It's basic human rights...

to be given the "four freedoms" - freedom of speech, of religion, from want, and from fear... Democracy is often believed to inculcate these elements of freedoms. Yet, election as a tool of democracy, could easily be thwarted, as described by one Human Rights textbook author,

"...countries may go through the notion of organizing elections, but they also possess many ways to ensure that these elections will be neither free nor fair. They can use public resources - funds, patronage, media attention - to outspend and divide their opponents. They can foment ethnic conflict to ensure chaos (or turn to popularations against moderates). They can adopt constitutions that serve the status quo, stack electoral commissions with cronies, allow very little time for opposition parties to organize, administratively harass opponents, threaten sympathizers with the suspension of clientelist benefits, and the like."

(reference: "Human Rights in International Relations", David P. Forsythe, 2006, Cambridge University Press)

Another author, Peter Uvin, stressed that,

"When people are deprived of their freedom, live in constant fear, cannot move as they wish... development has emphatically not taken place... there is no way to separate human rights from economic and social improvement; the terms mean nothing without each other and can only be meaningful if they are redefined in an integrated manner... the process by which development aims are achieved is as important as the actual products."

This is not a political blog - but I, like many others elsewhere, would pray for the safety of 100,000 fellow Malaysians who would join a peaceful rally calling for reforms in the Malaysian election system...

Here's praying hard that it will be peaceful...

Update (12 November 2007)

The rakyat had spoken...
International coverage could be read here, here, here and here; plus video here

According to friends and acquaintances, the "yellow wave" that flooded KL on 10 November 2007 was almost like a free advertisement for the telco DiGi (which incidentally uses tag lines such as "Masa Untuk Berubah" and "Kami Semakin Kuat" in their ads...)

One friend could not help chuckling when he overheard a non-Malay rally participant asking a Malay police on duty, "Saya rakyat Malaysia, setia pada Raja dan Negara. You orang setia pada siapa?"

Daulat Tuanku

Update 16 November 2007

Post-rally forum video - part 1 and part 2