31 Ogos ini genaplah 51 tahun berdirinya Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara yang merdeka dan berdaulat.

Semenjak dari tarikh keramat kemerdekaan, kita rakyat Malaysia telah lalui bersama saat-saat sukar dan detik kejayaan. Kita menaruh harapan untuk melihat Malaysia yang adil, makmur dan perkasa.

51 tahun lalu rakyat negara ini telah membuat pilihan untuk berdiri sendiri, bebas dari pemerintahan penjajah, bersetuju bahawa negara ini ialah negara hukum yang mengamalkan sistem raja berperlembagaan dan demokrasi berparlimen. Rakyat Malaysia membuktikan mereka berani untuk memilih dan membuat keputusan. Memilih yang terbaik buat Malaysia.

Namun genap 51 tahun merdeka kita sekali lagi berada di persimpangan. Kita melihat perlembagaan diperlekehkan, demokrasi diinjak dan institusi kenegaraan dijadikan alat penguasa.

Sudah tiba masanya kita rakyat Malaysia membuat pilihan untuk menemukan kembali erti kemerdekaan negara ini. Adalah menjadi tanggungjawab kita sekarang untuk memastikan demokrasi bernafas semula di negara ini, keluhuran perlembagaan kembali dijunjung dan kedaulatan undang-undang terbina kukuh.

Marilah kita perbaharui persetujuan yang kita buat bersama 51 tahun dahulu; memastikan negara Malaysia ini kekal bebas dan merdeka.

ANWAR IBRAHIM
Ketua Umum Parti Keadilan Rakyat
Merangkap Ketua Pembangkang Dewan Rakyat
dan Ahli Parlimen Permatang Pauh

From TIME

He hardly seems the perfect candidate for a Muslim-majority democracy. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim spent six years in jail, charged with corruption and sodomy. Earlier this year, he was again slapped with a sex charge when a male former aide accused the 61-year-old politician of rape. But on Aug. 26 Malaysia’s most charismatic politician completed a stunning political comeback by winning a parliamentary seat in a by-election in his home state of Penang. “It’s a signal that the people are ready for change, and that they believe only Anwar can make that change,” says Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University.
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KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regarded the Budget 2009 as nothing new and that the government had failed to address the issue of competitiveness.

“It is nothing new. We reiterate that in the last four to five years, when there was global pressure and economic slowdown, the prime minister and Barisan Nasional (BN) were not able to provide new stimulus.

“The problem is that we have lost the competitive edge. There are no new foreign direct investments (FDIs),” he said, adding that problems of management and corruption were not dealt with,” he told reporters at parliament lobby on Aug 29.

For an oil-producing country, Malaysia continued to register deficit which would have been understandable for a country that has no recourse, he said.

“The issue is not giving sweeteners to Sabah, Sarawak and the poor because it does not commensurate with the big increase in inflation and high cost. What is given does not alleviate the problem and sufferings of the poor,” he added.

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