So they came, thirty of them, from UMNO, PAS and even PKR, stood and sat outside the building where the Bar Council of Malaysia was about to commence its forum on ‘Conversion to Islam’. This was enough reason for the protestors, these self-proclaimed defenders of Islam, to taunt those attending the forum with such tendentious racist chants as “ babi ” (pig), “ balik China” (go back to China) and “ pengkhianat ” (traitors).

To protest is perfectly fine. It’s a legitimate form of political expression. It’s what Albert Hirschman called “voice”.

Anybody who feels aggrieved by his or her government has the right to protest against it. Bombard it with his or her disgust. Malaysians should protest if they think their rights are being trampled. The thirty Malay protestors were had every right to protest.

But what gives these demonstrators the right to hurl racist slurs just to intimidate the forum’s members? And why stop a forum that, equally, has every right to hold a meeting, discuss any topic under the sun, if Malaysia boasts it is a democracy?