It is a pity that police have opened up investigation papers over the black flag campaign on social media for allegedly containing seditious elements.
#Benderahitam is an online campaign where social media users share pictures of black flags on various platforms as signs of protesting the failures of the current government, especially the mishandling of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
#BenderaHitam and #Lawan are one of the most engaged online protests in the history of Malaysia with about 250,000 tweets, signalling mass frustration.
There are three simple demands:
- Current Prime Minister to step down
- Reconvene Parliament
- End the Emergency
It is vital to understand that democracy is not merely about elections, it is about hearing the people’s voices and grievances. It is conceptualised through various avenues, forms and symbols. It cannot be pushed aside or criminalized just because the current ruling elites are not comfortable with it, what more with the current suspension of Parliament.
It is only natural that symbols are used to demonstrate the unhappiness and frustration the people have with the current government. A government is supposed to manage the country well and the people have come to realize that this is not the case with the current Perikatan Nasional government.
It is also the government’s responsibility to hear peoples suffering, difficulties, and shortcomings and quickly address these grievances.
In short this PN Government is too aloof to appreciate and comprehend the pain people are going through.
Social media is an effective avenue since it caters to all categories of people whose voices are seldom heard in the mainstream media.
During the Pakatan Harapan rule, demonstrations were allowed to go ahead such as the rally against international convention on elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (ICERD) without any investigations and detentions.
Although the government at that time knew that the rally was used to propagate manipulation of facts to instigate racial insecurity and anger towards the Pakatan Harapan government, democratically, they had the right to do it. It was up to the government to convince the people of policies and listen when they reject it.
Compared to that time, this current situation is far more severe where people are going hungry due to mismanagement of the Covid-19 Pandemic generally, slow vaccination process, high number of Covid-19 deaths, ever-changing government SOPs and policies, double standards when SOPs are broken, economic restrictions, halving of FDIs and an incompetent government that is not able to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases.
Instead, the police should spend more time in combating crime, corruption and racism instead of creating unnecessary impediment for the rakyat to express themselves in situations where hunger and unemployment is widespread. Will the IGP order the police force to focus on relevant police issues and stay away from legitimate democratic processes?
White or black flag, it shows a robust democracy in action.
It is vital for the police to distinguish between legitimate grievances of people in the current context and distinguishing it from real threats to national security such as the manipulation of racial and religious issues by politicians and cybertroopers in the social media.