Another Weekend, Another Protest

First it was the lawyers, some 1,000 of them. Then the NGO coalition called Bersih combined with the political party PAS – and 40,000 Malays (mostly) marched. This weekend, it was a rights group called Hindraf, who mobilised 8,000 people.

Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) are demanding four trillion dollars (say it like Dr Evil) compensation for ethnic Indian whose ancestors were brought here as indentured labourers. The also want to highlight the plight of the Indian community in Malaysia. Hindraf claims that as many as two-thirds of the Indian community live below the poverty line, a plight made worse by the bumiputera system.

OTBM wants to highlight a few things about this protest. First, just how ingenious it was. And second, what it could potentially mean for the timing of elections.

The protest was really successful in “bringing out the vote”, so to speak. Their demands for reparations are being made to the British government, and however justified their claims, it is extremely unlikely that this will even make it to court. The only thing lower than their chances of making it to court are their chances of actually winning.

Yet the genius comes from the lottery element of the protests. The input is low – come out and march in a peaceful protest on a Sunday. But the potential windfall is high. Should they win, each Indian in Malaysia would get a million ringgit. That has a nice ring to it, and I wonder just how they arrived at that figure (Lost income from slavery X days gone by OR the valency of one million (say it like Dr. Evil) in a PR soundbite).

So now we have three groups of seemingly disparate people voicing their grievances to the government. And the Malaysian government used force, although in a limited sense to break up the protests. Of course, some of the protests were illegal. But for example in the case of the Hindraf protest, the police actually got a special court order (the first of its kind) that prohibited the public from rallying outside the British High Commission.

And that was the second act of ingenuity. The “focus” of the protest was against since long gone British colonial government. Yet even though that was the focus, it naturally led to highlighting contemporary problems.

So if you are a electoral strategist sitting in Putrajaya, what are you thinking? The likelihood of the incumbent party losing the election is minimal. Yet several issues have been highlighted, judicial corruption, lack of electoral transparency and the plight of the third largest communal group in the country.

And people are being mobilised. Do you hold off and let the protest fad cool down? Or do you hold it soon before it becomes more than a fad?