Servicio público de transporte colectivo urbano, en México

The D.A.P. was angry with the government for banning the proposed 22nd October meeting, as it had counted on this meeting to drum up Chinese

119

support. It however denied that it was politicizing the issue, insisting

116. A typical comment from U.M.N.O. Youth was that the M.C.A. leadership must come out, more often, more boldly and forcefully on some of the issues that require the Chinese being given a lecture. Rahman Adnan, op. cit., pp. 7-10.

117. New Straits Times, 23rd September, 1978 end K.Das,"Caught on the re­ bound", Far E a s t e m Economic Review, 24th November, 1978• Dr. Goh, the G.R.M.'s Political Bhreau chairman, had earlier stated that the reasons given by Musa for the government's rejection of the Merdeka University meant that the government was closing its door3 not only to the university an proposed by its sponsors, but also to any pro­ posed privately funded institution of higher learning regardless of whether it conformed to the education policy or not. Goh had regar­ ded the decision an too wide and rigid. For further details, see K. Das,"A Test of Strength on Education", Far Eastern Economic Review, 6th October, 1978. Musa clarified that the government's rejection of private universities was only within the context of the applica­ tion to set up the Merdeka University. New Straits Times, 11th Octo­ ber, 197Ö.

that the problems of the Chinese in relation to culture, language and edu­ cation, which were all tied up with the Merdeka University, were also natio­ nal problems and therefore merited national solutions. It felt that if it did not raise them, they would never be resolved. This was to hit at the M.C.A. and the G.R.I.l. for not daring to speak forcefully on behalf of the Chinese in the government. In fact the D.A.P. alleged that the IvI.C.A. had encouraged Malay extremists to be vociferous by giving the impression that the Chinese had the habit of demeaning themselves. A D.A.P. M.P. stated that the M.C.A. Deputy Minister of Education, Chan Siang Sun, showed igno­ rance of the dignity of his position as No. 2 man in the Education Ministry hierarchy when he led a M.C.A. delegation to see a Malay bureaucrat who was perhaps 12 or 2 5 in the same hierarchy to clear up an administrative matter.' Whatever the Deputy Minister’s reasons for leading the delegation, they cer­ tainly could not negate the fact that the M.C.A. had brought this indigni­ ty upon itself. The D.A.P.believed that this was the very reason that Malay extremists in U.M.N.O. never hesitated to attack the M.C.A. each time

a controversial issue like Merdeka University cropped up. The D.A.P. conti­ nued that if there was any politicization of the proposed university issue, the government had been responsible in the first place, since the Education

Review, 3rd November, 1978 and New Straits Times, 20th October, 1978« In banning the proposed meeting, Ghazali said:"Of course I can control the meeting. But how do you control the overflow from the meeting? I mean how do you control the ideas, the words that flow out of the meeting and into society at large, and how do you say no to,a counter­ meeting after the damage i3 done?" F.E.E.R., 3rd November, 1978, op.

c it. For details of the sponsors'intention to sue the government,see Asian Almanac,17th March,1979. B.Levin and Holger Jensen,"Malaysian Apartheid'", Newsweek, 20th November, 1978.

119. K. Das,"The Shadow of ' 6 9 passes again", F.E.E.R., 3rd November, 1978. 120. • New Straits Times, 22nd November, 1970. The same M . P . , Chan Teck Chan,

also accused the M.C.A. for adopting double standards as regards the Merdeka University proposal. The M.C.A., according to him, protested

against the government’s decision outside Parliament, but voted with it in Parliament. New Straits Times, 18th October, 1978.

Minister chose to make the government’s rejection at a political meeting -

the U.M.N.O. General Assembly, The party maintained that Merdeka Univer­

sity was in accordance with the letter and spirit of clause 152(l) of the Constitution which called for the protection and sustenance of ethnic langua-

122

ges. It interpreted protection and sustenance as the right to have the

ethnic languages used as media of instruction in schools and universities. By using the Constitution as a yardstick and by showing that Merdeka Univer­ sity conformed to the Constitution, the D.A.P. attacked U.M.N.O.'s insistence that Merdeka University had contradicted the New Education Policy and there­ fore should be banned. The D.A.P. contended that by opposing Merdeka Univer­ sity, the New Education Policy had in fact conflicted with the Constitution. Since the Constitution was sacred, the D.A.P. suggested that the New Educa­

tion policy should be amended accordingly to conform to it. Lim Kit Siang

held that the main problem contributing to the build-up of racial tension was the tendency of the Malays to perceive the Merdeka University issue as

a threat to their existence. As such, the government should explain to

them that this was not. Instead the government chose to appease them by

banning the proposed legitimate meeting of the Merdeka University sponsors

on 22nd October. The government should have allowed the meeting to carry on

as scheduled; if the government intended to ban any so-called disruptive meetings, then it should contain the Malay extremists who had no legitimate grounds to organize counter-demonstrations}^ Sensing that the polemics

121. Haliman Adnan, op. cit., pp. 7-10.

122. Lim Kit Siang, op. cit., p. 273.

123. See interview with Lim Kit Siang, , Asiaweek, 30th June, 1978.

12 4. The D.A.P. and the Merdeka University sponsors viewed the ban as a

blatant interference with the freedom of assembly. Kit Siang stated: "The Minister said that though the conference could be smoothly held,

it might trigger off counter-meetings, leading to a threat to public

order and national security. If this is the case, it is these counter­

meetings which must oe banned..." Far Eastern Economic Review, 3rd November, 1978, op. cit.

between the D.A.P. and the government over the Merdeka University issue was generating an explosive situation if they continued unabated, the Prime M i ­ nister, Datuk Hussein Onn, decided to postpone the full-scale debate on the Merdeka University to December. This was to allow tempers to cool off and

enable the parties concerned to reassess their strategy. In this way Hussein Onn hoped that a final sane and rational solution to the controversy would be brought about. The move to have the full-scale debate in December was at the D.A.P.’s request following the defeat of its October motion to amend the U.U.C.a}25

Meanwhile the heat on the Merdeka University controversy shifted to the unresolved problems of Chinese culture and language. This was brou­ ght about by a series of incidents in the last quarter of 1978»

(i ) The Desecrations of Hindu Temples

Moslem vandals from a breakaway * dalewah * or missionary group destroyed qdols 126

in some Hindu temples in remote areas of the countryside. Although the desecrations took place in August, the full implications were only revealed when 8 Hindu guards of the Sri Subramaniam Temple at Kerling in Selangor were charged with manslaughter resulting in the deaths of 4 of the 5 intru-

127

ders. The guards had been asked by the police to protect their temple from desecrations in view of inadequate police patrols, but in the event, the

125» The motion read:"That this House expresses support for the Merdeka University project proposed by the Merdeka University Sdn. Bhd". New Straits Times, 11th October, 1978, op. cit.

126. For details of the 'dakwah1 groups and their origins, see Ismail Kas- sim,"Dakwah Dilemma", New Nation, 24th October, 1978 and M.L.Lyon, "The Dakwah Movement in Malaysia", Review of Indonesian and Malaysian

Affair3, Vol. XIII No. 2, 1979, PP- 34-45*

127. For details of the temple desecrations, see K.Das,"Extremism rears its Head", Far Eastern Economic Review, 1st September, 1978 and "Spectre at Kerling", Asiaweek, Oth June, 1979* The 8 Hindu guards were sub- quently found guilty of the charge and given reduced jail sentences.

f a t a l f i g h t ensued. The dakwah movement which was aimed a t g u id in g Moslems to th e c o r r e c t Is la m ic l i f e - s t y l e , b ro u g h t about e x tr e m is t s p l i n t e r groups f a n a t i c a l about r e j e c t i n g m a t e r i a l a f f lu e n c e and i n t e r p r e t i n g th e d e s t r u c t i o n o f i d o l s as a p a s s p o r t to Heaven. A p p a ren tly th e y sought o u t Hindu tem p les as t a r g e t s , p o s s ib ly b ecau se Hindu tem p le i d o l s w ere v e ry co n sp icu o u s and a ls o t h a t H indus were a m in o r ity i n M a la y s ia 's m u l t i - r a c i a l and m u l t i - r e l i ­ g io u s p o p u la tio n . The d e s e c r a t io n s were r e l i g i o n - i n s p i r e d , b u t as r e l i g i o n was t i e d up w ith r a c e , th e y assumed r a c i a l o v e r to n e s . A lthough t h e r e had been no re p o r te d in c i d e n t s on th e d e s e c r a t io n o f C hinese and B u d d h ist te m p le s, f e a r s o f su ch a p o s s i b i l i t y were e n t e r t a i n e d by th e C h in e se . These f e a r s w ere j u s t i f i e d on th e grounds t h a t th e r e had been in a d e q u a te p o l i c e p a t r o l s ,

f o r c i n g th e tem p les concerned to p r o t e c t th e m s e lv e s .

( i i ) The C onvocation A t t i r e o f th e U n iv e r s ity o f Technology M alaysiafU .T .M . The U.T.M. a u t h o r i t i e s d e cid e d t h a t a l l g rad u an d s, i r r e s p e c t i v e o f r a c e , s h ­

o u ld w ear th e Malay costum e, sy m b o lised by th e ' s o n g k o k '( cap) f o r m ales to 128

e n su re hom ogeneity i n i t s g ra d u a tio n ceremony f o r 1978. As d r e s s was a s s o ­ c i a t e d w ith c u l t u r e , th e non-M alay graduands o f th e U.T.M. saw t h i s as a move t o im pose Malay c u l t u r e on them , and th e y d e c id e d to b o y c o tt th e convo­ c a ti o n ceremony. An e a r l i e r p a r a l l e l to t h i s i n c i d e n t was th e p r e fe r e n c e o f some Malay ju d g e s t o d is c a r d th e t r a d i t i o n a l w ig and courtroom decorum

129 and p u t on th e son/dcok.

128. For f u r t h e r d e t a i l s , 3ee a r t i c l e , " O f A t t i r e and M erdeka", Asiaweek , 2 0 th O cto b er, 1978 and Lim Say Boon,"M erdeka U: C hinese Hopes f a d e " , The A sia n , V ol. I I No. 6, F e b ru a ry 1979* '. . ’■, 129. See U tusan Me la y u e d ito r i a l ," W i g o r Songkok", M irro r o f Opin i o n ,

h ig h l i g h t s o f M alay, C hinese and Tam il P r e s s , M in is try o f C u ltu re , S in g a p o re , No. 119/1978» 2 6 th May, 1978. M a la y s ia 's Lord P r e s id e n t, Tun Mohamed S u f f ia n , o b v io u s ly d is p le a s e d , s ta te d :" S o m e o f th e mem­ b e rs o f th e p u b lic concern th e m selv e s w ith what ju d g e s p u t on t h e i r h e a d s . I sh o u ld have th o u g h t th e y sh o u ld w orry more about w h a t's in ' s id e o u r ju d g e s ' heads - w h eth er o u r ju d g e s a re q u a l i f i e d , w hether th e y a re h o n e s t, men o f i n t e g r i t y , i m p a r t ia l and c a p a b le o f d o in g j u s t i c e " . Asiaweek, 3rd A ugust, 1979» op. c i t .

(iii) Speech to abolish Chinese and Tamil schools

In the Parliamentary session in October 1978» the newly-elected. M.P. for Kinabalu, Sabah, Mark Koding, allegely made a seditious speech, calling for the abolition of Chinese and Tamil schools and the prohibition of Chinese

and Tamil characters on sign-boards}3^ In the aftermath of the heated debate to amend the U.U.C.A. in early October, Koding's outburst against Chinese and Tamil schools was apparently his desire to court the favour of Malay extremists in U.M.N.O., since it had been public knowledge that he, an inde- pendent(but Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah(BERJAYA) backed) M.P. would soon join the N.f}31

(iv) Use of Chinese and Tamil over R.T.LI.

Non-Malay viewers had complained that the time allocated for Chinese and Tamil television programmes over R.T.M. was insufficient, while that for Malay programmes wa3 excessive. The same complaint applied to radio pro­

grammes.

The above series of incidents tend to give the Chinese the impression that a wave of Malay racial, religious and linguistic fanaticism was underway and

132

tacitly sanctioned by the government. This could be interpreted as a move to wipe out Chinese and Indian culture and to impose Malay culture. In th­ eir anxiety, fears and suspicions, the Chinese regarded this possibility as more real than apparent.

The D.A.P.'s move was to make use of the above-mentioned incidents to strengthen its case for Merdeka University. It tried to show that they

justified the struggle for Merdeka University. In linking the issue of lack

130. Gee article,"Hot Potatoes in Parliament", Asiaweek, 3rd November, 1978 for further details.

131. Ibid. Koding defeated former Federal Minister, Ghani Gilong, in the Parliamentary constituency of Kinabalu in the 197Ö general elections. 132. Gee Lim Say Boon, op. cit.

o f h ig h e r e d u c a tio n a l o p p o r tu n i tie s w ith th e l i n g u i s t i c and c u l t u r a l f e a r s o f th e C h in e se , th e D.A.P. h e ld th e governm ent s o l e l y r e s p o n s ib le . At th e same tim e i t so u g h t to show th e C hinese what i t co u ld have done f o r them . On th e Hindu tem p le d e s e c r a t i o n s , th e D.A.P. h e ld t h a t th e y were " j u s t mere