(picked from Raja Petra Kamarudin - MALAYSIATODAY 's blog) :
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/15349/84/
The 2008 TIME 100 Finalists: Are They Worthy?
Posted by admin
Wednesday, 26 November 2008 12:33
As far as the blogging community and civil society movements are concerned, Pakatan Rakyat has betrayed the voters. We gave them a mandate and they let us down. But we are not going to allow it to end there.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
(Anwar 's photo)
ANWAR IBRAHIM
AGE: 60
OCCUPATION: Malaysian politician
PRO: Seen as a possible future Prime Minister, Ibrahim provides an active voice for demanding free and fair elections in Malaysia, a country known for its censorious government, which controls the mainstream media, bars students from political protest, and jails dissidents without trial.
CON: Citizens don't soon forget the fact that a politician, however freedom-loving, once got six years in prison for corruption (in a politically charged trial) and nine for sodomy.
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Anwar Ibrahim
By Paul Wolfowitz, Time
During the 1990s, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and a group of U.S. Senators organized a forum to exchange views among East Asians and Americans. Asked at one session about the role of Islam in politics, Anwar replied, "I have no use for governments which call themselves Islamic and then deny basic rights to half their population."
This devout Muslim leader was an impressive and eloquent advocate of tolerance, democracy and human rights. So we were shocked by his arrest and trial in 1998 on charges of corruption and sodomy. I felt his real "crime" had been to challenge Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose impressive record will be forever stained by his treatment of Anwar. I joined Senator Sam Nunn and others to speak out in Anwar's defense.
When he was finally released from prison in 2004, U.S. policy on Iraq was unpopular in Malaysia, and Anwar was harshly critical. It would have been easy for him to disown our friendship, but he is not that kind of person. He kept the channels of dialogue open, even while making clear our disagreements.
Anwar, 60, is back in the center of Malaysian politics. The coalition led by his wife Wan Azizah has become the main opposition bloc. His future role can be determined only by Malaysians. One can hope that they will embrace his brand of tolerance, valuing dialogue across political differences, and that this courageous leader will continue to play a leading role on the world stage.
Wolfowitz is a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense
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“Are they worthy?” asked ‘The 2008 TIME 100 Finalists’ report. Anwar Ibrahim was placed at number 9 in the list of 100 and the question is most apt for Anwar even if it may not be for the rest of the 99.
It is easy to brush off Paul Wolfowitz’s glowing ‘obituary’ of Anwar seeing that the former was one of the ‘architects’ of the invasion of Iraq that resulted in probably a million deaths and untold misery for the Iraqi civilian population. For all intents and purposes, Iraq has been sent back to the Middle Ages and Wolfowitz is one of those with blood on his hands.
Nevertheless, we must be matured enough to separate the singer from the song. It is the message and not the messenger that counts. And Wolfowitz’s message does have some merits. And that is also why I support some of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘messages’ at the ire of most Malaysia Today readers who reject anything that comes from Mahathir, positive or otherwise. I can understand that most would rather focus on the wrongs he has done and that they feel the rights can never clean the slate of the wrongs. But that is another subject for another time. Today we shall talk about Anwar Ibrahim and where he will probably go from here.
“His future role can be determined only by Malaysians,” said Wolfowitz, and this would certainly be true. The future of the Prime Minister or Malaysia, if he comes from Umno, is determined by the 191 Umno divisions headed by its 191 division heads. That’s right, 191 Malays from Umno determine who will become the Prime Minister of this nation .....
......
Back to what Wolfowitz said: His future role can be determined only by Malaysians. Wolfowitz is right on this point and Anwar will not go places unless Malaysians are prepared to deny Najib the Prime Ministership in March and instead hand the post to Anwar.
Malaysians are quite divided on this issue. While some would like to see Anwar pull off his hat-trick and engineer a crossover of at least 30 Barisan Members of Parliament to the aisle of Pakatan Rakyat in Parliament, there are others who feel this would be immoral and that Anwar should wait until the next general election to ‘legitimately’ take power through the ballot box. To these people, crossovers are a sell-out and they do not condone crossovers whether from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat, or vice versa.
The question would then be: does the end justify the means? In politics the end always justify the means. There can be no two ways about it. Politics itself is about manipulation and there is no such thing as dirty politics. Politics is about being dirty and manipulation comes with the territory.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar, the one-time Deputy President of Parti Keadilan Nasional -- before it merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia to become Parti Keadilan Rakyat -- used to talk about ‘politik baru’ or ‘new politics’. I told him that ‘politik baru’ is a misnomer, it doesn’t exist, and this upset him like mad. Politics is the second oldest game in the world, second only to prostitution, so there can be no ‘politik baru’. You need to grasp the concept of ‘politik lama’ to make it in the political game.
Dr Chandra would hit back and say, “It is people like you who have reduced Malaysian politics to what is has become today. We need to change the people and if people like you still subscribe to the old politics then what hope do we have?” Dr Chandra eventually became disillusioned with politics in general and Anwar Ibrahim in particular and left the party in a huff, condemning Anwar in the process.
Many see Anwar as the possible saviour of Malaysia. But this is not because they see Anwar as the most suitable choice but rather as the lesser of the many evils. They still regard Anwar as having a lot of baggage and with as much ‘blood on his hands’ as Mahathir. So it is not that Anwar is the best choice. It is just that all the others are worst choices. Between Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Tun Razak, Muyhiddin Yassin, Mohammad Mohd Taib, Ali Rustam, and all those other Ali Babas and their 40 thieves, Anwar would be a saint by comparison. But this is only because we are comparing the scum of the earth to Anwar -- so Anwar comes out looking like Mother Teresa.
In that sense, most Malaysians don’t trust Anwar any more than they trust the rest. It is just that the rest would be more damaging for Malaysia while Anwar can be ‘controlled’ and, with a gun at his head, be made to walk the straight and narrow. At least this is what most Malaysians hope although they are hoping with their fingers crossed and praying that they might not end up creating a Frankenstein instead.
On Saturday, 29 November 2008, I shall be attending the Parti Keadilan Rakyat party congress at the Melawati Stadium in Shah Alam. No, I am not going as a delegate. I am going together with about 25 other bloggers and civil society movement activists as an observer. We are going to see what Anwar is going to talk about in his Ucapan Dasar or policy speech.
Just before the 8 March 2008 general election, the blogging community and civil society movements launched the ‘Peoples’ Declaration’ or ‘Dekalarasi Rakyat’. Six political parties, including Parti Keadilan Rakyat, endorsed the Declaration at a ceremony at Blog House. Then the elections ended and Pakatan Rakyat won 82 Parliament seats and five states. And that was the end of the Declaration. They never spoke about it again.
Malaysiakini to post out this =>
As far as the blogging community and civil society movements are concerned, Pakatan Rakyat has betrayed the voters. We gave them a mandate and they let us down. But we are not going to allow it to end there.
In December, we are going to organise a fund-raising exercise to finance the printing of one million copies of the Declaration in four languages -- English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil. These booklets are going to be distributed the length and breadth of Malaysia so that we can educate Malaysians on how this country should be run.
Sure, we clamour for changes. But what changes are we talking about? What do we hope to see? This booklet will address all these issues. This is not an anti-government Declaration. It is not even a pro-opposition Declaration. It is a pro-rakyat Declaration, which we want all the political parties to adopt, whoever they may be.
malaysiakini to post out this ==>
Yes, as Wolfowitz said: His future role can be determined only by Malaysians. And on Saturday, 29 November 2008, 25 members of the blogging community and civil society movements will be at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat party congress in the Melawati Stadium in Shah Alam to remind Anwar that Pakatan Rakyat and three other non-Pakatan Rakyat parties made a promise to the voters in the days leading to the 8 March 2008 general election. They endorsed our Peoples’ Declaration and we voted for them. But after we voted for them they abandoned our Peoples’ Declaration.
Later, we shall also attempt to meet the coalition members of Barisan Nasional and talk to them about the Peoples’ Declaration. We hope that they too will see that this document is not anti-government but pro-rakyat. And we hope, in their wisdom, they will also endorse it and come out with a program of reforms that can only benefit this country and all Malaysians regardless of race and religion.
That is going to be our project over these next four months before Najib takes over as Prime Minister -- if Anwar does not do so before then, that is. .....But until then I still have four months (I hope) and I am going to use those remaining four months to aggressively campaign for the Peoples’ Declaration to become our new ‘Rukun Negara’ on how this country should be run, never mind who it is that will be running this country.
So, Anwar, Najib, or whosoever aspires to be the next prime minister. You are now on notice. The rakyat are giving you a yellow card. “His future role can be determined only by Malaysians,” said Wolfowitz. And we too are telling you the same. Put your money where your mouth is. The rakyat spoke on 8 March 2008. And we have not stopped talking. Endorse and adopt the Peoples’ Declaration or be prepared to meet your Maker because your days will certainly be numbered if you don’t endorse and adopt it.
We are going to flood the country with our Peoples’ Declaration. And after we do that the rakyat will be better informed and more educated on the meaning of good governance. Then they will weigh this against what both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat governments are doing. Then, come the next election, the rakyat will know what to do. No longer can the rakyat be taken as suckers. The rakyat have become an informed society. And the blogging community and civil society movements will see to it that when the rakyat next go to the polls they will be able to make an ‘informed decision’.
Yes, you can fuck us once. But you can’t fuck us twice. The next time around the rakyat will fuck you, at the ballot box. So be warned. And our presence at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat party congress ..... is to deliver that yellow card.
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