by Nurul Izzah Anwar
In recent years, Malaysia has seen a huge wave of migrations, with an estimated one million Malaysians now living abroad. The UK is now home to over 50,000 Malaysian citizens. Many travel to the UK to study or work, and choose not to return to Malaysia, often stifled by the lack of civil liberties and basic human rights in their own back yard. This is compounded by the race-based economic and social policies selectively championed by the ruling United Malay National Organisation(UMNO) that enriches a few at the expense of majority Malays who remain poor and where many non-Malays feel that they are often treated as second class citizens.
On Saturday the 30th of October 2010, Malaysians from all over the UK will be peacefully protesting outside the Malaysian Tourism Office in Trafalgar Square against the continued use of Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act, a throwback from the days of British colonial rule that allows for indefinite arbitrary detention without trial. The right to peaceful assembly and protest is not something that Malaysians take lightly.
In Malaysia, a police permit is required for gatherings of five people or more and peaceful civil society protests are often met with water cannons, tear gas and arrests. Similar protests in Malaysia in August saw the arrest of 36 people. Such crackdowns on basic civil liberties have ignited a debate amongst Malaysians abroad, galvanising them to stand in solidarity with their countrymen back home and help draw the attention of the international community to Malaysia’s dismal human rights recor
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