| Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today demonstrations should only be held as a last resort when other avenues of communicating grievances are unavailable.
 Mahathir said that as long as the channels are still open for issues to be raised and conveyed to community leaders, he is against demonstrations.
“They are entitled to raise (the issues), but there are other ways of raising it,” Mahathir told a press conference at his Perdana Leadership Foundation office in Putrajaya.
“If they have no other choice, of course, they may resort to demonstrations. But if they have a choice, they have their own leaders, they can meet (and) they can explain their problems, I think that would be the first choice,” he added.
Mahathir - speaking after the launch of a book on ‘The Third World and International Law’ by legal expert Tungku Sofiah Jewa - was commenting on the spate of public gatherings organised recently, such as by polls watchdog coalition Bersih and Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). Also present at the press conference were Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali and Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Dr Rais Yatim.
While Bersih rallied about 40,000 people into the streets on Nov 10 in support of a petition to the King for electoral reform, about 30,000 rallied on Nov 25 in support of a Hindraf petition to the British embassy protesting discrimination against and marginalisation of ethnic Indians.
Following the crackdowns by the police on the events, civil society groups and organisations have pressed for the government to give greater freedom for public assemblies and to abolish laws requiring a police permit before public gatherings are held.
Vote wisely Mahathir also denied that the Indian community had been refused opportunities to make their grievances known. On claims of ethnic cleansing here as alleged by Hindraf, Mahathir said he read a lot about ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
"I have yet to see a lot of Indians being killed here. Malays killing Indians and all that....I think that's a bit absurd."
 Speaking on the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against five Hindraf leaders, Mahathir said if people were against the ISA - which provides for detention without trial - they should not vote to power a party whose politicians are in support of the act.
“As you know, we are a democratic country. If you elect people who are supportive of the ISA, naturally, the ISA will be there. If you don’t like the ISA, you have to elect people who don’t like the ISA. The choice is yours,” he said.
“I was elected despite the fact that I supported the ISA. I was elected by the people, so I thought the people approved the ISA. That’s why I implemented the ISA,” he added.
Many quarters have criticised the government’s detention of the ‘Hindraf 5' under the ISA as an act of ‘desperation’. Interesting book On the newly launched book, Mahathir said "This book, to me, is very important".
"Most of the knowledge we have about international law and the Third World comes from the writings of Europeans and they are naturally bias."
He said he had not read about many of the things mentioned in the book.
"That is why it's interesting, and I think a lot of Asians, Africans and American Indians need to do research and write books from their own viewpoint for a better balance."
This was Mahathir's first press conference following his recuperation from two major heart-related surgeries in August.
Prior to those surgeries, Mahathir has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the latter’s style of governance and alleged corrupt practices. |
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