MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Crying 'fire' in a crowded threatre to annoy is not freedom of speech or expression

CRYING 'FIRE' IN A CROWDED theatre is not acceptabe, It may be freedom of speech or expression, but the responsibilty that goes with it, equally important, prevents it. That is accepted the world over. Similarly, the publication of a cartoon depiciting the Prophet Mohammed in a bad light, when Christianity representing the west is involved in a crusade against the Muslims. The editors can justify this as freedom of speech. But there are in the law books of most Christian nations severe punishmnent for caricaturing Jesus, for instance. That they are not enforced these laws is that the societies have moved ahead and do not impose these laws. The publication of the cartoons in Denmark, and republication in other countries, to anger the Muslims is deliberate. In this extension of the war on terror, the United States have stayed out. What we hear is European reaction. It could also be an attempt to take the advantage of the United States in this war on terror. Europe has played second fiddle to the war on terror, and see no reason why it should allow the United States to represent Christianity.

But it chose the wrong method. All European countries have an 'Islamic problem'. The governments have moved away from Christianity, and they cannot fight Islam, with its religiousity still intact, and makes fun of it. It was not the Muslims in the Middle East that was the problem, but those it did not know which country they came from. It put the Muslim nations in a dilemma: the rulers, naturally linked to the West, at odds with the bulk of Muslims, who did not. The demonstrations over the cartoons in all parts of the world is proof of that. In Malaysia, this is clearly evident. The government reacted, and lost valuable ground. It should have banned the newspapers from publishing the cartoons, and taken steps from turning it into a cauldron of religion and region, which it unfortunately has become. The Sarawak Tribune, in Kuching, published the cartoons, and has been shut down. But it opens the larger issue of regionalism.

The Sarawak Tribune is owned by a Sarawak Muslim group, but was edited by an Iban native. But both are against orders from Kuala Lumpur. The Malays are too small a community in Sarawak to be a major force. A Malay, a former cabinet minister, was chosen to lead the Malays into political dominance, but he was quickly swept aside so that the Sawarak Muslim is the dominant party. The people of Sarawak saw the cartoon, republished in the paper, as showing its independence of Kuala Lumpur. The information ministry should have told the editors of the ban long before the cartoon was republished. Then there would have been a reason for the ban on Sarawak Tribune. The federal government acted after the cartoon was published, as a second thought. Now it is seen as a colonial government having acted on a region rebelled at colonial injunctions.

However one might look at it, the Christian groups in Sarawak would look upon the episode as a Muslim looks upon the cartoon of Prophet Mahmood. Regionalism takes precedence, when religion is also an issue. And in Sarawak, and in Sabah, Islam got federal approval in Christian nations. But Kuala Lumpur read the signals wrong. It did not realise, until too late, that getting the native tribes to convert did not mean more support for it, but anger at playing second fiddle. UMNO hoped to resolve it by establishing a branch in the Sabah. Now it is faced with an open resolt. In the coming state general elections, many of its personalities and the parties in the National Front my be in the opposition. It does not help UMNO that many of this group were Muslims converted in the last 20 years. In Sarawak, the attempt to force UMNO in did not succeed. The Muslim parties saw to that. The suspension of the Sarawak Tribune has got the non-Muslim native against the federal Malays as well.

If the Kuala Lumpur government does not lift the ban on Sarawak Tribune, it will have other ramifications for the National Front. The federal government has made sure that state rights will win in the coming general elections. It will not be religion but regionalism that will be dominant. After all, East Bengal that was part of Pakistan, was also Muslim. It was regionalism that took dominance although both were Muslim in religion. But it became Bangladesh. More effort must be made to keep both Sarawak and Sabah as part of Malaysia. But religion is not the key, especially when Islam is seen as a colonial religion.

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