Anwar Ibrahim’s Style Revisited: Never Stop Asking

( 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.

Anwar Ibrahim’s Style of Politics

[Update - 27th Sept: At chedet.com, Mahathir has written a post mocking the United States. This was a day after this post went online. Altho' commenter, "By kamal ahmad on September 26, 2008 11:03 PM" has posted a link here - I doubt Mahathir wrote in reference to my thoughts.

To be clear tho', let me just say Mahathir is no exception - his style of politics is no different, if not worse.

See this article: "Mahathir Mohamad, a client of Abramoff’s who paid $2.2 million to arrange a visit with President Bush in 2002 (raw story)". To be fair, Mahathir corrected the reports saying it was 'merely' USD$1.2 million'.

For a list of articles about Mahathir & Abramoff, a conservative lobbyist convicted for corruption in political scandals]

Comments on my recent post about Anwar Ibrahim went from ‘how did you find this stuff?‘ to ‘well, you really don’t like him very much, do you?‘.

I want to clear up a few points:

• First, I have never met Anwar, so I don’t care about the man. I do care about who will lead Malaysia next and I don’t agree with his ‘say anything, do anything‘ style of politics. He does not stand for anything, other than opportunism – as far as I am concerned

Anwar and the Politics of ISA – Hysteria & Humbug

(from the department of i’m-not-braindead-i-want-to-think)
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[Update-30th Sep: Zaid Ibrahim's open letter to PM asking ISA to be repealed, with reasons]

In 1946, George Orwell ended his essay, “Politics and the English Language“, with this:

“Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

Back then Allies had just won the war but Eastern Europeans, and quite a few Russians, were still being sent to mass graves. The target of Orwell were gutless leaders of Allied states who couldn’t stomach another war, this time against the Soviet empire.

Today, 62 years later, in his tradition, but not his place, I too say to our leaders and young Malaysians:

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the decision of our government to imprison lawmakers and journalists, our Ministers’ lack of sincerity in justifying these arrests, the abandonment of political ideology

Anwar Ibrahim – Saviour, or the Wooden Chameleon?

Most readers realise I’m highly sceptical of Anwar Ibrahim.

His rethorical skills delivered in commanding oratory does make him unique in Malaysia today. But his appeal, I will suggest, is very much for narrow-minded Malaysians, absolutists following the Piper down the drain.

Most Malaysians can see only one side of the man. Our side, the one for Malaysian masses. When he’s outside Malaysia, his preference for conservative organisations – from newspapers to think-tanks such as the Council of Foreign Relations, has always shielded Anwar from scrutiny.

(For those unfamiliar, conservatives are Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin – “there’s WMD, let’s kill Iraqis”).

To paraphrase his speech of July 2006, in a Brisbane City Hall, he is certainly free to “throw caution to the wind and seize the moment while he still has the image of reformer (not just the podium) “, yet, keen Malaysian watchers would do well to note his arguments for constitutional liberty a mere 3 months before.

In March of 2006, during his globe-trotting days to shore up international support, Anwar published an eloquently written article in LA Times, and said:

The true cultivation of democracy requires more than simply the

Who is Anwar Ibrahim?

(let the man speak – full statement, then see my questions below; also see my ‘UPDATE – 20th Sep’ at the end)

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Full statement by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim:

Today Pakatan Rakyat leaders have submitted a letter to the Prime Minister requesting him to call an emergency session of Parliament to deliberate a motion of censure against the leadership of YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi no later than Tuesday 23 September 2008.

This is in accordance with Order 11(3) of the Standing Orders of Parliament and warrants an immediate response given the gravity of today’s political impasse. A delay in his response would be interpreted as nothing short of a further sabotage of the democratic process and abuse of Executive Power.

The Prime Minister’s haggling on the syntax of our first letter is puerile at best. The intent of our meeting as described in that letter was clearly to discuss the future course of the nation’s leadership – though in deference to his position and in accordance with acceptable norms we remain considerate and polite in our approach.

Malaysians, what do we want?

For several of my previous posts, I’ve fallen into a habit of emphasising letters written to Malaysiakini because they are well thought out and makes a point. So, here we go again.

A well-written letter at Malaysiakini by Keith Leong, ‘Reject Sectarian Violence‘, has made several points which all of us can be proud of.

The most important is in the middle where Keith says:

What is necessary for the creation of a just and unified Malaysia is a citizenry that is active, virtuous and conscious of both their rights and responsibilities.

So, as a duty and responsibility, I will take up the challenge of UMNO Youth Secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, when he said on 8 Sep 2008 (The Star), there was ‘deafening silence‘ on the inappropriate actions by Anwar to become our next Prime Minister. Abdul Rahman also asked:

“Where are the voices of NGOs, Bar Council and bloggers who had voiced loudly the need to protect the rights of people?

My posts on the irresponsible words and actions of Anwar Ibrahim are here, here and here (chronologically). More importantly, I have also questioned our current Prime Minister here and our former Prime Minister here.

Taking sides

Following on from my last post, Anwar and his drama, I actually read the article by The Nut Graph on ‘Anwar’s imminent road trip‘, and submitted a short comment. It’s stuck in the moderation timespace continuum, so I’ll do a complete one below. (NOTE: You need to read the article first to understand the context of my comments).

It is a sad state of affairs if Anwar’s imminent road trip to becoming the next tyrant of Malaysia is so ‘riddled by landmines’, we should have to prostrate ourselves and pave the way to ensure he gets a smooth ride.

I believe Malaysians deserve better. The reporting of mainstream media is not balanced. Are our blogs following suit? What has he ever done to deserve such accolades?

Instead of being the flavour of the moment, I have a better idea. Be more incisive and take a side, the side of explaining who Anwar really is. Check out Volokh Conspiracy’s article. Can you see the point?

Anwar and his drama

The last time I checked, there were 26 million of us in Malaysia. However, Anwar thinks winning Permatang Pauh with an electorate of about 60,000 will make him the next Prime Minister of Malaysia. Anwar claimed, as reported by Al Jazeera yesterday:

Clearly the prime minister has lost the mandate of the country.

He needs to learn how to count.

In our general election last March, BN had more than 50% of the votes. Badawi is President of UMNO, and with UMNO forming the largest party in our coalition government (BN), Abdullah Badawi is the Prime Minister. We inherited our electoral system, called ‘first past the post‘, from the Brits when we got our independence in 1957 and I believe a local reporter, Jacqueline Ann Surin, did a pretty decent job explaining how it works. Obviously, Anwar did not read it.

Is there a place for Malaysians?

Decided to start a blog today. Promised myself I would have to do it if Anwar wins the Permatang Pauh seat. I had hoped, against all presumption, it would not happen. The details of his win – here (Malaysia Sun) and here (AFP).

Most people don’t remember his earlier days when he rose to prominence through populist actions. He preyed on the most base and fearful aspects of Malaysian society, the politics of division and racial identity. He was an UMNO Youth leader with strong support from the Malay youth movement of Malaysia, largely a result of his irresponsible nationalistic and radical messages. For those who cannot speak, read or write English well, even if you are a graduate of a local university, you can thank him.