"Since when has it been wrong to point out the ills and misdeeds in government?"
Last Thursday marked the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre in China. We commemorate this event with heightened urgency given what is happening in the world and in our own country.
One of the most powerful images that came out of Tiananmen was a man standing in front of a tank, trying to stop it from advancing toward protesters. Up to now, the identity and the fate of that man is not known. What we can imagine with likelihood is that he was not without fear, and that he stood his ground despite that fear.
More than three decades hence, that image has become iconic in any effort to stand against oppression and repression from authority.
In Hong Kong, for instance, a semi-autonomous city, thousands defied a police ban to mourn the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre, reported The Guardian. Protesters—wary still about the coronavirus threat—lit candles and chanted slogans nonetheless.
China prevents and punishes acts and activities that it claims threaten national security. Hong Kong lawmakers passed a law that prohibits behavior insulting or misusing the Chinese national anthem, including “publicly and intentionally” altering its lyrics or score, and playing or singing it in a “distorted or disrespectful way.” The words, however, leave much room for interpretation and is open to abuse.
This sounds way too familiar.
Here at home, Filipinos face similar struggles as the public clamor against the Anti-Terrorism Bill reaches fever pitch. Nobody is opposing moves to fight terrorists. But many believe that the law is too broad and may be stretched to go after those who simply disagree with the government.
Friday’s protest at the University of the Philippines–Cebu resulted in various arrests that, like the arrest of jeepney drivers last week, are devoid of credibility given the flagrant violations of police and other public officials of the rules they were meant to enforce.
And then on Sunday, social media users critical of the government reported having duplicate or fake accounts to their name. What online hacks can do with these accounts is a matter of speculation—they can amass artificial support or ascribe unlawful posts that may be the basis of arrest. Whatever that may be, it sends the unmistakable message that it does not pay to be critical of the government.
The Duterte administration claims it upholds democracy, and that it respects the rule of law, and that our public officials including law enforcers only have the interests of the public at heart. What is going on does little to make us believe that claim, and we hope, for the good of all, that our leaders will reverse course.
Since when has it been wrong to point out the ills and misdeeds in government? Why are there enforcers who implement unjust orders and conduct themselves like tyrants? Why are there people who follow blindly without thinking for themselves and consulting their own moral compass? Why is staying silent convenient, nay, beneficial, for some?
There is a sense of foreboding as we gradually venture out with the still-present threat of COVID-19. One day, and we hope, soon, the virus will be contained and eradicated. But a nation whose well-intentioned citizens are intimidated from speaking out and participating will be doomed to chaos and darkness, indefinitely.