Impatience
Doesn’t it strike you that Anwar is again too eager to be PM? Why is he demanding an emergency parliament session this week when it will be in session again roughly 3 weeks from now? What is he chasing, why the unbridled urgency?
Does he know something we don’t? Could it be that his sodomy case is coming up and there could be some damning evidence? That he needs to be PM immediately so that he can wield more governmental powers when his case really do come up. He used to abuse his government powers when he was DPM by suppressing the investigations by the police when he was first accused of sodomy. Now that he is off government, he feels he desperately need to control the situation. He believes he can control the situation better with powers in his hands.
Or is this another of his attempt to get himself arrested for public disorder, which is his usual modus operandi for public sympathy when all else fails. Get himself arrested, people pity him, hopefully other MPs in Barisan will call foul and crossover.
Whatever his reason only he knows.
What confuses me is that, how can people tolerate this nonsense? Does he really believe that marching to the PM office and asking a meeting is the democratic way of doing things? Does he considers himself a democratically elected leader when all he’s doing is buying vote and MPs?
Win at any cost. That’s what he cares about, even when the Malaysian market is in such uncertainties. His actions are partly to blame for creating imbalances and uncertainties, he should shoulder some responsibilty.
Again, I am questioning, is this the route to becoming a PM? Impatience, selfish, inconsiderate and delusional. No matter what he believes, this is not how a democratically elected PM is made, especially when buying allegiances are involved.
Desperate times for a desperate man.
ISA Abuse?
It is interesting to see the abuse of Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA) being used to arrest bloggers and reporters under the guise of national security. It defies logic that these sad folks can be equated to terrorists, communists and religious deviants. I reserve my sympathies for later.
But what is more interesting is that being detained under ISA is fast becoming a status symbol for defiance against the powers that be. People no longer feared being detained and questioned about national security, knowing that the media waiting outside will always be on the look-out for any alleged wrong-doings by the cops.
Today on TV, that Kickdefella guy was released from detention, and the first thing that struck me was that he started posing for the cameras, thumbs-up and all. This was promptly followed up with an interview. And all this does is raise the profile of this guy, which will result in more blog-hits in the next few week. Who know, a nationwide tour or even a book deal might even follow soon. Now, he is an instant celebrity.
Some of you might scream “Wait a minute, that’s not fair. He’s been detained illegally and this is a clear abuse of justice”. “He might even have been abused and tortured and forced to signed a confession he didn’t want”. Yada-yada-yada… all well and good coming out from the mouths of our so-called social superheroes.
But being detained under ISA ultimately goes to whose benefits? It seems that only “patriots” worth his or her salt are being detained under the ISA, and you are only able to go up higher the political and social justice platforms if you have been detained.
It is a trend for political activist to get noticed. Anwar has done it, so has Guan Eng and Tian Chua. The Hindraf four will probably get their day in the papers too once they are released. I am betting Teresa Kok, now that she is an ISA alumni, will begin to take centrestage on a different level. With due respect, Teresa have been the lone warrior for local issues for the longest time, but being detained under ISA will give her the clout and the experience of an actual injustice done to her. Or at least, she has something extra to talk about.
So why ask for ISA abolishment at this time when the detainees themselves can abuse ISA to their own benefits? What will be the loss to the detainees when they are released? After all, you deserve that break from the outside world and the rest will do you good for the next few months. It is hardly bad… bad thing, is it? Especially when you get to see yourself printed on posters demanding your release, and people holding vigil for you across the country, cheering your name. And now that you are famous, maybe you will finally get your due attention after years in the political or social wilderness.
Look at where the former alumni. Anwar is dreaming himself the premiership, while Guan Eng is the head of state for Penang. I have the suspicion that Anwar is making it his hobby to be detained any way he can, ISA or otherwise, so that he gets to raise his hand to the photographers when he is released. A black eye would be a bonus; he will be able to milk it as much as possible, as well as get international coverage. Pimping for publicity, when you have nothing else to offer, I would say.
ISA is a bad thing? If there is a silver lining to a dark cloud, nothing comes close to the detention under ISA. No longer it is feared, it is not like it is Guantanamo Bay per se. Get detained for a few days, your whole political career is guaranteed.
So go on, practice your signature thumbs up in front of the mirror. Who knows one day you get to be invited to join that elite group of individuals who has been detained under the ISA. Good luck, fellow warriors.
Don’t forget to bring your toothbrush.
What happens then?
September 16 is touted by Anwar as the day he will get a hold enough assemblymen for him to form a government. Up to the point of declaring himself as the next Prime Minister of Malaysia. It is amazing to see such level of delusional belief in someone who thinks the whole of Malaysia wants him as the Prime Minister. If that is true, people would already have voted him as such, but why are there still people who do not believe him, if he really believes that he is the answer to everyone’s prayers?
So far, he has failed to address all the allegations that has been thrown at him, but instead chose to highlight the folly of his political enemies. Consider the allegations:
- Sodomy charges. Somehow, he has been making excuses and somewhat muted over since Saiful swore on the Quran. He has been quiet up to the point that he is hoping his PAS-friends back him up on that. The contrary has happened: more PAS members are now in two-minds since he declined to swear on the Quran. Suspicion creeping in? Perhaps.
- Judges appointment. Despite him threatening the government to release more videos of the judges appointment set-up, we have seen none from him. Again, hot-air talking? By the way, why is he holding these videos, without releasing them to the police? And I don’t think he is that dumb to not be able to make multiple copies of the video if he fears the police might “lose” the video.
- DNA. What’s the big deal about releasing his DNA to clear himself of the sodomy charges? Is there anything to hide?
- Foreign agent. Many times people have accused him of being an agent of a foreign government, be it CIA, FBI or even the Mossad. Has he ever denied it? And why is it that the foreign embassies always stick up for him when he gets in trouble? What’s their interest in this? It could not be democracy because buying Members of Parliments to join you coalition party is hardly democratic.
- Corruption. People always ask where did Anwar get his millions to run PKR? Consider this; he is not in business before coming to power as DPM, his family is not in business, he doesn’t sit on any board of directors, his party is only a decade old compared to other parties since practically the independance, he spent most of his time in overseas prior to making a political comeback, and all those stuff that makes you ask, where does he get the money for this? Even DAP, which has substantial Chinese businessmen backing, are not as rich as Parti Keadilan seemingly bottomless pot. Yes, there are donations, but will he be transparent enough to show his resources? I doubt that day will come.
It bothers me when someone wants to be something so much no matter what the costs. His allies in DAP and PAS do declare him as their leader, but are they willing to compromise on their beliefs and principles just to govern Malaysia? Lose everything to one man? Anwar has the habit of declaring something not in consensus with his other partners, and it shows the character of the person. Self-centred and selfish. When he declared that September 16 will be a public holiday, he ignored economic costs as well as agreement from his partners. Guan Eng was left answering questions and had to concede that maybe such holiday will be held next year. He was such in a blur that day!
Do they really believe Keadilan will power share with them, once Keadilan becomes too powerful? Even now, Anwar is talking to bring in the Sabah MPs, who will undoubtedly sit under the umbrella of Keadilan, which will make Keadilan the ruling party in Pakatan Rakyat. By then, who will stop Anwar?
DAP & PAS will find themselves at the short end of the stick. A tyrant named Anwar is emerging, and those who put him in power will find out that playing with fire sometimes burn their own hands.
September 16 is tomorrow. Everyone waits with bated breath to see if Anwar will again lie to the people of Malaysia. I hope he will emerge with some credibility left after tomorrow.
Holier Than Thou?
Why is it that everytime something happens to a PKR leader / assemblymen / supporter / symphatiser, it is labelled a conspiracy?
Are all these people above the law?
Its so-called de-facto is a case in point. Anwar Ibrahim demands that other people, especially BN politicians, be investigated for whatever wrong-doing. But when it is his turn to be investigated, he cries that it is a conspiracy against him and would not co-operate with the police. Why the double standard? Is he above the law, and irregardless of whatever he has done, is exempted from any persecution? Why must he always be the victim and the innocent one, everytime?
So far, he has done nothing but talk. But he has done nothing to defend himself other than hide behind other people, including his wife and the Turkish Embassy. Where all he as to do is provide DNA sample (to an independant overseas lab if he has no confidence in Malaysia, God knows he have many overseas friends), and swear on the Holy Book as his accuser has done. Simple… but for Anwar, it is always complicated and smells of conspiracy.
Now that some of the Perak PKR assemblymen has been rounded up by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) over alleged bribery, graft and sexual favours for the granting of State contracts, the rest of the PKR folks cries conspiracy again.
What makes PKR untouchable by law that they are above and beyond suspicion of any misdeeds? If you do the crime, why accuse other people of corruption instead? The truth is still there: you did the crime. Why do we even need to protect these people?
Truth is, it is a matter of who gets caught and who does not. If PKR members get caught instead of BN members, it just to show that PKR is stupid at playing this political game. The option is really therefore, only 2:
- If you want to do something criminal, be smart enough not to get caught
- If you cannot do a crime without getting caught, just don’t do the crime
It is irrelevant whether people from other political parties do not get caught with whatever they are accused of. In the world of law, if you are caught and tried and found guilty, then you are guilty. Karpal Singh knows this too well, so ask him. Those doing crime but are not caught, they are tried in a different type of court, which really is beyond your control.
But saying that people caught of suspicion of wrongdoing is part of a political conspiracy, is just talk by people with shallow sense of morals. Holier than thou? These people should really take a good look in the mirror.
Hello world!
After years of being a spectator, I finally want to be part of the community that talk about politics. Not biased to only one side, opposition or otherwise, but just telling it as I see it.
For the record, I cannot understand the fascination toward Anwar. Time and time again, he has exploited his position to belittle Malaysia, branding it as a corrupt country, with crooked judiciary and dirty cops, politicians as scums of the earth. Those who used to be his friends are now sworn enemy. Everyone, I mean everyone, is corrupted as long as they are in the government.
That’s the nature of the opposition. Oppose to anything and everything. This tradition comes from the stalwarts of the previous opposition parties, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, and now carries through to Anwar. Nothing is right in a world where Anwar considers himself a saviour.
Not to me.
I disagree with the fact that you put yourself as the answer to all of Malaysia’s problems when you are part of the problem in the first place. Sure, the government has made many, many mistakes. KJ has to stand up on this occasion to shoulder part of the responsibility to Pak Lah’s downfall. How do you get from being a Mr Nice Guy to a Mr I-am-being-forced-to-step down within 4 in-between-election years? Pak Lah mistakes are those for listening to only people that are close to him. I guess those are the wrong people to listen to, and Pak Lah could have done better than be too stubborn to listen to people who has the country’s best interest at heart. Now, as the Malay saying goes, “Nasi sudah menjadi bubur”. Accept that and move on.
But I digress.
What has Anwar done for the country so far other than push it further into chaos? When he was the Finance Minister under Mahathir, he did a lousy job handling the affairs of the country during the economic crisis. So bad that Mahathir has to sack him and install himself as the Finance Minister, prescribing capital controls as well as currency pegging. And when he is off on his overseas trip (who the hell financed these sometimes yearlong trips?), he has continuously bad-mouthed Malaysia and telling people what a corrupt country it was. He has accused the cops that they had poisoned him with arsenic, to this day left unconfirmed, although everyone knows that arsenic stays in your body even after you die. Has he launched any initiative to help Malaysia instead of helping himself? No. Whatever issues he has been fighting, has been raised by other opposition individuals, so none of it is original.
So what has he contributed so far, other than calling his staff “Saudara”? He contributed far more when he was in the government, with his good charity works. Now, all he wants is to be PM, at whatever costs.
He talks about power sharing and a Malaysia for all. But when he declared himself as the de-facto leader and PM in waiting, I pity all those DAP and PAS folks who have been dreaming of leading the country. Here you have an ex-government lackey under Mahathir, finally released from jail from corruption charges, with a sodomy-cloud still lingering over him, claiming to be Malaysia’s saviour. And PAS and DAP is endorsing him? Where are their principles and sense of duty to their constituents? Amazing that these two parties are being hoodwinked by this person.
And what will happen once Anwar convince the so-called Barisan MPs from East Malaysia to defect? Morally and ethically it is the wrong way for going into government, as it is defective to presume that the people who voted for these traitors voted for the individuals, not the party. Ethically, they should resign their post and hold new elections under their new party, but hey…. Anwar always considers everyone else is wrong and he is above the law. Will DAP or PAS comment on this? These two parties are being bullied because the carrot for power is being dangled by Anwar.
To which party, should the Barisan MPs defect, will they go to? It will be naive for DAP and PAS to think that they will stand under their party’s banner. Of course, they will stand under their defection-sponsor banner i.e. Keadilan. That means, overnight, the Pakatan Rakyat will be more Keadilan-heavy. Immediately, Keadilan will have 30 more seats in Parliament and become the dominant party under Anwar. Decisions will then be a one-party decisions.
PAS and DAP will be nothing more than bit players by then, with DAP holding to Penang and PAS keeping Kelantan. Lackeys… when Anwar even has the cheek to mention that should he become PM, the Deputy post can even be someone from Sabah or Sarawak. Salivate, my dear MPs, salivate!
Could we have chosen a more morally-shallow spin doctor as the future PM of Malaysia? I refuse to be fascinated by someone of such integrity, and I wonder about this path the power-crazy man is taking us.
God save Malaysia. I think we are past the point of no return. So, all I can do is continue to write.
