RAM ANAND (Malaymail Online)

SHAH ALAM, Sept 27 — Imprisoned PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim remains the most popular Opposition personality among Selangor voters, a survey by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) has found.

Anwar’s approval rating among five Opposition personalities was 30 per cent, while former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad received a 24 per cent approval rating. Anwar is serving a five-year prison sentence following his 2015 conviction for sodomy.

IDE polled the popularity of five Opposition figures, with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang coming in last with only a 14 per cent of the votes.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) pro-tem president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin scored 17 per cent while DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang scored 15 per cent.

“This survey shows that Anwar is still very much relevant and his support remains in the Malaysian political landscape even though he is in prison,” Redzuan said.

He also said that many of respondents polled had reacted positively to a possibility of Anwar and Dr Mahathir teaming up. Dr Mahathir and Anwar recently met at a courthouse for the first time in 18 years since the former sacked the latter from his government in 1998. Several leaders from the Opposition parties including PKR, PPBM, Amanah, DAP and PAS are said to be seeking to form a grand coalition to take on BN in the next elections due by 2018.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/anwar-ahead-of-dr-m-as-most-popular-opposition-figure-in-selangor#sthash.Dowj71jr.dpuf

Today marks day 588 of Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration.

Channel News Asia (19 September 2016)

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has teamed up with an unlikely ally – former deputy Anwar Ibrahim – to condemn the country’s new National Security Council Act.

In a statement issued on Monday (Sep 19), Dr Mahathir and the jailed opposition figure said the Act implemented by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government “threatens the democratic system of the country”.

They said: “We observe that nearly every major institution in the country, including the Royal Malaysia Police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Attorney-General and central bank have already been fully controlled by him.”

“This Act has sidelined the powers and roles of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Conference of Malay Rulers in important matters regarding the security and liberties of the people,” they added.

“It is because of this national crisis that we, together with the people, object to this Act, thereby bringing transformation and reformation that will save the rights and freedom of the people and rebuild our beloved country.”

The statement comes a week after the former rivals met for the first time in 18 years, while the Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader was filing an injunction in court to stop the Act from being enforced.

Mr Anwar was sacked in 1998 by Dr Mahathir over political differences, an episode that continues to reverberate. Charged with sodomy and corruption, he had spent six years in jail.

But he emerged to lead the previously ineffectual political opposition to historically strong electoral showings until he was jailed again in 2015 by Mr Najib’s government.

Malaysiakini -Zikri Kamarulzaman  (3 September 2016)

Incarcerated former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim asks more about political developments than about his family whenever they visit him in prison, his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail revealed.

“Sometimes I feel sad when he asks more about our struggle, our party and our (opposition) pact, than he asks about our family.

“But I have accepted the fact that I am only Anwar’s wife, and that Anwar belongs to all Malaysians,” she said at an anti-1MDB organised by PKR in Sabak Bernam, a town located in the northern tip of Selangor, last night.

The roadshow coincided with the 18th anniversary of Anwar’s sacking as deputy prime minister.

Anwar was sacked by then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998, after he started speaking out against corruption and nepotism within the government.

Seven months later, in April 1999, Anwar was sentenced to six years in jail for sodomy. He was released in 2004, but was jailed again, for Sodomy II, in 2015, and is currently serving a five-year sentence in the Sungai Buloh Prison.

Critics have said that the charges against him were politically motivated, and were meant to stem Anwar’s influence against the government.

He has been instrumental in forming the now-defunct opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat, which denied the ruling coalition BN its two-thirds majority in Parliament in the 2008 and 2013 general elections.
The coalition fell apart after Anwar was jailed, and after former PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat passed away, DAP and PAS clashed on issues and DAP officially declared Pakatan dead in June 2015.

Wan Azizah, who now heads Pakatan Harapan – the new coalition made up of PKR, DAP and PAS-splinter group Amanah – said the opposition can achieve what it has in the past, if the coalition members put aside their differences and sacrifice their efforts for the nation.

“If Anwar can get the opposition to sit down and work together to defeat Umno-BN, then we (the opposition) can do it too, today,” she said, adding that PKR welcomed the presence of Umno offshoot Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in the opposition.

Bersatu pro-tem president Muhyiddin Yassin was among those present at the event.

NURUL IZZAH ANWAR
3 SEPTEMBER 2016 (Sinar Harian)

PADA malam 10 Ogos lalu, saya sempat merenung jauh ke tembok Penjara Sungai Buloh yang suram – menyembunyikan genggaman rindu serta sayu – tinggalan sejarah reformasi yang juga disulami realiti terkini.

Malam itu, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, ayahanda kepada kami enam beradik menyambut kelahirannya yang ke-69, walau jeriji besi 13 lapisan memisahkan kami buat masa ini. Seakan-akan deja vu melihat wajah sahabat, taulan, kenalan, teman, keluarga, semuanya seperjuangan.

Zaman silih berganti, namun sesiapa saja yang lantang berprinsip dalam menegakkan kebenaran menentang kezaliman masih lagi diperlakukan tanpa keadilan oleh parti pemerintah. Ayah saya merupakan salah seorang mangsa kebobrokan sistem. Kali pertama ketika beliau diperlakukan dengan tidak adil, yang kekal terpahat sebagai memori hitam adalah pada tahun 1998.

Ayahanda telah ditahan di bawah akta ISA tahanan tanpa bicara, disusuli dakwaan palsu yang menyebabkan beliau dijatuhkan hukuman penjara 6 tahun lamanya. Yakni, setelah saban tahun berlalu, diakui bahawa dakwaan palsu tersebut merupakan konspirasi politik berskala mega. Kerana lantang bersuara dalam mendedahkan salah urus tadbir negara, beliau sekali lagi dijatuhkan hukuman penjara 5 tahun di Sungai Buloh.

Pengalaman terdahulu, bermula dengan hampir 2 tahun ditahan di Kamunting semasa zaman mahasiswa – mengetuai protes di Baling pada tahun 1974, menjadikan jumlah beliau dipenjarakan di Malaysia adalah 13 tahun.

Tiga belas tahun merupakan tempoh yang signifikan sebagai fasa transisi pembelajaran. Bayangkan tempoh pengajian bermula dari pra sekolah 5 tahun sehingga tamat pengajian menengah pada umur 17 tahun. Bahkan, analogi yang lebih universal adalah tempoh 13 tahun itu sudah melebihi jumlah diperlukan untuk planet Jupiter mengelilingi Matahari!

Begitulah jika hendak dikira betapa lamanya tempoh itu, di mana satu perlima daripada hayat ayahanda diluangkan di penjara. Namun demikian, demi prinsip menolak penindasan yang berterusan, serta membuka ruang lingkup terhadap ke arah keadilan dan pemantapan demokrasi, berundur daripada prinsip tidak sekali.

Menerusi usaha beliau yang berterusan untuk mengangkat nilai keadilan sosial menerusi demokrasi dan dimulakan dengan seruan Reformasi mula bertapak di Malaysia. Sorotan krisis ekonomi dan politik pada 1998, reformasi kekal teguh dan tak lapuk dek zaman sehingga kini. Arakian, kini merupakan masa yang lebih relevan apabila reformasi diangkat sebagai keperluan dalam menyelamatkan masa depan Malaysia.Semangat Reformasi adalah satu agenda jelas dan takkan pernah luput.

Ketika diheret pergi, beliau sempat berbisik kepada saya bahawa perjuangan untuk rakyat perlu diteruskan bersama rakyat. Pada 1998, saya yang ketika itu remaja berumur 18 tahun nekad untuk menceburi politik. Dengan tunjuk ajar daripada ibu, dukungan daripada ahli keluarga, serta sokongan tak berbelah bahagi daripada rakyat, saya menyahut seruan perjuangan reformasi.

Hampir dua dekad telah berlalu, saya masih menggalas gelaran ‘Puteri Reformasi’ yang saya fikir amat berat untuk membawa anugerah sebesar itu, dan jujurnya telah saya usahakan sehabis daya. Gelaran itu adalah lebih daripada sekadar nama. Ia merupakan simbol pengiktirafan terhadap usaha yang digalas oleh ayahanda dalam membawa Malaysia ke tahap demokrasi yang sihat dan prinsip-prinsip asas keadilan demi Malaysia yang lebih baik. Lapan belas tahun lamanya, saya telah menggalas tanggungjawab ini dan membawa semangat perjuangan reformasi terus dipertahankan.

Agenda reformasi yang saya kira menjadi sebati dengan identiti semenjak memegang tampuk taklifan sebagai ahli Dewan Rakyat dan ibu kepada dua cahaya mata. Untuk masa yang telah berlalu dan tahun-tahun yang akan datang, saya tetap dan akan berterusan menjuarai isu berkait rapat dengan demokrasi, untuk mengetengahkan isu hak asasi manusia berkenaan wanita, isu kesaksamaan hak antara gender, memperkasakan golongan belia dan perlindungan kanak-kanak.

Salah satu usaha yang telah diinisiatifkan pada 2010 adalah Rang Undang-undang Persendirian memohon pembatalan kesemua 4 Deklarasi Darurat yang sering disalahgunakan oleh undang-undang lapuk, dan kerajaan kuku besi terutamanya seperti akta ISA.

KENYATAAN MEDIA

MCKK

Saya terima berita insiden keracunan makanan di sekolah lama saya, MCKK, di mana 56 pelajar telah mengalami masalah keracunan makanan.

MCKK sebagai sebuah institusi pengajian ulung di negara ini harus mengkaji semula semua aspek termasuk isu kebersihan serta pengendalian kantin untuk memastikan perkara ini tidak berulang.

Saya doakan para pelajar cepat sembuh.

RIO

Saya turut gembira menerima berita atlit-atlit negara memenangi 4 perak dan 1 gangsa di temasya sukan Olimpik di Rio. Tahniah diucapkan kepada semua.

Kepada pasangan terjun 10m Pandelela Rinong-Cheong Jun Hoong, pelumba basikal acara keirin Azizulhasni Awang, pemain badminton beregu lelaki Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong dan beregu campuran Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, dan Dato’ Lee Chong Wei, anda semua adalah hero Malaysia dan kita cukup bangga dengan anda semua!

Khusus buat Azizulhasni, anak Dungun yang telah mengatasi segala kekurangan dengan cekal dan tabah untuk merangkul pingat gangsa bagi lumba basikal acara keirin, yang juga merupakan pingat pertama diraih negara di sukan Olimpik Rio. Saya harap saudara akan terus berusaha untuk meningkatkan mutu dan menjadi inspirasi kepada anak muda yang lain.

Para atlit negara membuktikan bahawa dengan usaha dan cita-cita, kita mampu mengharumkan nama negara di persada dunia.

Anwar Ibrahim
21 Ogos 2016

BY ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT . 15/8/2016 (BANGKOK POST)

Citizens of Thailand are not alone in the region when it comes to having to put up with dialogue-averse strongman leaders looking to consolidate authoritarian power.

The 15 million people of Cambodia have been watching the same movie starring Hun Sen, and featuring a muted soundtrack of dissent, for 30 years. Political repression is the order of the day ahead of local elections in 2017 and national elections the following year.

The brazen daylight slaying of activist Kem Ley last month in Phnom Penh could be a sign of things to come. Authorities arrested the shooter who claimed the crime arose from an unpaid debt. However, it is no surprise that few people believe that story.

Meanwhile, members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, already suffering from the self-imposed exile of leader Sam Rainsy, face an intensifying legal assault that has landed more than 20 critics of the government in jail. Then there is the murky “sex scandal” that has ensnared four members of the human-rights group Adhoc, a National Election Committee member and a UN staffer. It has prompted 59 NGOs to denounce the “farcical use of both the criminal justice system and state institutions as tools to intimidate, criminalise and punish the legitimate activities of human rights defenders and civil society”.

Malaysia is no less ferocious in dealing with its critics.

When the United Nations conducted its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights in Malaysia, the government accepted 60 recommendations but so far only 20% have been implemented, says an NGO coalition monitoring the UPR process. More worryingly, it said, in cases in cases relating to 57% of the recommendations there have been increasing rights violations, and a trend toward growing impunity.

Meanwhile, the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak continues to crack down on freedom of expression and other civil and political rights to tame criticism of the gross mismanagement of the state fund 1MDB, and to ensure his political survival for the next election due before August 2018.

An amended Sedition Act and a new Prevention of Terrorism Act have also empowered police to use unnecessary or excessive force when arresting opposition leaders and activists.

The Najib government is reacting to rising public discontent over issues ranging from allegations of corruption to the treatment of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim with a wave of repression, often relying on broad and vaguely worded criminal laws.

In Thailand, meanwhile, the military shows signs of continuing its thick-skinned and belligerent behaviour. It has rejected calls for the revocation of the arbitrary power allowed under Section 44 of the interim constitution, which remains in effect even though a new constitution was adopted in the Aug 7 referendum.

“The referendum is not a blank cheque for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to use power more arbitrarily,” said a civil society network combining former foes from red and yellow camps and including environmental groups and academics.

A junta statement even used the word “contempt” to express the government’s view of some international critics of the referendum process, who noted how severely the “Vote No” campaign had been curbed. Voting day itself may have proceeded smoothly, but overall the referendum was far from free and fair.
Now, instead of the promised return to democratic civilian rule, the new constitution facilitates unaccountable military power and a deepening dictatorship.

It contains provisions that will make it extremely difficult for a single party to win a majority in the 500-member lower house. This will allow 250 NCPO-selected senators to play a critical role, including choosing a prime minister, who will no longer have to be an elected MP.

In addition, the NCPO will reserve Senate seats for its key members, including the defence permanent secretary, supreme commander, the army, navy and air force chiefs, and the police commissioner-general.

Both the new government and parliament will also be required to adhere to the “20-year reform plan” that the majority of the people had no role in drafting.

Yes, the charter was supported by 16.8 million voters, but that means some 33 million eligible voters either voted against both referendum questions, spoiled their ballots (more than 900,000) or did not turn out at all.

So now the curtain is rising on a new movie, but not the action fare we’re accustomed to, for the next five years — at least. Let’s call it For Reform With Love. What kind of reviews can we expect from the majority of Thais if the next junta-backed government can’t sustain the economic and political stability we crave?

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BY GIDEON RACHMAN  AUGUST 11 2016 (BusinessDayLIVE)

SOMETIMES one or two events can change the political mood all over the world. The release of Nelson Mandela from prison in February 1990 came just three months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Those two events inspired democrats and liberals across the globe.

Sadly, the international mood now is much less optimistic and much less friendly to democracy. The current mood has been shaped above all by the collapse of the Arab spring of 2011 into bloodshed and anarchy. Autocrats all over the world, above all in Russia and China, now point to the Middle East as an example of the dangers of premature democratisation.

The politicians who captured the spirit of the early 1990s were inspirational democrats such as Mandela, Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia and liberal reformers such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin in Russia. Today, the leaders who seem to embody the spirit of the age are autocrats with scant respect for democratic values — men such as Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the presidents of Russia and Turkey; as well as Donald Trump, a trash-talking demagogue who has somehow become the Republican nominee for president of the US.

The figures confirm the general impression that this is a bad period for democrats. Freedom House, a think tank that issues an annual report on the state of democracy, argues that political freedom has been in global retreat for the past decade. It reported earlier this year that in 2015, “the number of countries showing a decline in freedom for the year — 72 — was the largest since the 10-year slide began”.

The least free part of the world is the Middle East, which is a bitter disappointment given the hopes aroused by the uprisings against autocratic regimes that broke out across the Arab world five years ago. Egypt is suffering under a harsher autocracy than the Mubarak regime that was overthrown in 2011.

Even in Europe, some of the freedoms won in 1989 are imperilled. In Poland and Hungary there has been an erosion of press freedom and judicial independence. In Turkey, on the borders of the EU, hard-won freedoms are being lost as journalists and judges are arrested in the wake of a coup attempt.

In parts of Asia, things have also gone backwards. Thailand experienced a military coup in 2014 and this weekend voted in favour of a new constitution that could cement the military’s control over politics. In Malaysia, liberals are in despair at the machinations of the scandal-plagued government, and Anwar Ibrahim, a prominent opposition leader, is once again in prison.

In the two most important autocratic powers — Russia and China — the governments are cracking down harder on liberals who dare to challenge the prevailing regimes. Last week, China issued long prison sentences for human rights lawyers in Tianjin and forced others into humiliating apologies. At about the same time in Russia, Yevgeny Urlashov, a prominent opposition politician, was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony on corruption charges that appear to have been trumped up.

The problems of democracy have extended even into the US, the “leader of the free world”. Even if Trump fails to win the presidency, he has already done immense harm to the prestige and dignity of US democracy.

But amid all this bleak news, it is important to remember that not all the trends are pointing in the wrong direction. In Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest when Mandela was released in 1990, has been freed, and the country’s first civilian-led government for more than half a century took power this year. Democracy seems well established in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country. And Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, last year saw its first presidential election in which an incumbent lost and then ceded power peacefully.

Most important of all, the evidence remains that, for all the cultural and economic differences between countries, ordinary people all over the world eventually get fed up of corruption, censorship, injustice and political violence. Just this weekend, people were out on the streets of Ethiopia, demonstrating against a government that has delivered rapid economic growth, but also sharply restricted political freedoms. In recent years, pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of Hong Kong and Ukraine to demand political and civil liberties.

The uncertain nature of the moment we are living through is captured by current events in SA, which played such an inspiring role in the 1990s.

Last week, the ANC, the party of Mandela, saw its support slump in local elections as voters reacted against the corruption and inefficiency of the government of President Jacob Zuma. The pessimistic view is that Zuma and his cronies will do whatever it takes to hang on, and that their machinations will further damage South African democracy. The optimistic view is that the ANC’s electoral troubles are an example of democracy’s ability to renew politics as voters turn to new parties such as the opposition DA.

The very nervousness of leaders such as presidents Zuma, Putin and Erdogan is telling. Behind their swagger lurks a deep insecurity. Autocracy might be making advances across the world. But it always ultimately sparks resistance.

Channel News Asia (2/8/2016) Melissa Goh

KUALA LUMPUR: A day after the controversial National Security Council (NSC) Act came into force, jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim filed an application in court on Tuesday (Aug 2) through his lawyer N Surendren to nullify the act that is said to be unconstitutional.

Anwar’s lawyer said he is also seeking an injunction to stop the implementation of the act that is said to give extensive powers to Prime Minister Najib Razak – who chairs the national security council – to designate any security areas and direct the police and armed forces to conduct arrest, search and seizure without warrants.

Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah who is also president of Parti Keadilan said the conference of rulers’ earlier request for a thorough review of the NSC Act must be respected.

“Anwar as the opposition leader is taking the lead, showing us the way forward. We must fight back, the conference of rulers specifically asked for a review but it wasn’t heeded, this is important,” she added when asked for the jailed opposition leader’s response.

Any action by NSC will also not be subjected to legal proceeding or actions.

While the government says the act will enable the various enforcement agencies to coordinate their responses in the event of a terror attack, civil rights groups and opposition leaders warn that the new act is easily open to abuse as too much powers are concentrated in hands of the prime minister.

Furthermore, the act is said to have usurped the powers vested in the traditional rulers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces under the federal constitution.

The NSC bill which was tabled in December 2015, was rushed through parliament and passed without obtaining royal ascent.

Under an amendment to the constitution, an act automatically becomes law after its gazetted for 30 days.