Mike's >>>

Anwar Ibrahim’s Style Revisited: Never Stop Asking

In Blogging, Malaysia on October 1, 2008 at 11:49 pm

( I suggest you read this in stages as it’s a long one. Answering a simple question: Is Anwar our only choice? If not, what can you do).

On 25th Sep, I wrote a post about Anwar Ibrahim’s political style.

Briefly, my point was Anwar is an opportunist in politics. For all his reformer credentials, his ideology is closer to Bush and the neo-conservatives such as Wolfowitz, Cheney, etc. than a believer in constitutional liberty or liberalism.

The neocon government of Bush lied to the people and their Congress (our Parliament), imprisoned individuals on nothing more than hearsay in Guantánamo, dismissed public prosecutors who refused to bend justice and stood up against the White House, and, in recent days, belligerently asking for tolerance from the American people and support from Congress in the latest Wall Street crisis.

The American public knows how to stand up to their politicians – Bloomberg’s reporting on the recent USD$700 billion bailout plan:

The plan would benefit “a bunch of rich good old boys,” said Seattle bicycle messenger Mark Pilder, 39, on a break from his downtown deliveries. “They’re not going to lose money. They’re shifting the burden to taxpayers. The ones actually making the decisions aren’t in danger of losing any money.

Blog – Short break

In Blogging, Malaysia on September 29, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Taking a break from the raging mediocrity in our ministerial Cabinet and as Malaysian blogs go into narcissistic navel-gazing mode: speculating about opportunists (unprincipled politicians) and who will be made next Emperor of Malaysia (next PM), I will be going off for a week.

Meantime, my posts on Anwar seem to be gaining notoriety and, in blogs, you have to read them chronologically for what I’m saying. You can click here if you want to.

As for Mahathir, here’s my posts.

If you find yourself all alone with nothing much else on, here’s my top 3 posts:

  1. For a better Malaysia – Tony Fernandez, Jeremiah and me;
  2. MalaysiaKini – remaining Web news after Malaysia Today?;
  3. Alternative vs Mainstream Media in Malaysia.

Finally, the next post will probably be a discussion of what one commenter, Outsider asked – one of which – Anwar is the best of the worst, what choice do we have?” See the comments in full here.

Simple, but good, question. May be difficult to answer for some. I will try next week – Monday, 6th Oct.

Meantime, Selamat Hari Raya to all Malaysians.

1st Presidential Debate

In Disconnected on September 27, 2008 at 12:34 pm

This is more what I just watched and follow than the drama in Malaysia, re Badawi vs Anwar (vs Mahathir?). If you’ve felt that American politics has no real impact locally, just ask your friendly local branch manager whether the Wall Street crisis has directly impacted you.

It’s certainly affected my thinking, plans, etc.

Anyway, here’s what I got from the 1st presidential debate and the pundits’ thoughts immediately after:

Obama: “(regarding the Wall St crisis) … this is the final verdict of 8 years of Bush administration …

McCain: “(persistently repeating to Obama) … You don’t understand“.

Pundits (CNN political analysts & reporters) think McCain was condescending and talking down to Obama

David Gergen: McCain close to a neo-con, especially like Bush’s 1st term – attack, attack, attack, ignore everyone else.

David Gergen: Obama reminded him of Kennedy, younger Senator, taking on more experienced Vice-President Nixon and held his own in the first debate. Therefore, established his status – younger, smarter, better.

Christiane Amanpour: Need for America