Malaysia

By Peter Boyle
Police detained dozens of opposition activists, lawyers and legislators May 6-7 as protests erupted around the ruling National Front (Barisan Nasional - BN) removal of the opposition People’s Alliance (Pakatan Rakyat) state government of Perak, one of five states won by the opposition in the March 2008 general elections. Among those arrested was Dr D. Jeyakumar, the federal MP of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM).
Earlier this year, the BN induced three opposition state assembly members to turn "independent" and support the BN to take over as state government. May 7 was the first day of sitting of the state assembly since this power grab. The opposition has called for new elections to the state assembly and polls indicate the opposition could win a bigger majority if new elections were called.

By Peter Boyle
“As present deputy PM Najib Razak plans to takeover the prime ministership from Abdullah Badawi on April 2, there seems to be a pattern of growing repression”, warns Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) secretary general S. Arutchelvan.
“The dark ages of [former PM] Mahathir are returning with incidents such as the one-year suspension from parliament of opposition MP Gobind Singh Deo (for calling Najib a murderer), the three-month ban of two popular opposition newspapers, recent police attacks on opposition public assemblies, the referring sodomy charges against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to the High Court, the setting up of a new “anti-corruption agency” to investigate opposition leaders and the rejection of the PSM's party symbol [a red clenched fist].
“Harakah is a popular twice-weekly newspaper produced by the Islamic Party (PAS). During the Mahathir era there was a clamp down on this paper but during Badawi this was relaxed. Now its banned again. The other banned paper is Suara Keadilan of the Justice Party (PKR).”
On March 23, riot police used water cannon and tear gas to attack a 5000-strong public meeting of PKR supporters in Sungei Patani.
PSM deputy chairperson M. Saraswathy says that the increasingly unpopular Basiran Nasional (BN) government “resorting to more dirty, more lawless and more devious means to hold onto power at any cost”.

On 25 February, 2009, leaders of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) led by National Chairperson Dr. Nasir Hashim and Deputy Chairperson M.Saraswathy handed a seven point memorandum to the Minister for Human Resource, Dato S.Subramaniam.
The meeting started with Party’s Secretary General S.Arutchelvan thanking the minister for the meeting, as before this, only a demonstration outside the Ministry would get some senior officials to attend to the memorandum. The minister replied that he was exposing us to a new culture.
The meeting went on smoothly and the minister was quite open to the suggestion put forward by the party. The minister was not defensive when criticized about how funds had been handled by the Barisan National previously.

Oppressed People’s Movement (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas, Jerit), December 18, 2008: People's power has spoken once again! With the roars from a strong crowd of 500 people, the young militant cyclists, who from December 3 conducted their "Cycle for Change" campaign throughout Malaysia, pedalled bravely into the grounds of the parlaiment, which definitely belongs to them, "THE PEOPLE". After almost 16 days' journey through the states of Malaysia, they brought the people's demands to the ears of their representatives!
The six demands were: 1. Legislate a Minimum Wage Act; 2. Abolish draconian laws; 3. Adequate housing for the people; 4. Control prices; 5. Stop the privatisation of public services; 6. Revive local municipal council elections. The was one of the Jerit's ways of raising awareness about issues like food shortages, global food shortage, environmental problems, draconian laws and the financial crisis -- in an eco-friendly way to boot.

By Peter Boyle
Some parties in Malaysia's ruling National Front (BN) government are trying to intimidate opposition parties and social activists, Socialist Party Malaysia (PSM) secretary general S.Arutchelvan told Green Left Weekly, a few days after the PSM's sole federal MP, Dr D. Jeyakumar, had his car torched by thugs on October 17.
The previous day a 26-year-old human rights activist, Cheng Lee Whee, was arrested and remanded overnight under the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA) after she made a report accusing the police of abuse of power in an eviction of a poor squatter colony in the state of Johor that day. She was charged with "spreading false information".Cheng had complained that some 27 squatters and their supporters attempting to stop the demolition of the a predominantly Malay village Kampung Baru Plentong Tengah on October 16. Riot police, backed by water cannon, carried out the violent eviction.
Choo Shinn Chei, a PSM activist, also had her laptop and pendrive confiscated by police in this incident.

By Letchimi Devi
Kuala Lumpur, 19 October 2008: "If we want workers to survive then we must build socialism". A simple remark that illustrates the true purpose of socialism uttered by a farmer in his few words today, captivated me the most. He was one of the speakers from Perak who took part in a victory celebration organised by Party Socialist Malaysia (PSM) st the Selangor State level. 19 August 2008 was the day Registrar of Society signed the license for PSM to operate legally in Malaysia. It took 10 long years of struggle for PSM to get that piece of paper. It was a historic victory!

The following email is from Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) Secretary General S.Arutchelvan. Please send messages of solidarity to: int.psm@gmail.com
MIC = Malaysian Indian Congress, one of the parties in the ruling National Front (Barisan Nasional) government of Malaysia.
Dear Comrades,
PSM view the recent attack by a group of people, believed to be affiliated with MIC in threatening our full time staffs, our Sungai Siput branch leaders and our sole MP very seriously. This is not an isolated incident.
We believe the attack was planned and calculated to distrupt our work in Sg. Siput which has been gaining momentum by the day. We will not be cowed by this incident. We will take all measures to protect our members but no way do we plan to slow down.
S.Arutchelvan Secretary General PSM

September 27, 2008: More than 2,000 Malaysians staged a peaceful march through the streets of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, calling for the repeal of the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), which has been used recently to imprison activists, bloggers, journalists and even an opposition MP without trial. But on the same day, an opposition MP and former ISA detainee, had her home firebombed.
The protest was organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), as well as rights groups Suaram and the Abolish ISA Movement, they called for the removal of the ISA, which allows for detention without trial. The protest also demanded the release of 65 detainees.

September 13, 2008: The Socialist Party Malaysia condemned the the arrest of an opposition member of parliament and two journalists (one an outspoken political blogger) under a law allowing indefinite detention after the government's biggest security clampdown since losing support in March elections.

Kuala Lumpur, 10 September 2008: This morning, Parti Sosialis Malaysia's National Chairperson Dr. Nasir Hashim officially announced PSM's registration and proudly held a certificate from the Registrar of Society dated 19 August 2008. The certificate is given to Parti Sosialis Malaysia (New) giving an impression that it is a new party, which is being registered when the whole world knows about the discrimination and unconstitutional attitude of the ruling party in denying PSM a registration for the last ten years.
Also present along with Party leaders were, Mohd. Sabu, the Vice
President of PAS, and two of PSM lawyers, Counsel Tommy Thomas and Ragu Kesavan. Besides that around 200 people attended and witnessed the historical press conference. Among them were grassroots community leaders, NGO and political activist and the media.