With Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto opposition leader of Malaysia, holed up in the Turkish embassy, the country’s reputation as a stable, modern and democratic country is, once again, under international scrutiny. And, this goes beyond the internationalization of the dispute between Anwar and the ruling establishment purely.
Rather, coming at the heels of Myanmar’s junta to extend the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi—coupled with Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s attempt to seek refuge in the Dutch embassy—the Malaysian drama can only weather on with these parallels in mind. Neither of which are complimentary to Malaysia, to say the least.
Thus, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi should hasten to provide the security guarantee and assurance that Anwar Ibrahim seeks, without which the proverbial taint of Myanmar and Mugabe would prove difficult to remove if prolonged.
This would be tragic to the standing of Abdullah Badawi in particular, as he is perhaps the singlemost important factor, why the country has not had any incidence of violence after the 12th General Election, where the ruling party lost more than five states and the Federal Territory on March 8th.
Should the stand-off persist, the gains in heroic stature and reputation, contrary to what the ruling establishment might think (that Anwar is hiding), can only accrue to Anwar further, however.
This is because Anwar has already been exonerated by the Federal Court of any sexual misconduct before. In the court of public opinion, Anwar has won.
Anwar has also been imprisoned before on trumped up charges of corruption where the evidence was razor thin. Again, he has been triumphant here.
In fact, now that Anwar is eligible to contest in a by-election, the ruling establishment would be accused of resorting to unfair judicial measures, for the second time running, to pre-empt him from seeking public office.
Thus, a swift end is desirous for the image of Malaysia. The duty to protect the opposition, after all, redounds on the incumbent first; notwithstanding the constant talks of an impending cross-over which may or may not occur by September 16th anyway.
As things stand, analysts and pundits have pointed to the return of 1998 when Anwar’s political career was literally cut short.Yet, the past, even given a short interregnum of ten years, is but a pale contrast of what is truly at stake with the latest saga.
A decade ago, it was Dr Mahathir who tried to destroy the political career of Anwar. This time around there is no indication that Abdullah Badawi, who has grown indifferent to Dr Mahathir’s constant attacks of his administration anyway, would deign to use the same methods.
Indeed, granted the extent to which Abdullah Badawi has progressively lost the reins of power since March 8th, the hidden hand that is engineering the current fiasco could be more complex. But if the plot thickens, the swirl of conspiracy is not necessarily advantageous to the ruling government especially if it is intent on winning the next general election.
Not surprisingly, the picture of the accused that has appeared in the Internet, has had him photographed with the special officer of the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who too is a nemesis of Anwar.
Anwar, on the other hand, has pointed to the likes of Inspector General Police Musa and Tan Sri Ghani Patail, as two of the culprits, who want to prevent him from exposing the fabrications that led to his downfall a decade earlier.
Regardless of the personalities involved, or the conspiracies at play, the disarray in UMNOmust not result in a spillover that can undermine the country’s good repute as an emerging democracy in Asia writ large.
At a time when Australia, Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand are already promoting what is equivalent to a League of Democracy in the guise of ASEAN Plus 6, Malaysia cannot be left out, even as Kuala Lumpur seeks to defend the practicality of ASEAN Plus 3 first.
Nor should Malaysia’s integrity and standing suddenly become the lightning rod in the foreign policy debates of the United States and European Union; just as as the credentials of Myanmar and Zimbabwe have for years been looked upon with much odium.
Malaysia does not have to be a Banana Republic. When South Africa was laboring under the onerous conditions of Apartheid, it was Malaysia that spearheaded the efforts at the Commonwealth to isolate the Pretoria regime.
Having led such democratic efforts before, Malaysia does not have to fall back on the same old argument of demanding its sovereignty; this at the expense of allowing the safe passage of Anwar Ibrahim to proceed with his political career.
by Jin Ming Pan
dear dsai and fellow readers
stay focused on the altantuya case. this is the single case which can bring down the corrupt-bn government. keep on hammering in that single nail. it’ll be the only nail needed to close tight the coffin of the corrupt-bn government.
bn-orchestrated sideshows should be tackled, but pls stay focused on the altantuya case.
bn is now desperate. we can tell. good for PR. good the the rakyat. a new dawn for malaysia. a new merdeka from tyranny.
LAWAN TETAP……LAWAN!!!!!
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Leaders of Our Time
This news is among the many small battles the people of Malaysia has to face. Anwar being “the General” to strategize for fellow Malaysians. Malaysia is shifting. Hopefully for the better. Political climate which determines the path and future of our country are getting the attention of many, once again.
However, this time, its of a different time. Malaysia independence was of the 50s, split between races was of the 60s, 70s, struggle between the old and the new was of the 80s, struggle between the older and the youth was of the 90s. As we are reaching the end of the 1st decade of the new millennium, its a struggle between the juggernaught and the people.
People of Malaysia are easy to be content with what Malaysia has become. At the same time, people are afraid to go against the juggernaught for the reason that they’re undefeated for the control of Malaysia.
Just like the USA. They’re the current juggernaught of the world. No other country is able to withstand their wrath should they do whatever they decide to do. Thus, fear among the masses is definitely there.
However, fear is not forever. Overcoming fear is the 1st hurdle among many. To be united is the 2nd. To plan and execute is the 3rd. Along these hurdles, prayers keeps the hopes alive that one day, the goliath will fall. Just like how Soviet fell.
Strategies are aplenty. Tactics are abundant. Execution are without endless options. However, if uncoordinated, planned and prepared, we’ll get splendid backlash from the juggernaught. To a point of death to these hopes.
When we have executive power to be above the law, we have a super juggernaught. Barisan Nasional and UMNO have become just that. Although we already have this since the previous leader, the abuse was still to the interest of the people. This is not the case any longer. Malaysia is now for sale.
Malaysian politics are no longer for serving the people. It is for mega contracts and material gains. Even the low level supporters are selling their votes for for a small fee. What Malaysia has become?
Suddenly I remembered the song recited every week when in secondary school. “Anak kecil main api…” 500 years ago, the Malays were already for sale. We blamed the Sultan of Melaka. But, what has happened during this time with our leaders putting Malaysia for sale, made me realized that it was not just the Sultan. Very likely the majority of the Melaka bangsawan was agreeing to the Sultan. The greed for wealth became the primary objective. The welfare and development of their people are last in the list.
But then, it was a small empire with absolute monarchy. If there’s no check and balance, the nation will fall to foreigners. Fortunately, Malaysia is a nation of democracy. The check and balance is in the hands of the people and not the few.
We have proven to be able to wrestle our fears. We have proven to unite despite the differences in race, religion and purpose. It is now that we need to prove ourselves to be able to execute our every rights to be fellow Malaysians. It is now we can be free and fair at last. Once this is done, even the juggernaught of the world maybe able to fall.
May one day we live to see the stars in the flags of this juggernaught can be changed to a new juggernaught of a crescent and one star! But, this new juggernaught is of love, respect and freedom!
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Whatever it is, as for me, Dato’ Seri should focus on changing the corrupt government that ruled by the coallation of Barisan Nasional for a terrible 50 years. Me & all of my friends no matter what will keep up standing by your side giving 100% support to you and Pakatan Rakyat. We will Dato’ Seri.
Insha-Allah.
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How could the DPM gain such great control over the police? I thought he is only in charge of the armed forces and the defence.The police is supposed to be under the internal affairs and the law of the country. How come that this Mr Bala fear for is life and his fmily’s safety the moment he was summoned by the police after signing his first SD? This means that the DPM is above the law. He has the right to dictate terms to the law.
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Are we categorised a developing country with third world mentality? Where has our education taken us? When I ask around about our country’s policies many are disillusioned or too scared to comment. Isn’t this the way third world countries fear their dictators? We Malaysians are actually leaving much of the change for the better to a few bold enough to come forward like RPK, Din Merican, Tian Chua, Gobind Singh and his famous father and the unfortunate five detainees inprisoned for speaking up,(there are others whom I have not named and I hope they do not feel that they are not appreciated). All these people have taken the bold and courageous step to bring about change for the better to an otherwise corrupting society. This is the Asian mentality. They fear to speak up even though they know justice doesn’t prevail. We Asians must change our mindset and fear noone when we speak the truth and wish for justice to be meted out.
Those that I named so far know that if this state of affairs are allowed to continue, this country will go to the dogs. Sorry, no offence meant to those who have fear of dogs. We do not wish to have dictators who rule with an iron fist condemning those who stand against them and the injustices that these iron fisted rulers are capable of.
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Coming back to the Altantuya case, why are we going in circles? Azilah Hadhri and Sirul Azhar are both the DPM’s men and they were responsible for blowing up Altantuya. Doesn’t this make enough sense to connect the disappearence of Mr Bala and his family?
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In the first place why are Azilah and Sirul in jail? They are following orders from a higher authority. They just did what they were told just like soldiers going to war. Who gave the orders to these two?
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