attained “Independence”in 1990 when it was granted statehood, yet they still celebrate the 4th of july same as the rest of the nation. The declaration of independence of the 13 colonies was 4th July 1776, yet for 2012 it was still the 236th national day celebration for Hawaii, Calafornia, etc.
Another food for thought – Today the Federation of Malaya no longer exists. In fact regardless of the nature of the agreement with North Borneo and Sarawak, the Federation of Malaya ceased to exist on 16th September 1963. The federation of Malaya became the Federation of Malaysia that very day. What we clearly have here is a clear misunderstanding from parties on both sides of the South China Sea. Clearly for Sabah and Sarawak it was meant to be a new federation between Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. On this side of the sea, it was always seen as an enlargement of the federation. Regardless, today there is no Malaya, thus the important thing would be to honour the 18-point and 20-point agreements rather than ponder of the semantics between the statehood of Sabah or Sarawak.