I am appalled and angry, and totally sympathise with Maryam Lee, an UndiRosak proponent, for the cyber attacks and threats she has been receiving and the humiliation and pain suffered by her.
As someone who has experienced many despicable threats, attacks and fake accusations, I understand what Maryam Lee is going through and I can understand her agony too. And I condemn such actions and behaviour by these netizens.
I urge fellow netizens, particularly the supporters of Pakatan Harapan, to stop all forms of personal attacks and character assassination against her and others in cyber space.
In a democratic society, we should respect people of different views and learn to agree to disagree. We certainly shouldn’t pass any form of misogynist , sexist and humiliating remarks against people who have different opinions from us.
I also believe that we need to get to the source of this toxicity. I and others, including my fellow MP, Teo Nie Ching, and G25’s Nor Faridah Ariffin, have been attacked like Maryam before. And not by Pakatan Harapan supporters.
While this shouldn’t in any way excuse the what has happened, the point is that it is a reflection of a failed system – of education, of patriarchy – perpetuated and reinforced by the ruling BN regime.
I believe voting is a privilege, hence I would like to encourage all eligible voters to cast their votes in the coming elections and elect their representatives to Parliament and to the State Assemblies.
In this coming General Elections (GE14), where competition between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan is so close, every vote counts. Refusal to vote or casting spoiled votes will only help either party to win or lose unfairly.
While I respect the freedom of speech of Maryam Lee and other proponents of the UndiRosak campaign, they must understand that their campaign in the context of the realities of contemporary Malaysia, if successful, will only worsen the current situation.
If, as many of us agree, the problems have arisen because of a racist, sexist and kleptocratic BN regime, punishing Pakatan Harapan will only help to strengthen this very regime. From the days of Pakatan Rakyat to the present Pakatan Harapan, we have fought valiantly against the passing of bad, indeed evil, policies by the BN regime, like the GST, but our numbers in Parliament were never enough. We have fought against the imposition of undemocratic and heinous laws, such as the Peaceful Assembly Act, SOSMA and POTA.
And we will continue to do so. But only if we have the support of the RAKYAT.
I would like to sincerely call upon Maryam Lee and her colleagues to engage and have dialogues with the Pakatan Harapan leaders. We are willing to listen to their opinions and suggestions, and we, in turn, would like them to understand more about Pakatan Harapan’s proposed policies for the country.