Man of integrity

This will be one of the very rare occasions that I skate close to making a personal political opinion and even then, it is just to reproduce the comments of a True Malaysian.

Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon is a Penang State Executive Councillor in charge of State Economic Planning, Education, Human Resource, Science, Technology and Innovations. I'm proud to say that I've known him personally for about a decade and worked with him on some non-governmental projects. He is an intellectual and a man of integrity, always daring to voice his dissenting opinion on far-ranging issues even though he is in Government. People say that he does so because he is not going to stand for re-election but I say this is not true. The elections have nothing to do with it. It's just his character and conviction. He didn't need to be a politician in the first place - a reluctant politician, if I may say so - but he entered political office after great persuasion from his friends at the Parti Gerakan Malaysia. He will exit or remain in politics on his own terms and not anybody else's, not least his political masters in Putrajaya. And I know that he will be sorely missed in Penang when he decides to leave. A True Malaysian at heart.

Here is his letter that was published by Malaysiakini on 24 July 2007:

Growing trend towards stifling dissent
Dr Toh Kin Woon

The recent arrest of Nathanniel Tan, a blogger and the call by Umno to the police to take action against ‘Malaysia Today’, a much visited blog by Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, reflect the growing trend towards stifling dissent in our country.

Despite earlier promises of allowing freedom of the electronic media as part of the effort to promote the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), the government has reneged on these promises by suppressing blog sites deemed to air views critical of the government.

The action against Tan and the call to take action against ‘Malaysia Today’ are the latest in a series of undemocratic moves by the government. Another recent action in this series of moves was the ban imposed on the mainstream media by the Internal Security Ministry on the publication of views challenging the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that Malaysia is an Islamic state.

The stand of many who question that Malaysia is not an Islamic state is not allowed to be carried, while those by the Deputy Prime Minister that Malaysia is already an Islamic state is permitted.

The MCA secretary-general, who rightly argued that Malaysia is a secular state, has even been warned by the education minister not to make any more such statements. Some films, whose messages differ from the official stand, have earlier been banned, while statements challenging official statistics on the bumiputera equity ownership have likewise been disallowed.

These trends, if not stopped, will further erode the democratic space, which is already limited, in our country. All who are opposed to such undemocratic moves, whether within the ruling coalition or outside, must now unite in pursuit of the common goal to protect the right to dissent and the right to freedom of speech, both which are rights that must be highly valued.

As we move forward, the government cannot just be contented with promoting development to the neglect of promoting human rights. Civil and political rights such as the right to free speech, right to dissent and right to assemble are as important as economic rights such as the right to a job, to housing, to medical care and education.

Promoting economic growth while curbing civil and political freedom will not lead us to the achievement of a developed nation. This is not what most Malaysians want. What they desire is a nation that achieves material progress that is equitably distributed, while allowing a great deal of space for the exercise of political and civil rights, of which the right to start an electronic website or blog, even if this is critical of the government, is one.