From Swampland( The Time)

Jerusalem
By Joe Klein

There were lots of fascinating developments at the Brookings US-Islamic forum in Doha over the weekend, which I’ll be writing about in detail over the next few days–and one very depressing development. Anwar Ibrahim, the charismatic Malaysian reformer, came to Doha directly from a Kuala Lumpur courtroom, where he is being tried for sodomy; he returned to Malaysia Sunday night. The Malaysian government has been after Ibraham for the past decade now, jailing him, convicting him of sodomy (that is, of homosexuality) once–a verdict that was partially overturned–and is now trying him again.

Let’s leave aside the human rights outrage…well, maybe not–anti-sodomy laws are barbaric. Period. In any case, using claims of homosexual activity to discredit a political opponent is disgraceful. Ibrahim is married; his wife insists these charges are trumped up. There is, however, a young man, a former aide, who has made the accusation. No doubt, these charges would never have been brought if Ibrahim weren’t such a well-known and outspoken voice for freedom.

I’ve met Anwar several times and had memorable conversations with him. He is a wise, decent and courageous man. Last year, at the Doha Forum, Anwar took the opportunity of Barack Obama’s Inauguration to chide his fellow Muslims: the question is no longer what the Americans should do, he said (I’m paraphrasing here), but what we Muslims can do to get our act together, to establish just and democratic governments in our own countries.

On Sunday in Doha, Anwar met Hillary Clinton…and Clinton agreed to have her picture taken with him, which is a significant public sign of support that I hope the Secretary will follow up with a phone call to her Malaysian counterpart. Anwar’s trial will be finished in the next week or so; he told me he fully expects to go back to prison. The thought of staying in Doha, or emigrating to the United States hasn’t crossed his mind. He’s a Malaysian patriot and a fighter for democracy of international significance. He deserves all our support.

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/02/15/free-anwar-ibrahim/#respond#ixzz0jT5CC12S

Dari Malaysia Kini

Pakatan Rakyat memulakan kempennya malam tadi untuk mempertahankan kerusi parlimen Hulu Selangor dengan perhimpunan kira-kira 5,000 penyokongnya di Stadium Mini Kuala Kubu Bharu.

Majlis yang dinamakan “kempen selamatkan negara” itu, menyaksikan Kuala Kubu Bharu sesak dengan kenderaan orang ramai yang datang, termasuk dari luar Kuala Kubu Bharu.

Ada yang datang dari Tanjung Malim dan sejauh Sungai Besar, Perak. Mereka termasuk 50 orang yang menyewa bas dari sebuah ested di Tanjung Malim untuk datang menghadiri majlis malam tadi.

Pemimpin utama Pakatan termasuk timbalan presiden PKR, Syed Husin Ali; naib presiden PKR, Azmin Ali; pengarah strategi PKR, Tian Chua; ahli jawatankuasa pusat PAS, Dr Hatta Ramli dan ADUN DAP bagi Kampung Tunku, Lau Weng San adalah antara mereka yang menghadiri majlis tersebut. (more…)

From Malaysiatoday
By Stephanie Sta Maria

The federal government had failed to honor the original intention of the oil agreement by sticking its fingers into Petronas’ coffers, said PKR supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim.

Political differences and legal technicalities aside, Zaid said this is the root cause of the dispute concerning oil royalty.

In a recent exclusive interview with FMT, the former law minister noted that the agreement inked between Petronas, the federal government and the state governments stipulated the percentage of revenue that each party would receive from oil found in any of the 13 states.

Petronas would be awarded 90 percent, while the federal and respective state governments would receive five percent each.

Zaid explained that Petronas was given the lion’s share of the revenue so that the state-owned company could invest the money for the nation’s future generations. (more…)

Dari TV Selangor

Kempen “Selamatkan Malaysia – Tolak Konspirasi Kedua” yang dijadualkan bermula akhir bulan depan akan diadakan lebih awal di Parlimen Hulu Selangor susulan kembalinya Allahyarham Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad ke rahmatullah malam semalam.

“Jadi kami sudah bergerak dan mengadakan gerak kerja dari awal-awal lagi. Oleh itu saya lihat tiada masalah untuk menghadapi pilihan raya kecil ini apabila diadakan,” kata Pengerusi Pilihanraya PKR Selangor, Abdullah Sani.

Ketua Umum PKR Anwar Ibrahim dijadualkan hadir pada majlis malam ini. Abdullah berkata PKR telah bersiap-sedia menghadapi apa juga kemungkinan dengan kira keuzuran Datuk Zainal sebelum ini. (more…)

By Malaysian Spring

It seems a simple enough plan. Get a willing pro-Umno young man. Stick him in Anwar’s office and let him get close to Anwar. Then have him accuse Anwar of sodomy. The police, the judiciary and the government machinery will do the rest. This will put Anwar out of the political scene for good and he will never threaten Umno’s power again.

But something happened on the way to the courthouse. The public is not buying this story. Too many holes have appeared until the whole rickety structure of deceit has all but collapsed. No doubt there are a few clueless souls in Umno trying to maintain this ridiculous charade but they are flogging a dead horse. They only succeed in earning the contempt of the people.

Saiful made many mistakes before and after the alleged act by failing to conceal his movements and being an incredibly lousy actor. Perhaps he thought playing the victim isn’t important as the powerful players behind him will take care of everything. But there’s a limit to how much idiocy the public can take. A real victim of forced sodomy or male rape does not appear smiling and waving to the press in public as if he’s damn proud of it.

It all looks like a hastily conceived, bumbling, incompetent and ill-thought out plot. So here are 40 reasons why the sodomy charge against Anwar is too ridiculous to believe.

The Charge

1. The charge of consensual sodomy is structurally flawed as it does not a tally with Saiful’s public stance of forced sodomy for which he has already sworn on the Koran.

2. The government has absolutely no interest in prosecuting consenting gays so why the sudden interest in prosecuting Anwar for alleged consensual sodomy? How about all the gay activities going on under the nose of the authorities in the seedy streets of KL? Nobody has been prosecuted for consensual sodomy since independence except Anwar and his alleged partners in Sodomy I. (more…)

Press Statement: 25 March 2010

Court of Appeal’s Decision on Abdul Malek Hussein
Retrogressive and Unjust!

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) expresses its disappointment over the Court of Appeal’s judgement today which overturned a RM2.5 million award to former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Abdul Malek Hussein following an appeal by the Malaysian government.

The appellate court, convened by a panel of three judges, reversed the High Court decision and ruled that Abdul Malek’s detention was lawful and rejected his allegations of torture while in custody. The Court of Appeal thus ruled that Abdul Malek will not receive the damages awarded to him by the High Court and ordered Abdul Malek instead to pay RM50, 000 in costs.

Court Rules In Favour of Human Rights Violators!

The judgement by the Court of Appeals is indeed retrogressive and clearly contravenes basic and universally recognised human rights principles. SUARAM, which has campaigned for the abolition of the ISA since 1989, views this as a black day for human rights in the country, with the courts ruling in favour of blatant violators of human rights and thus denying justice for victims. (more…)

Saya menerima khabar sedih kembalinya Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad; Ahli Parlimen Hulu Selangor ke sisi Allah SWT hari ini. Pemergian beliau, seorang sahabat dan rakan seperjuangan, pastinya amat dirasai. Persahabatan kami bermula tatkala di Universiti Malaya lagi.

Kami bersama-sama bergiat dalam PBMUM memperjuangkan kedudukan Bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa kebangsaan. Allahyarham merupakan sosok sederhana dan murah dengan senyuman. Namun ketegasan menentang kezaliman membuatkan beliau memilih wadah Keadilan. Ketika Allahyarham diberitakan sakit, saya dan Azizah berkesempatan mengunjungi beliau dan berharap agar cepat sembuh untuk terus berkhidmat kepada rakyat.

Saya dan Azizah merakamkan ucapan takziah buat keluarga beliau dan tetaplah bersabar menerima ujian Allah SWT. Marilah kita memanjatkan doa moga ruh beliau ditempatkan di kalangan mereka yang soleh. Al Fatihah.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Kenyataan Akhbar
25 Mac 2010

Semalam saya telah menghantar, melalui Peguambela & Peguamcara Edwin Lim Suren & Soh, surat kepada Pengarang dan Pengarang Pengurus Utusan Melayu Bhd dan juga Zamil Ibrahim, menuntut mereka meminta maaf dan membayar ganti rugi RM10 juta.

Ini berkaitan sebuah berita fitnah yang diterbitkan oleh Utusan Malaysia bertarikh 6hb Mac 2010 di bawah tajuk “RM500,000 Syed Husin dicabar lapor polis”. Dalam berita tersebut dituduh konon saya menerima RM500,000 daripada Anwar Ibrahim sebagai bayaran untuk membubar Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) bagi memudahkan percantuman dengan Parti Keadilan Nasional dan membentuk Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Saya mengarahkan peguam saya untuk mengambil tindakan undang-undang yang perlu terhadap mereka tersebut sekiranya tiada jawapan daripada mereka dalam tempoh tujuh hari dari tarikh surat tuntutan itu.

Dr Syed Husin Ali
Timbalan Presiden
KEADILAN
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