pywong
22nd November 2008, 07:56 PM
Will singing the Negara-ku and flying the Malaysian flag be seen to represent a protest against UMNO? Wong Chin Huat always have an interesting way of looking at issues.
http://www.thenutgraph.com/battle-for-national-symbols
The battle for national symbols
19 Nov 08 : 9.00AM By Wong Chin Huat
UNTIL the mid-1990s, the Union Jack was a symbol of the Conservative Party
in Britain. Not that the UK was founded by the Tories. It was just that
their opponents, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, were more
internationalist, anti-imperialist, and some even republican in orientation.
Therefore, Labour and the Lib Dems did not want to embrace national symbols
in the same way that the "one nation" Conservatives did.
In Malaysia, national symbols from the Jalur Gemilang flag (named by former
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, incidentally), Negaraku or even
National Day have similarly been associated with the Umno-led ruling
coalition. These symbols are rarely linked to the opposition.
This is partly because national symbols were often used only in
government-sponsored official functions, in which opposition leaders were
commonly sidelined, if not completely denied access to. Only PAS and Parti
Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which had helmed state governments, had similar access
to these national symbols.
Umno's version of nationhood
While the concept of Malaysia has very different meanings for different
groups, the use of national symbols has been associated with a particular
interpretation of Malaysia. Malaysia is, first and foremost, homeland of the
Malays whose guardian is Umno. This homeland is generously shared with the
non-Malays.
In other words, "Malaysia" is equivalent to "the Malays", and "the Malays"
are equivalent to "Umno". Hence, an attack on Umno is equivalent to an
attack on the Malays, which is then equivalent to an attack on Malaysia.
Similarly, questioning Umno's political hegemony is tantamount to
challenging Malay supremacy which in turn is a threat to Malaysia's
security.
According to this logic, if the Malaysian state is virtually Umno's fiefdom,
why should Malaysians celebrate Umno-defined nationhood beyond what is
officially required? Resistance, according to some, is futile - indeed,
until 8 March 2008, a Malaysia not defined by Umno was simply unimaginable
to some.
In fact, growing political consciousness could also increase the distance
that separates ownership of national symbols and non-Barisan Nasional (BN),
non-Umno-supporting Malaysians. At the same time, apolitical Malaysians
would probably remain uncritical in expressing their patriotism.
The implication of this could be detrimental. Lacking in common symbols, the
BN-opposing, politicised minority cannot connect with the "nation-loving",
apolitical majority. Furthermore, if they are labeled as "unpatriotic" and
the label sticks, the vocal minority may even be rejected by the silent
majority.
Even in a less multicultural society like the UK, New Labour realised that
it could not afford to alienate the more nationalistic mainstream voters.
Under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called for "patriotism of the
left", New Labour consciously embraced the Union Jack and spoke about "new
Britishness" to compete with the Conservatives for post-Thatcher "middle
England".
While many leftists see this as selling out to the right, the fact is that
the Conservatives have failed to regain power since 1997.
In Malaysia, the ongoing divorce between ordinary Malays and Umno began in
1998. However, the battle for national symbols as part of the larger
discursive warfare on nationhood became obvious only since 2007. As the
nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence, Umno's electoral
one-party state found its sacred symbols increasingly challenged in negative
and positive ways.
Parodying and modifying
The negative challenge involves some form of parodying or modification of
the symbols to subvert the meaning of Umno-defined nationalism or attack its
absurdities. The most controversial example was, of course, none other than
the rap song that parodied the national anthem, Negarakuku.
Released on YouTube in July 2007, just before the "holy month" of Merdeka,
the song was officially named I Love My Country Negarakuku (Visit Malaysia
2007 Theme Song) by its composer Wee Meng Chee, or Namewee. Wee criticised
what he saw as flaws in the country: corruption, red tape and inefficiency
in the civil service, bumiputera-ism, and Islam's hegemonic presence.
In August 2008, blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, or Sheih Kickdefella, called
on fellow bloggers to post an upside-down Jalur Gemilang as "a sign that our
nation is in distress".
Behind what in some eyes is an unpatriotic act was a patriotic message: "We
are facing economic uncertainty and citizens are undergoing all sorts of
difficulties. We are losing our competitive edge and we are losing our
territories too. Let us not live in hypocrisy. Let us stare at the upside
down Jalur Gemilang and let the reality strike us once and for all."
Kickdefella's act of civil disobedience arguably followed a noble tradition.
Thirty-nine years ago, in protest of the 13 May 1969 ethnic riots, a Malay
Malaysian painter painted the flag black.
While Wee's message was much more controversial than Kickdefella's, as it
was uttered by a non-Malay/non-Muslim against Malay/Muslim institutions,
both have been threatened with the Sedition Act. On 17 Sept, Kickdefella was
detained briefly for investigation while Wee was first forced to apologise
in 2007. After Kickdefella's arrest, Wee was also called in for questioning
by the police on 23 Sept.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/17/nation/20080917192953&sec=nation
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/90214
Assigning new meanings
More dangerous to Umno's discourse on nationhood are positive challenges
which in no way degrade national symbols but merely assign new meanings to
them.
Associating the national flag with political resistance is one such
challenge. On 25 Nov 2008, many Indian Malaysians braced water cannons and
tear gas with national flags wrapped around their bodies. The images,
broadcast globally, had a simple message: we are peaceful patriots brutally
attacked by the police.
Supporters waving flags at the anti-ISA rally at Kelana Jaya
Stadium on 15 Sept 2008
http://www.thenutgraph.com/user_uploads/images/2008/11/18/UNCOMMONSENSE_FlagWave.jpg
After the 8 March general election, the popularity of the national flag with
the opposition crowd just keeps growing. On nomination day of the Permatang
Pauh by-election, national flags were waved and flown on the Pakatan Rakyat
side while BN supporters carried only party flags.
On 15 Sept, national flags - thousands of them - were the most commonly seen
item in the Kelana Jaya Stadium.
Like the Jalur Gemilang, the famous chant of "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" is
also gaining popularity among critics of Umno's electoral one-party state.
Journalists and supporters of media freedom chanted it on 1 June 2008.
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim chanted it in his Permatang Pauh
by-election campaign in in August. Those who gathered on 16 Sept at Kelana
Jaya Stadium chanted it. Anti-ISA protesters have chanted it too.
A chant which previously reminded citizens of Umno's contribution in
decolonising the nation is now transformed into a reminder that with
authoritarianism, Malaysia remains colonised.
The most successfully transformed national symbol is of course Malaysia Day.
Previously, only Sarawakians and Sabahans were expected to celebrate this
day, the way only the wife is expected celebrate the wedding anniversary.
However, Anwar's takeover plan - although it came to naught - established 16
Sept as the second National Day in the minds of many.
Nov 25: Singing Negaraku nationwide?
The success of civil society and opposition parties in redefining national
symbols means that the discursive legitimacy of Umno's electoral one-party
state is increasingly weakened.
Instead of dividing the vocal minority and the silent majority, the
redefined national symbols now unite them.
Hence, when commanded by Selangor Chief Police Officer Datuk Khalid Abu
Bakar to charge at the 100-strong crowd singing Negaraku at the 9 Nov
anti-ISA vigil, the police were not clamping down on a bunch of mere rabble
rousers. Instead, they had charged at millions of Malaysians who respect the
national anthem, even though they were not physically present. Instead of
guarding the Malaysian state, the police acted as if they were an occupying
force easily annoyed by any sign of patriotism.
http://www.thenutgraph.com/bersihs-first-anniversary-ends-in-arrests
The authoritarian state is unwittingly shooting itself in the foot with none
other than its own archaic apparatus.
The authoritarian state has just turned singing Negaraku into an act
demanding for freedom of peaceful assembly. As the anthem is sung more and
more every time citizens assemble in defiance of police orders, citizens
will remember the right to assemble whenever they hear the anthem.
Thus, what if Malaysians choose to commemorate the first anniversary of the
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally by having a nationwide flash mob
singing Negaraku on 25 Nov?
If Hindraf can mobilise 100 separate gatherings of 300 individuals, this
works out to be a total of 30,000 individuals, like last year's rally. And
in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh, 30,000 people singing the national anthem
can easily make a Guinness world record, right?
What if the resourceful Hindraf supporters simply assign the flag posts at
the city square, schools, government complexes, and police stations as
gathering points? Are the police going to set up road blocks to bar people
from approaching national flags?
And how many police officers would you need to prevent 30,000 peaceful
citizens from singing the national anthem? That would be another world
record.
----------------------------------------------------------
A political scientist by training and a journalism lecturer by trade, Wong
Chin Huat uses the Federal Constitution as his "bible" to fend off the
increasingly intolerable evil called "state".
http://www.thenutgraph.com/battle-for-national-symbols
The battle for national symbols
19 Nov 08 : 9.00AM By Wong Chin Huat
UNTIL the mid-1990s, the Union Jack was a symbol of the Conservative Party
in Britain. Not that the UK was founded by the Tories. It was just that
their opponents, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, were more
internationalist, anti-imperialist, and some even republican in orientation.
Therefore, Labour and the Lib Dems did not want to embrace national symbols
in the same way that the "one nation" Conservatives did.
In Malaysia, national symbols from the Jalur Gemilang flag (named by former
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, incidentally), Negaraku or even
National Day have similarly been associated with the Umno-led ruling
coalition. These symbols are rarely linked to the opposition.
This is partly because national symbols were often used only in
government-sponsored official functions, in which opposition leaders were
commonly sidelined, if not completely denied access to. Only PAS and Parti
Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which had helmed state governments, had similar access
to these national symbols.
Umno's version of nationhood
While the concept of Malaysia has very different meanings for different
groups, the use of national symbols has been associated with a particular
interpretation of Malaysia. Malaysia is, first and foremost, homeland of the
Malays whose guardian is Umno. This homeland is generously shared with the
non-Malays.
In other words, "Malaysia" is equivalent to "the Malays", and "the Malays"
are equivalent to "Umno". Hence, an attack on Umno is equivalent to an
attack on the Malays, which is then equivalent to an attack on Malaysia.
Similarly, questioning Umno's political hegemony is tantamount to
challenging Malay supremacy which in turn is a threat to Malaysia's
security.
According to this logic, if the Malaysian state is virtually Umno's fiefdom,
why should Malaysians celebrate Umno-defined nationhood beyond what is
officially required? Resistance, according to some, is futile - indeed,
until 8 March 2008, a Malaysia not defined by Umno was simply unimaginable
to some.
In fact, growing political consciousness could also increase the distance
that separates ownership of national symbols and non-Barisan Nasional (BN),
non-Umno-supporting Malaysians. At the same time, apolitical Malaysians
would probably remain uncritical in expressing their patriotism.
The implication of this could be detrimental. Lacking in common symbols, the
BN-opposing, politicised minority cannot connect with the "nation-loving",
apolitical majority. Furthermore, if they are labeled as "unpatriotic" and
the label sticks, the vocal minority may even be rejected by the silent
majority.
Even in a less multicultural society like the UK, New Labour realised that
it could not afford to alienate the more nationalistic mainstream voters.
Under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called for "patriotism of the
left", New Labour consciously embraced the Union Jack and spoke about "new
Britishness" to compete with the Conservatives for post-Thatcher "middle
England".
While many leftists see this as selling out to the right, the fact is that
the Conservatives have failed to regain power since 1997.
In Malaysia, the ongoing divorce between ordinary Malays and Umno began in
1998. However, the battle for national symbols as part of the larger
discursive warfare on nationhood became obvious only since 2007. As the
nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence, Umno's electoral
one-party state found its sacred symbols increasingly challenged in negative
and positive ways.
Parodying and modifying
The negative challenge involves some form of parodying or modification of
the symbols to subvert the meaning of Umno-defined nationalism or attack its
absurdities. The most controversial example was, of course, none other than
the rap song that parodied the national anthem, Negarakuku.
Released on YouTube in July 2007, just before the "holy month" of Merdeka,
the song was officially named I Love My Country Negarakuku (Visit Malaysia
2007 Theme Song) by its composer Wee Meng Chee, or Namewee. Wee criticised
what he saw as flaws in the country: corruption, red tape and inefficiency
in the civil service, bumiputera-ism, and Islam's hegemonic presence.
In August 2008, blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, or Sheih Kickdefella, called
on fellow bloggers to post an upside-down Jalur Gemilang as "a sign that our
nation is in distress".
Behind what in some eyes is an unpatriotic act was a patriotic message: "We
are facing economic uncertainty and citizens are undergoing all sorts of
difficulties. We are losing our competitive edge and we are losing our
territories too. Let us not live in hypocrisy. Let us stare at the upside
down Jalur Gemilang and let the reality strike us once and for all."
Kickdefella's act of civil disobedience arguably followed a noble tradition.
Thirty-nine years ago, in protest of the 13 May 1969 ethnic riots, a Malay
Malaysian painter painted the flag black.
While Wee's message was much more controversial than Kickdefella's, as it
was uttered by a non-Malay/non-Muslim against Malay/Muslim institutions,
both have been threatened with the Sedition Act. On 17 Sept, Kickdefella was
detained briefly for investigation while Wee was first forced to apologise
in 2007. After Kickdefella's arrest, Wee was also called in for questioning
by the police on 23 Sept.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/17/nation/20080917192953&sec=nation
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/90214
Assigning new meanings
More dangerous to Umno's discourse on nationhood are positive challenges
which in no way degrade national symbols but merely assign new meanings to
them.
Associating the national flag with political resistance is one such
challenge. On 25 Nov 2008, many Indian Malaysians braced water cannons and
tear gas with national flags wrapped around their bodies. The images,
broadcast globally, had a simple message: we are peaceful patriots brutally
attacked by the police.
Supporters waving flags at the anti-ISA rally at Kelana Jaya
Stadium on 15 Sept 2008
http://www.thenutgraph.com/user_uploads/images/2008/11/18/UNCOMMONSENSE_FlagWave.jpg
After the 8 March general election, the popularity of the national flag with
the opposition crowd just keeps growing. On nomination day of the Permatang
Pauh by-election, national flags were waved and flown on the Pakatan Rakyat
side while BN supporters carried only party flags.
On 15 Sept, national flags - thousands of them - were the most commonly seen
item in the Kelana Jaya Stadium.
Like the Jalur Gemilang, the famous chant of "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" is
also gaining popularity among critics of Umno's electoral one-party state.
Journalists and supporters of media freedom chanted it on 1 June 2008.
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim chanted it in his Permatang Pauh
by-election campaign in in August. Those who gathered on 16 Sept at Kelana
Jaya Stadium chanted it. Anti-ISA protesters have chanted it too.
A chant which previously reminded citizens of Umno's contribution in
decolonising the nation is now transformed into a reminder that with
authoritarianism, Malaysia remains colonised.
The most successfully transformed national symbol is of course Malaysia Day.
Previously, only Sarawakians and Sabahans were expected to celebrate this
day, the way only the wife is expected celebrate the wedding anniversary.
However, Anwar's takeover plan - although it came to naught - established 16
Sept as the second National Day in the minds of many.
Nov 25: Singing Negaraku nationwide?
The success of civil society and opposition parties in redefining national
symbols means that the discursive legitimacy of Umno's electoral one-party
state is increasingly weakened.
Instead of dividing the vocal minority and the silent majority, the
redefined national symbols now unite them.
Hence, when commanded by Selangor Chief Police Officer Datuk Khalid Abu
Bakar to charge at the 100-strong crowd singing Negaraku at the 9 Nov
anti-ISA vigil, the police were not clamping down on a bunch of mere rabble
rousers. Instead, they had charged at millions of Malaysians who respect the
national anthem, even though they were not physically present. Instead of
guarding the Malaysian state, the police acted as if they were an occupying
force easily annoyed by any sign of patriotism.
http://www.thenutgraph.com/bersihs-first-anniversary-ends-in-arrests
The authoritarian state is unwittingly shooting itself in the foot with none
other than its own archaic apparatus.
The authoritarian state has just turned singing Negaraku into an act
demanding for freedom of peaceful assembly. As the anthem is sung more and
more every time citizens assemble in defiance of police orders, citizens
will remember the right to assemble whenever they hear the anthem.
Thus, what if Malaysians choose to commemorate the first anniversary of the
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally by having a nationwide flash mob
singing Negaraku on 25 Nov?
If Hindraf can mobilise 100 separate gatherings of 300 individuals, this
works out to be a total of 30,000 individuals, like last year's rally. And
in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh, 30,000 people singing the national anthem
can easily make a Guinness world record, right?
What if the resourceful Hindraf supporters simply assign the flag posts at
the city square, schools, government complexes, and police stations as
gathering points? Are the police going to set up road blocks to bar people
from approaching national flags?
And how many police officers would you need to prevent 30,000 peaceful
citizens from singing the national anthem? That would be another world
record.
----------------------------------------------------------
A political scientist by training and a journalism lecturer by trade, Wong
Chin Huat uses the Federal Constitution as his "bible" to fend off the
increasingly intolerable evil called "state".