Let the silent majority become loud

Let the silent majority become loud
23th July, 2007
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/07/23/let-silent-majority-become-loud.html-0

I refer to the recent events in Pakistan. Alternately crushed by the heavy boots of the military or under pressure from the religious and a fanatical clergy, with just a few moments of sunshine of democracy, one feels sorry for the plight of the Pakistani man-on-the-street.
But recent signs are very encouraging. People are rising in loud protest against the dismissal of their chief justice and the reactions of Pakistani people to the action taken by President Musharraf on the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) case are also very favorable.
Whenever the silent majority remains silent, those countries fall prey to military or theocratic dictatorships, as it happened a few years ago in a Middle Eastern country, where a king was replaced by a religious leader in a coup which was not necessarily with the support of the silent majority.
Let us hope that the Pakistani people do not present their country to the clergy's rule on the proverbial silver platter by remaining silent. Let us hope that the silent majority becomes vocal and resists all such attempts of the clergy and becomes a modern and democratic republic.
K.B. KALE, Jakarta