Happy multiculturalism is apparently a big lie

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — On the outside, Malaysia throbs with energy.

Under the surface, the country’s voices seem to have been strangled.

Many of the mainstream newspapers in Malaysia are owned by the governing political parties where articles are screened and censored before publication. Articles that are overly critical towards the government are suppressed.

In 2003, police confiscated the computer CPUs of Malaysiakini, the independent online newspaper where I interned earlier this year. Without the CPUs, the daily news publication came to a standstill.

The confiscation of the hard drives came after Malaysiakini published what the Malaysian government cited as a “seditious” letter, and the publication had refused to disclose to police the identity of the letter-writer who had wished to remain anonymous.

The letter discussed the government’s treatment of different races, a sensitive topic despite the Ministry of Tourism’s advertisements touting the country’s multicultural richness. The advertisements, entitled “Malaysia, Truly Asia,” depict smiling people from the country’s three main races (Malay, Indian and Chinese) dancing together in unison with an occasional orang asli (the native aborigines of Malaysia) with his blowpipe. 

Yet beneath that veneer of proud multiculturalism, human rights remain a controversial topic. I recall a particular story I covered for Malaysiakini. A fellow intern and I were sent to report on a court case involving a young man who died while in police custody in January 2009. He was jailed as a suspect for car theft; however, he died five days later. Severe lacerations and swellings were found all over his body. Post-mortem reports and investigations supported the suspicion that he was beaten to death.

I don’t recall clearly the details of the case anymore, as it has been about a year since the assignment. What I do recall is the anguish of the victim’s family, and the sense of frustration bubbling up in demonstrators who were appealing to the government for justice for the dead man.

It has been more than a year since the victim’s death. The case was classified as murder but the policemen involved were not punished, only reassigned to desk duty. To date, only one police officer has been charged despite 11 officers being under investigation.

Another story I covered was the release of the 2009 U.S. State Department annual “Trafficking in Persons Report” which criticized Malaysia for human trafficking. According to the report, men were being subjected to forced labor while women and children were sexually exploited. The report declared that Malaysia serves as both a transit point and destination for human trafficking.

When asked to respond to the report’s claims of governmental involvement in refugee trafficking, Malaysia’s home minister was reported as saying that no action would be taken because there was insufficient proof.

So while members of Malaysia’s various races dance together on television screens, human rights, freedom of speech and multiculturalism are not subjects for discussion here, at least not in public.