TAKING to the streets is criminal no more. There is a point to protests, our politicians now realise. And the amendments to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2019 give expression to this new politics.
Divided though they were on ideology, politicians of many stripes came together on Thursday to give a thumbs up for the right to take to the streets.
Protests have a long history. The BBC, in one of its series on protests, traces them to the 13th century. But speaking out has a longer history.
In Malaysia — a nation of recent making — street protests do not bear the stamp of European vintage. Here, they have long been considered to be folk politics.
A distraction at best. Malaysians largely trust the ballot boxes more than protests. But rallies there have been. The Malayan Union rally of 1946, where tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against British administrator Sir Harold MacMichael’s Malayan Union machination, is an often quoted example.
Many more street protests followed the founding of Umno by Onn Jaafar to rally Malays against the Malayan Union.
Old Malayan texts tell us of rallies in Johor Baru, Alor Star, and Kota Baru. The rallies sent the British colonial masters a loud message: the Malayan Union would be an impotent entity without the support of Malays. And so it died as quickly as it was born.
There have been other rallies, too. The 1974 Baling rally was one big street solidarity. Calling it a protest against poverty, rubber tappers from Baling, Kedah, and thousands of students from local universities took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
The outcome: arrests and tightening of the Universities and the University Colleges Act 1971. Then followed the 1998 “Reformasi” movement, Bersih 1.0 and Bersih 2.0. For those who are counting, last year, there were 8,668 street rallies. And up to May this year, an impressive 1,592 peaceful ones.
There is a point to protests. Provided they are done peacefully for a good cause. It is worth remembering that the Malayan Union may not have been buried that early had it not been for the street rally organised by Onn Jaafar. There is power in protest, and at times, it needs to be unlocked.
As a mainstream media, we are all for peaceful assemblies. The NST has been taking to the streets peacefully, in print, for 174 years.
In a manner of speaking, that is. We have spoken about issues — that concern the people, places and things — all these years.
We are proud to say many discussions of national import started in the very space of the pages of the New Straits Times and New Sunday Times.
The NST Leaders since 1845 have spoken loudly about them. Like the street protesters, we pursued a cause when one was needed.
Much discourse of national import first began in this newspapers’ pages. Except for a moment of misjudgment when we succumbed to a weakened pen, we stand proud of our words that have seen print. After all, our voice is a street protest by another name.