14 theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 19 2009

speak up!

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It’s all about priorities

RAPE, robbery and murder
have become a daily staple – to
the dangerous point that many
of us are becoming immune
to it. Just look at the reports
on crime in the dailies, which
most of the time are relegated
to briefs or the inside pages.
What’s new about another
snatch theft unless the victim
died, right? So, what’s news-
worthy about another body of
a foreigner found in a drain?
I, too, was guilty of such
complacent indifference a
while back until our English
intern Lynn Morris jolted me
to the realities of the increas-
ing crime rate when I wanted
to trim down a report on a
violent crime to a news brief.
“What? In England this
would be your page one story!”
she exclaimed, expressing both
her shock at my nonchalance
and also the intolerance of
more “progressive” societies
towards crime,
Of late the crime index has
indicated that we are just a few
notches below bordering an-
archy. A dawn crime spree in
Puchong on Monday a stone’s
throw from the police station
underscored two things – the
audacity of the robbers and
the shocking response time of
the police who responded only
after seven shops were hit.
With 110,000 personnel it is
impossible to expect our men
in blue to be at our beck and
call. They are overworked,
underpaid and
under-resourced.
Thus it is not
unheard of to hear
of police chiefs
parroting the oft-
repeated mantra
of “crime preven-
tion is everyone’s
responsibility”,
urging neighbour-
hood watches
and other crime
Down2Earth
prevention initia- by Terence Fernandez right.
tives.
But having said that, one
cannot blame the people for
finding it hard to be sympa-
thetic towards the plight of
the police – especially when
questions arise as to the use of
their limited resources.
One finds it hard to stom-
ach the police’s claims of lack
of manpower with the 1,000
personnel deployed for the
Manek Urai by-election.
It is easy to understand
the people’s seething anger
when snatch thieves are get-
ting bolder due to fewer and
inconsistent patrols while
uniformed personnel show
up in full force at public rallies
to snatch candles and seize
political paraphernalia.
It is difficult to be sensitive efforts to reduce crime. Local
towards the inspector general
of police’s call for understand-
ing the difficulties faced by the as is done in Petaling Jaya.
force in curbing crime when
they seem to have the resourc-
es and personnel to monitor
ceramah, websites
and newspapers
and question
politicians and
journalists.
One is not tell-
ing the cops how
to do their job but
taxpayers will not
be stepping out of
line by requesting
that the police get
their priorities
Deputy IGP Tan
Sri Ismail Omar tried to allay
our fears by saying that the
crime index in Hongkong, Ja-
pan and Australia were worse
than the figures in Malaysia.
He said that Malaysia
was a relatively safe country
with 772 crimes for every
100,000 residents, compared
to Hongkong (1,166 cases
for every 100,000 residents);
Japan (1,569 cases) and Aus-
tralia with 4,470 cases.
These are figures that were
made available in December.
Now with recession going into
full swing, one suspects that
the numbers have changed.
Yes, crime prevention is
everyone’s responsibility.
There must be more concerted
authorities can be involved by
introducing their own patrols
The use of CCTVs should
be expanded as a deterrent,
and Rela should be roped in
for street patrols not merely
herding foreigners into Black
Marias.
Taking it a step further,
crime analyst Kamal Affendi
Hashim had opined that de-
velopers should consult the
police before embarking on
new projects.
This, he said should be
made compulsory by the
state government to ensure
that there would be enough
personnel to patrol the new
areas, and also to obtain input
from the cops on how to make
homes more crime-proof via
design and use of materials.
(Although CitizenNades insists
he had been campaigning for
this long before!)
But for now, to arrest the
immediate problems of es-
calating crime, the best thing
the police can do is to reassess
their priorities to send out a
message that they will come
down hard on criminals.
There have been many
successes, one admits but
not enough unfortunately, to
return the people’s confidence
that their streets are safe
again.
Like all little boys then,
Terence’s ambition was to be
polis, askar, bomba (in that
order). He did not achieve his
childhood dream and is today
deputy editor (special reports
and investigations). Feedback:
terence@thesundaily.com.
Make maths
pass compulsory
I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree with
implementing the compulsory pass for
English in the SPM exams. I am also
of the opinion that mathematics too
should be made a compulsory pass, if
not a credit.
The concern that many students
in rural areas will be unable to pass
their SPM exams if such a policy is
implemented showcases the poor at-
titude of putting quantity over quality.
If anything, such a policy will force the
students to work harder to earn their
qualifications, thereby giving true value
to the qualification itself.
And it will simultaneously force the
teachers and Education Ministry to do
Obama better in providing quality, meaningful
regulatory and effective education.
In raising the quality of the SPM
plan is qualification, the government will di-
ambitious rectly be raising the quality of its work-
gambit force, which is the only way to achieve
a brighter future for Malaysia, especially
pg 16 in an international context.
Furthermore, making English a com-
pulsory pass will also ensure that we
will be a nation that can communicate
better on an international level, as Eng-
lish is almost universally the common
language of the world.
Concerns that speaking English will
lead to a general decline in morals and
erosion of culture in today’s youth are
based on ignorance and intolerance or
fear of change.
Good, sound upbringing and edu-
cation as well as appropriate guidance
from elders, or lack of such, are what
determine the moral and cultural sen-
sitivities and ideals in youths.
Jas Ang
KL

The ‘freedom agenda’ We believe that the young

by Ziad Haider
WHEN historians analyse former US President
George W. Bush’s prosecution of the “global war
on terror”, perhaps no other strategy will loom
as large as what his administration termed the
“freedom agenda”.
The democracy promotion has been a long-
standing element of US foreign policy. From
relative successes in Japan and
Germany to failures in Somalia
and Haiti, the record has been
mixed. The Clinton administration
similarly embraced this agenda in
its 1996 national security strategy:
“Democracies create free markets
that offer economic opportunity
and make for reliable trading part-
ners far less likely to wage war
with one another.”
In the Bush years, democracy
promotion evolved to become the
central pillar of America’s post-
Freespace
9/11 counter-terrorism response. Where young views rule
Yet despite the rhetoric, this mis-
sion was pursued in a contradictory and flawed
manner. As a result, US democracy promotion
efforts and credibility overseas suffered greatly administration provided the Musharraf regime
– as did its national security.
The contrast could not have been starker
at the onset. During the 2000 presidential race,
the Bush campaign de-emphasised entangling
engagements overseas, including democracy
promotion, as part of a realist and non-interven- elections. It was only following a massive public
tionist approach to foreign policy. This was an
avowed reversal of the Clinton administration’s
approach. Yet post 9/11, the Bush administration
progressively elevated democracy promotion as
its central foreign policy tenet.
This shift was best captured in Bush’s lofty
second inaugural speech in 2005: “It is the policy ibility; it undermined its national and indeed
of the United States to seek and support the
growth of democratic movements and insti-
tutions in every nation and culture, with the
ultimate goal of ending tyranny in the world.”
The 2006 National Strategy for Winning the War
on Terror would frame it in even sharper terms:
the only “long-term solution for winning the War
on Terror is the advancement of freedom and
human dignity through effective democracy.”
Compared to the Clinton years, the ends
democracy promotion were meant to serve
became visibly inflated – extending from open
markets and peaceful partners to include
counter-terrorism and, more ambitiously, ending
tyranny. A breakdown between doctrine and
implementation was inevitable.
Indeed, the Bush administration’s
democracy promotion efforts schiz-
ophrenically careened between a
sceptical realist view of the freedom
agenda and a neo-conservative one
zealously promoting it. As these
conflicting strains played out in
its foreign policy, the results were
either democracy doublespeak or
democracy poorly promoted.
The most flagrant example of the
former was Pakistan where coun-
ter-terrorism imperatives trumped
democracy concerns. Before 9/11,
former President Gen Pervez
Musharraf was kept at arms length;
thereafter, Pakistan under his regime became a
“frontline state in the war on terror”. The Bush
with over US$10 billion (RM35 billion), largely
in military aid; successfully pressed Congress
to lift sanctions including those triggered by
Musharraf’s 1999 military coup; and remained
silent as he consolidated power through rigged
outcry upon the sacking of the Supreme Court
chief justice that the Bush administration
shifted tack and supported elections leading to
Musharraf’s exit.
With its democracy doublespeak, the Bush
administration more than damaged US cred-
international security. Although the Musharraf
regime played a pivotal role in apprehending and
killing key al-Qaeda operatives, its collaboration
with right-wing Islamic parties and selective
tolerance of militant groups helped radicalise
Pakistan’s tribal belt – a key staging ground for
regional and global terrorist attacks today.
Furthermore, should have a say in how democracy promotion
even when the things are run, because they as the key foreign policy
Bush administra- have everything at stake in counter-terrorism tool
tion promoted and its overall record.
democracy, these
our future. This column cre- Setting actions aside,
efforts often proved ates that space for our panel according to a leading
counter-productive of bright young sparks to US pollster James Zog-
and even disastrous. debate issues that they feel by, even mere calls for
The administration’s strongly about. democracy by the US,
promoting gun-bar- which were blunt and
rel democracy in inconsistent, imperiled
Iraq was perhaps the cause in the Middle East:
its most consequential mistake. Some would “Even Arabs who value freedom and democracy
argue democracy promotion was never the goal did not want our (US) assistance in promoting
– pointing instead to energy and geo-political democracy in their country.”
considerations, the now-debunked WMD threat, Turning to the Obama administration, al-
or regime change. though standing up for democratic movements,
Regardless of the motive for invasion, the human rights, and the rule of law will be key not
administration’s subsequent attempt to trans- only from a counter-terrorism but also from a
form Iraq into a pluralistic, democratic society moral viewpoint, it must do so bearing in mind
unleashed a storm of insurgent, sectarian, and three lessons from the Bush years.
extremist violence. It has already cost the lives » The first and foremost is to maintain
of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and over humility. The “freedom agenda” must not be
4,000 US soldiers. As such, democratic transi- over-hyped with unreasonable expectations
tion for many in the Middle East has become that leave the US exposed to corrosive charges
synonymous with a descent into chaos. Gross of doublespeak. Achieving democratic change
missteps along the way included the de-Baathi- is a largely indigenous process that will outlast
fication policy and the disbanding of the Iraqi any one administration; it must be pursued with
national army – crucial personnel and institu- patience and pragmatism and in tandem with
tions needed to help build a functioning system the local society – not by force.
of governance in Iraq. Although history may yet » The second is to take a long-term view
favourably judge the outcome in Iraq, the case and emphasise institutions – not individuals.
for democracy promotion in the Middle East by Greater attention must be paid to engaging and
force has been laid to rest for now. helping develop civil society, legislatures that
In the Bush administration’s defence, former are representative of and accountable to the
Under Secretary for Democracy and Global people, and independent judiciaries.
Affairs Paula Dobriansky argued that democ- » The third lesson is to be prepared for
racy promotion was but one of multiple foreign adverse democratic outcomes, as may be the
policy priorities; compromises were necessary. case for the US in Iran today. The US must not
Critics, she claimed, overlooked key achieve- fixate on any particular democratic metric. It
ments. These include the creation of the US$100 must adopt a comprehensive approach while
million (RM350 million) UN Democracy Fund and preparing to engage with elected parties with
small victories of the State Department’s Middle whom it does not see eye to eye.
East Partner Initiative in funding more than 350
initiatives in 15 countries ranging from press The writer is a Master in Public Policy candidate
freedom to legal rights. at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former
Yet these achievements were dwarfed by the Fulbright scholar in Malaysia. Comments: let-
Bush administration’s rhetorical insistence on ters@thesundaily.com.