5 Julai 2010 (Isnin)
9.00 – 12.00 Malam
Lokasi: Dewan Anjung Rahmat, Jalan Gombak
Penceramah:
1. YB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
2. YB Azmin Ali
3. YB Sallehuddin Ayub
4. YB Tian Chua
5. YB Tan Kok Wai
We would be pleased to announce that Selangor will organize a state program in conjunction with a visit of Mitch Kapor, a world renowned IT innovator and entrepreneur. Dato Seri’ Anwar Ibrahim, the Economic Advisor of Selangor would like to invite you to welcome Mr Kapor who will be speaking at the following events:
1. Dialogue Session with Industry LeadersTitle: “New Frontiers in Information Technology”Time: 2 July, 2010 (9.30am – 12.00noon)Place: Third Floor, Annex Building, Selangor State Secretariat Building (SUK), Shah Alam, Selangor
2. Public SeminarTitle: “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Lessons Learned from Silicon Valley”Time: 2 July, 2010 (2.30pm – 5.00pm)Place: Auditorium, Dewan Jubli Perak, Selangor State Secretariat Building (SUK), Shah Alam, Selangor
*The seminar is open to public and please take note that the venue has been changed from UNISEL
MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 July 2010
The plight of the Palestinian people and the role of the ‘Zionist’ government of Israel is a matter of international and humanitarian concern, not a matter for Malaysian politicians to score points with the Malay-Muslim electorate. The prime concern of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) has always been, and will always be, the fair and humanitarian treatment of all Malaysians and also the downtrodden peoples of other nations.
Four Umno leaders have voiced their opinions on Anwar Ibrahim’s stand on Zionist aggression, especially in light of The Washington Post article that was published recently. These Umno leaders — Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi, Information Minister Rais Yatim and Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin — are jumping at the opportunity to distort the words of the writer, who wrote:
He [Anwar] said he regretted using terms such as “Zionist aggression,” which are common coin for demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “Why do I need to use it if it causes so much misunderstanding?” he said. “I need to be more careful.”
In case these Umno leaders cannot comprehend proper English, what that means is that Anwar regrets using terms which demagogues like controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad use, especially when it causes a misunderstanding in the international community. Anwar then humbly concedes he needs to be more careful in how he criticizes Israel’s Zionist government, in light of the fact that accusations of anti-semitism are rampant.
Nevertheless, the stand of Anwar Ibrahim and KEADILAN on ‘Zionist’ aggression towards Palestine is crystal clear. We denounce the recent violent attack on the Gaza flotilla, the continued discrimination, repression and brutality against Palestinians by the Israeli government, as well as question the role of the United States of America in supporting the ‘Zionist’ regime. At the same time, we respect the right of all Jews to have a homeland and to live in peace together with Muslim and Christian Palestinians. Indeed, we reject discrimination, repression and brutality both in Malaysia and abroad.
On the insinuations that Anwar is close with American Jews, he has already openly clarified that they are acquaintances from the time he was the Finance Minister of Malaysia. Indeed, Anwar Ibrahim has used every opportunity he could to raise the issue of Palestine and push for a quick resolution of the Middle East dispute.
What has the Umno-led government done? Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi has had a secret meeting with his Israeli counterpart. DPM Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno Youth Chief support PM Najib Razak’s decision to appoint Apco (which has questionable Zionist links) at the rate of RM77 million a year. And, to top it all off, Information Minister Rais Yatim is using his authority to ensure that the mainstream media plays to the tune of Umno-Barisan Nasional, who is now being advised by Apco.
If the Umno-BN government really wants to keep Malaysians informed about the plight of Palestinians and show their stand on ‘Zionist’ aggression, please instruct the mainstream media to translate and publish The Washington Post article in full and arrange for a televised debate betweeen Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak. Let all Malaysians see and hear for themselves what Apco is doing in Malaysia.
JONSON CHONG
Communications Director
Ini merupakan rencana asal dari The Washington Post yang kemudiannya digunakan Utusan Malaysia untuk menuduh kunjungan Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim ke Amerika Syarikat sebagai memujuk pihak Yahudi. Namun Utusan Malaysia gagal mengungkapkan perkara mustahak yang terkandung dalam artikel tersebut, iaitu, Dato’ Seri Anwar tuntas mengkritik bahawa Kerajaan Israel bertindak melampau
From Washington Post
By Jackson Diehl
Monday, June 28, 2010; A15
Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s political opposition, has become known over the past decade as one of the foremost advocates of liberal democracy in Muslim countries. His many friends in Washington include prominent members of the neoconservative movement — such as Paul Wolfowitz, the former World Bank president and U.S. ambassador to Indonesia — as well as such Democratic grandees as Al Gore.
Lately, Anwar has been getting attention for something else: strident rhetoric about Israel and alleged “Zionist influence” in Malaysia. He recently joined a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur where an Israeli flag was burned. He’s made dark insinuations about the “Jewish-controlled” Washington public relations firm Apco Worldwide, which is working for Malaysia’s quasi-authoritarian government.
Therein lies a story of the Obama era — about a beleaguered democrat fighting for political and personal survival with little help from Washington; about the growing global climate of hostility toward Israel; and about the increasing willingness of U.S. friends in places such as Turkey and Malaysia to exploit it.
First, a little about Anwar: While serving as deputy prime minister under Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s, he began pushing for reforms — only to be arrested, tried and imprisoned on trumped-up charges of homosexual sodomy. Freed after six years, he built a multiethnic democratic opposition movement that shocked the ruling party with its gains in recent elections. It now appears to have a chance at winning the next parliamentary campaign, which would allow Malaysia to join Indonesia and Turkey as full-fledged majority-Muslim democracies.
Not surprisingly, Anwar is being prosecuted again. Once again the charge is consensual sodomy, which to Malaysia’s discredit remains a crime punishable by whipping and a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Anwar, who is 63 and married with children, denies the charge, and the evidence once again is highly suspect. His 25-year-old accuser has confessed to meeting Prime Minister Najib Razak and talking by phone with the national police chief in the days before the alleged sexual encounter.
Nevertheless the trial is not going well. If it ends in another conviction, Anwar’s political career and his opposition coalition could be destroyed, and his life could be at risk: His health is not great. Yet the opposition leader is not getting the kind of support from the United States as during his first prosecution, when then-Vice President Gore spoke up for him. Obama said nothing in public about Anwar when he granted Najib a prized bilateral meeting in Washington in April.
After a “senior officials dialogue” between the two governments this month, the State Department conceded that the ongoing trial again had not been raised, “because this issue was recently discussed at length.” When it comes to human rights, the Obama administration apparently does not wish to be repetitive.
Anwar meanwhile found his own way to fight back. Hammered for years by government propaganda describing him as an Israeli agent and a Wolfowitz-loving American lackey, he tried to turn the tables, alleging that Apco was manipulating the government to support Israeli and U.S. interests. He also said that Israeli agents had infiltrated Malaysia’s security forces and were “directly involved in the running of the government.”
Najib describes Israel as “world gangsters.” But he quickly turned Anwar’s words against him; Apco has been peddling the anti-Israel statements around Washington.
Anwar is like Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he regards as a friend and fellow traveler. Both know better than to indulge in such stuff. Both have recently begun to do it anyway — after a year in which the Obama administration has frequently displayed irritation with Israel. “If you say we are growing impatient with Israel, that is true,” Anwar told me. “If you say I am not too guarded or careful in what I say sometimes, that is also true.”
Anwar, who was in Washington for a couple of days last week, spent a lot of time offering explanations to old friends, not to mention House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman and a Jewish leader or two. He said he regretted using terms such as “Zionist aggression,” which are common coin for demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “Why do I need to use it if it causes so much misunderstanding?” he said. “I need to be more careful.”
Many of the Malaysian’s friends are inclined to give him a break. “What Anwar did was wrong, but considering that he’s literally fighting for his life — physically as well as politically — against a government that attacks him as being ‘a puppet of the Jews,’ one should cut him some slack,” Wolfowitz told me.
But Anwar’s story can also be read as a warning. His transition from pro-American democrat to anti-Israeli zealot is sobering — and it is on the verge of becoming a trend.
