Archive for category Anwar Ibrahim

Japanese Government should apologise to Anwar and Malaysians for the “national insult” in denying entry to Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

The Japanese Government should apologise to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to Malaysia for the “national insult” in denying entry to Japan and deporting the Parliamentary Opposition Leader yesterday.

The barring of Anwar Ibrahim from entering Japan is not a mere personal matter involving Anwar but a question of national honour as Anwar is the leader the Pakatan Rakyat coalition which secured the majority support of 51% of the voters in the 13th General Elections on May 5 last year.

It tantamounts to disrespect and slap-in-the-face of the majority of voters in Malaysia by the Japanese Government and must therefore be regarded as a most unfriendly and even hostile Japanese act against Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Anwar tells of special task force to issue ICs to foreigners in Sabah

by Lee Shi-Ian
The Malaysian Insider
September 19, 2013

The Royal Commission of Inquiry on Sabah’s illegal immigrants problem today heard from Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that indiscriminate issuance of Malaysian identity cards had begun during the time of second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.

Anwar, the Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 until his dramatic sacking in 1998, Ibrahim, told the Inquiry that between 1972 and 1984, there was an influx of refugees fleeing fighting in the southern Philippines.

The refugees were granted identity cards indiscriminately between 1979 and 1990, said Anwar, who said a special task force was formed by the National Security Council for this purpose.

“The task force is still active today,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

12 Comments

Setpol Encik Lim Kit Siang dan UITM

– Sakmongkol
The Malaysian Insider
September 08, 2013

Apa sudah jadi kepada pemimpin Umno? Respons mereka terhadap isu-isu yang dibangkitkan sejak akhir-akhir ini dibuat dalam keadaan hysteria.

Dua minggu lalu, bila Anwar Ibrahim mencadangkan perbincangan meja bulat, cadangan tersebut dibaca sebagai cadangan menubuhkan kerajaan perpaduan.

Anwar Ibrahim mengajak pemimpin Umno yang bengap untuk berbincang mengenai polarisasi kaum, mengenai rasuah, mengenai pengurusan ekonomi negara, mengenai jinayah dalam negara dan perkara2 umpanya.

Perkara yang mudah ini pun pemimpin Umno tidak faham sebab diserang penyakit sawan babi dan hysteria.

Pemimpin-pemimpin PAS pun saya harap fahamlah dahulu cadangan Anwar itu. Ini bukan kerajaan perpaduan.

Bukan untuk bergabung dengan Umno. Tak ada orang hendak bergabung dengan Umno. Umno parti fiudal, rasuah dan rasis dan zalim kepada orang Melayu.

Kita bukan ingin bergabung, kita hendak lawan Umno sampai Umno kalah. Kita hendak memerdekakan orang Melayu dari perhambaan Umno yang feudal ini. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments

Anwar Ibrahim & reformasi: From the eyes of an ordinary citizen

– Anas Alam Faizli
The Malaysian Insider
September 06, 2013

“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.” (Nelson Mandela)

Growing up, I remember sifting through my father’s collection of old newspaper clips. One reported that a certain persona by the name of Anwar Ibrahim was about to join Umno. That paper clip was from 1982.

Many in Anwar’s circles and followers at the time viewed him as their next hope for a leader that could strongly challenge the government. Needless to say that move to join Umno was not welcomed by many; my mum, a member of JIM included. In 1996, while tabling the budget in Parliament -an annual event where I await with bated breath for him to introduce a new vocabulary – a practice he was famous for – Anwar was surprisingly spotting noticeable breakouts.

Mum responded “Baru nak matang lah tu…(he is probably just about to mature…).” The consternation she felt then remained.

The financial crisis a year later shook most of the tender South East Asian economies, while Anwar was at the pinnacle of his political career. I did not really understand my parent’s remark then about how Anwar would soon “get it”. I soon did.

I watched 2nd September 1998 unravel on television while I was on campus down south. I will never forget that moment; sitting down dumbfounded trying to gather my thoughts.

From then onwards, keeping track of Anwar’s ceramahs around the country, news and developments, became daily affairs. Anwar’s famous: “Ini adalah konspirasi dan fitnah jahat untuk membunuh karier politik saya”– echoed in mind every day. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Demanding that the accused prove innocence is utter rubbish!

— P Ramakrishnan
The Malay Mail Online
August 13, 2013

AUG 13 — The accepted legal norm is that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. That is the basic law. That is the golden thread of the law. That is the basis of justice.

It appears that Ranjit Singh Dhillon, the Penang Bar Committee’s criminal law chairman, has totally ignored this time-honoured principle by demanding that Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Karpal Singh declare their assets to prove their innocence. This is ridiculous!

If this was Ranjit Singh’s personal view, that would be of no consequence. But this view was stated in his capacity as an official of the Penang Bar – that makes it preposterous!

Malaysians would like to know if the Penang Bar shares Ranjit’s absurd view or does it disassociate itself from this view? This must be stated immediately and clearly. Malaysians should not be left wondering what has happened to the Penang Bar. Isn’t justice and fairness the paramount concern of the Bar? This must rightly be so.

Ranjit’s sober position should have been to ask the accuser to make a police report and provide the MACC with the so-called evidence in his possession that suggests that there was corruption in the conduct of these two Pakatan leaders. In this manner, he would have facilitated the commencement of criminal investigation by both the police and the MACC. Unfortunately, Ranjit did not do this. He did not promote the cause of justice.

What are the facts? Read the rest of this entry »

7 Comments

Will Shahidan propose in Cabinet the establishment of RCI on Utusan Malaysia’s racist, inflammatory and seditious provocations in the past four years if 1,000 or 2,000 Malaysians sign a memorandum for this purpose?

The whole rigmarole about DAP funding a “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget ranging from RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to demonise and character-assassinate has completely gone bersek with Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament quoting lies as gospel truths in Parliament and outside.

Yesterday, at least two Barisan Nasional MPs spoke about the “Red Bean Army” in Parliament, but their credibility is no higher than that of the Gerakan MP for Simpang Renggam, Liang Teck Meng who made history by turning himself into an instant parliamentary disgrace yesterday.

Teck Meng purportedly quoted from WiliLeaks to allege that Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim “owns 30 foreign bank accounts” worth RM332 million in four countries, including Israel, when such information is not available on WikiLeaks but only concocted on blogs by UMNO cybertroopers.

Like the “Red Bean Army” canard, this is another example of UMNO/BN cybertroopers finally succeeding in misleading their own leaders!

Is Teck Meng prepared to admit that he had told lies in Parliament yesterday and to surrender himself to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for the proper punishment that should be meted out to an MP who could tell such reckless lies in Parliament? Read the rest of this entry »

12 Comments

10 things Anwar must do

P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
May 17, 2013

QUESTION TIME By now the cabinet has been appointed and while there are fresh faces, no one I have spoken to expects any drastic changes from the norm especially as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is bound to face pressure from Umno delegates at the forthcoming Umno general assembly.

We seem to be going from one election to another and delaying much needed change accordingly. And as everyone knows by now, Umno delegates don’t at all represent the common voice of the Malays but posture to make it appear as if they do.

Thus it was that when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi got a massive mandate from the people in the 2004 elections, obtaining over 90 percent of parliamentary seats, he refrained from taking measures he promised because his advisers told him there will be a backlash from Umno delegates.

Ah, well, history repeats itself, especially when you don’t learn from it, and one can expect the pressures from within Umno to stop any push towards major change which will benefit the country as a whole without descending into the morass of race, religion and language.

For Pakatan Rakyat, very much still in opposition, the fight continues in earnest. But if it wants to wrest Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional, there are a number of things it has to do and its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim will have to bear these in mind.

Pakatan would have made much more headway in the elections just past if they had focused on even half of this. But no matter, there is always still time and it is necessary to build on the gains if Malaysians are to see the two-party system emerge.

To my mind, a two-party system emerges only when there has been at least one change of power. That has not happened yet and here is our list of 10 things that Anwar must do if he wants a fair chance of Pakatan forming the next government. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Comments

Malaysia in “best of times, worst of times” – call on Malaysians to keep faith and hope in moment of despair and to press on until victory is achieved for change of government and policies

The two weeks of Malaysia since the 13GE on May 5 is best described by Charles Dickens in the opening paragraph of his historic fiction of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities (a book written 154 years ago and which has sold over 200 million copies):

“IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

It was “the best of times” for Malaysia, when Malaysians, transcending race, religion, region, class, gender and age, were united in the hope of change of government and policies; but it was “the worst of times” when such hopes were crushed by the dirtiest general election in the nation’s 56 year history.

It was “the spring of hope” when Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, class, gender and age dare to dream the Malaysian Dream where there is an end to the politics of race, corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and all forms of injustices; but it was “the winter of despair” with one post-13GE drivel after another from those re-established in power about “Chinese tsunami”, “Chinese taken for a ride”, “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu” and the latest challenge to patriotic Malaysians to “Migrate elsewhere” if they are not satisfied with the country’s electoral system, demonstrating that the evil tentacles of the old politics of race, lies and fear are still very much alive and powerful.

The “Light” in the epoch of “Darkness”, when there is so much disappointment, outrage and anger in the country at the 13GE results that Datuk Seri Najib Razak could be sworn in as Prime Minister with 47% of popular vote while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is denied the highest office in the land with 51% of the popular vote, is the accelerated political awakening of Malaysians, particularly the young generation of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region and class, coming out in their tens and hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their commitment to bring about peaceful and democratic change in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

9 Comments

Edge poll on Anwar hijacked

Written by theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 16 May 2013 21:04

The recent one-week (May 6-13) poll conducted by The Edge’s online business portal (theedgemalaysia.com) on the political future of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was hijacked by parties believed to be cyber-troopers.

Before this survey, polls conducted by theedgemalaysia.com would normally attract 2,000 to 4,000 respondents whose responses were largely consistent with The Edge’s independent-minded readers, who form the majority of our readers.

On Tuesday May 14, when The Edge’s online editor Ho Wah Foon saw that the one-week survey had attracted 12,736 responses which were overwhelmingly one-sided, she immediately took down the poll. Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments

A Budding Sprightly Spring

by Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest

THE young are not happy with the result of the 13th general election (GE13) held on May 5. I saw that for myself at the ‘Black 505’ rally in Penang on May 11, at which most of the participants were young people – of all races.

They came by the tens of thousands, carrying Pakatan Rakyat and Malaysian flags, blowing vuvuzuelas … and sporting banners that spoke of the unity they profess: “We are Malaysian – Malay, Chinese, Indian.” For them, the race-based politics of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is anathema.

In that sense, the ‘Black 505’ rallies, which have since been held in Selangor, Penang and Perak to tremendous responses have become more than just demonstrations of disgust at the alleged electoral fraud of GE13; they are also manifestations of a real sense of unity among like-minded Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

After Malaysia Election, Political Attacks Continue as Opposition Calls for Protests

By JOE COCHRANE
New York Times
May 10, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia — If there was a moment after the nail-biting national election on Sunday when Malaysians could envision a respite from five years of political turmoil, it did not last long.

Within hours of the election commission’s announcement early Monday that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s governing National Front coalition had won a majority in Parliament, Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, declared that the voting was rigged, said he would contest the results and called for nationwide protests.

The prime minister’s office countered that Mr. Anwar was a poor loser stirring up unrest, while the police warned that the opposition leader and dozens of other people who spoke at a protest rally in a packed soccer stadium just outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday night could be charged with sedition.

Such tit-for-tat exchanges between the government and the opposition were commonplace after the 2008 election and in the campaign for the vote last Sunday. But analysts say that the continuing political attacks and threats of protest this time are raising the specter of a potentially explosive showdown fueled by ethnic tensions laid bare again in the vote and longstanding animosity between Mr. Najib and Mr. Anwar.

“In a way, it’s escalated things,” said Simon Tay, the chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. “And with an escalation, you’re not sure of what the results will be.” Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Malaysia edges toward change but comes up short

Peter Drysdale
Bangkok Post
10 May 2013

On Sunday, after a hotly contested general election, a record electoral turnout and over half a century of essentially one-party rule, the Malaysian people edged toward change _ but chose not to make the leap.

The campaign saw the ruling Barisan National (BN or National Front) emphasise stability, continuity and economic growth, and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR or People’s Alliance) urge the end of corruption, the institution of minority rights and dealing with issues over the cost of living. In a contest that always seemed too close to call, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has held on to power, taking the prize from the indefatigable Anwar Ibrahim and his PR.

The election confronted Malaysia with big choices. While the Najib government led a tactical retreat on some elements of the old order, Mr Anwar called for its sweeping rejection.

Malaysia struggles with breaking through the “middle-income trap”. Wages have climbed to the point where the country can no longer compete internationally in labour-intensive manufacturing yet skills and systems haven’t improved so that Malaysia can compete effectively in the same product lines as more advanced countries.

Without further reforms, it is difficult to see how Malaysia can escape from this middle-income trap. Much of the struggle to find a way through has to do with escaping the legacy from the old order _ a “New Economic Policy” framed over 40 years ago that entrenched discrimination against minorities (including the significant entrepreneurial classes) and affirmative action through government-linked corporations (and systemic entrenchment of political patronage and corruption). Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

It was a M’sian tsunami, Kit Siang tells Najib

by Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
May 6, 2013

DAP’s newly-crowned Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has condemned BN head Najib Abdul Razak for attributing the coalition’s worst showing in a general election to a “Chinese tsunami”.

He said it was in fact a “Malaysian tsunami”, and that Pakatan Rakyat could not have achieved its results without the backing of Malaysians of other races.

“In many parts of the country, Pakatan won seats in areas that were previously considered as BN strongholds and took down many big BN guns in Malay-majority areas,” he told a press conference today.

To back his claims, Lim listed several Malay or bumiputera-majority seats that Pakatan had won, or retained with an increased majority. Read the rest of this entry »

28 Comments

Ordinary Malaysians, extraordinary day

by Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
May 5, 2013

GE13 SPECIAL On this historic day of GE13, Malaysians are bravely stepping into the unknown. Some are already queuing up to vote, and yet others are waiting for the crowd to disperse before heading out to the polling stations. Every Malaysian knows today will not be an ordinary day.

There are four intense but quiet battles taking place that will shape whether May 5 will indeed bring about change.

The first battle is a personal one, national in scope, taking place deep in the hearts of every Malaysian. It is a contest over what sort of country Malaysia should be. Many Malaysians are voting for a different moral foundation for the country’s politics.

The anger and sense of disbelief of BN governance runs deep, from the issues of corruption to its racial polemics. While there are many Malaysians who strongly support the status quo, among this group are many who question whether something is not quite right.

Indeed, today the country will be voting for its soul. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

BN faces fight of its life in this general election

by Stuart Grudgings, Reuters
Malaysiakini
May 5, 2013

Malaysians vote on Sunday in an election that could weaken or even end the rule of one of the world’s longest-lived coalitions, which faces a stiff challenge from an opposition pledging to clean up politics and end race-based policies.

Led by former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition is aiming to build on startling electoral gains in 2008, when the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The historic result signalled a breakdown in traditional politics as minority ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians, as well as many majority Malays, rejected the National Front’s brand of race-based patronage that has ensured stability in the Southeast Asian nation but led to corruption and widening inequality. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

Anwar vows no retributive justice for political foes

by Susan Loone
Malaysiakini
May 4, 2013

Pakatan’s prime minister-designate Anwar Ibrahim has vowed that his political opponents will not face “retributive justice” should he assume power in Putrajaya tomorrow.

His political enemies, among others, is his former boss,ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad.

“I have no intention of taking revenge against him nor will we be conducting any investigation on him,” said Anwar at a press conference in Kubang Semang today.

“However, this does not mean that the wealth of Petronas will continue to remain a monopoly in the hands of his cronies,” he was quick to add.

“Such ill gotten wealth must be returned to the people,” he stressed.

“I can understand his hysterical outburst recently but no one said we will go after him,” he quipped. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments

Dr M, you should also think of your own grave!

by Martin Jalleh

Dr-M-Think-of-Your-Own-Grave

18 Comments

Winds of change

by Mark Baker
Editor-at-Large, The Age

Anwar Ibrahim once seemed a certainty to rule Malaysia. Then came his arrest and imprisonment. Now, with his party shaking up the establishment, is he set to finally fulfil his ambition? By Mark Baker.

It’s nearing midnight in Penang. In a park surrounded by decaying concrete apartment blocks, a swelling crowd waits patiently amid the sticky heat and pungent aromas of food stalls, traffic fumes and open drains. This is a poor Malay neighbourhood, but there are Chinese and Indians here, too, a representative cross-section of multiracial Malaysia.

Suddenly a slim figure in dark trousers and white shirt emerges from the darkness through a side gate and the crowd erupts in jubilation, clapping, cheering and sounding horns. A squad of armed security men guides him through the crush and up towards the fluorescent glare of a makeshift stage. “There have been attacks by provocateurs at other meetings. We have to be careful,” says a senior aide. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Lim’s return to Johor emboldens the Chinese

From Sakmongkol AK47
Free Malaysia Today
April 12, 2013

The return of Lim Kit Siang to Johor should not matter to Umno and BN. Why should it cause worry? Isn’t it mathematically impossible for PR to go from 1 seat to 15 parliamentary seats? The Johor Chinese are different. They have an unshakeable allegiance to the state. So the Johor Chinese are by definition, naturally indifferent to what is happening around in the country.

The Chinese are a very practical people, says Chua Soi Lek. He must of course be referring to their apparent indifference to his sexual escapades. By that reasoning, the Chinese must also be indifferent to whatever stories are said of Anwar Ibrahim and they should be indifferent to Najib’s overextended and boring self-praising assessment of his Alphabet Soup vision. Ah Jib Gor does what Ah Jib Gor does best – tell tall stories mostly about himself.

Being practical they want to know, whether we can establish a good government. One that will practise good governance, consists of good, selfless and dedicated people. They want to go about making wealth under a government that upholds the rule of law. Which in turn require that the institutions that safeguard the rule and implementation of law be strong and independent and are established on principles of integrity. The Chinese want to live peacefully with the other major races in Malaysia. These are hallmarks of practical people.

I don’t think being practical means, they accept corruption, wheeling and dealing with the powers that be, accepting hegemony from others. If they are like that – that’s not being practical but being sly and acting like hustlers. The things that made the Chinese practical is economic independence. So being practical as in economically independent, the Chinese can exercise wider choices. They will chose to side with Pakatan Rakyat. That’s practical and acknowledging reality. Read the rest of this entry »

14 Comments

Malaysian Police Ready Two Election Plans

By John Berthelsen | TUESDAY, 09 APRIL 2013
Asia Sentinel

One if Anwar wins, the other if Najib does

For the first time ever, according to sources in Kuala Lumpur, the Royal Police have formulated two contingency plans for the night of Malaysia’s 13th general election, expected to be on April 27 or after.

The first, a source said, is “how to whisk the Prime Minister from the Putra World Trade Center where the Barisan Nasional is holding its election night celebration, back to Sri Perdana, the Prime Minister’s residence, safely in the event that the Barisan Nasional loses, or if there is trouble.” The second, the source said, is how to bring Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim from his home to the palace to be sworn in if the opposition were to win.

Implicit in both of those plans are questions whether there will be violence started by the losing side.

Both plans are unprecedented because there has never been a time in the 57-year history of the country when anybody thought the opposition might actually win. It still may not. But the fact that the plans are in place is an indication that even the police think the election is too close to call.
Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments