Are international support politically good for Anwar Ibrahim?

Malaysiakini news report on Ex-World Bank, IMF bosses: M'sia should drop Anwar charges tells us again of how those heads of organizations close to Anwar Ibrahim have rallied behind him.

A day or two ago, none other than Condoleeza Rice, the US Secretary of State also voiced her support of Anwar, ominously warning the Malaysian government that the sodomy charges against Anwar has been viewed with suspicions by the Yanks, insinuating the criminal process wasn’t ‘transparent’ enough for her – see Malaysiakini Rice urges 'transparency' in sodomy probe.

Rejecting the Malaysian ire that the US has been meddling in Malaysian internal affairs, Rice warned: "The United States doesn't recognise this very firm barrier that it is simply internal affairs when a case of this kind comes up, but we are going to continue to work with Malaysia."

"One of the things that we have said is that we want to see transparency and for rule of law to be completely followed here", implying dodgy-ness on the part of the Malaysian authorities.

By contrast, the US tolerance of and silence over police brutalities in Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and once upon a time, in the Shah's Iran with its American trained Gestapo-like Savak, can only highlight US' hypocrisy and obvious political preference.

Before Rice, there was a US Senator who voiced his concerns over the police investigation of Anwar. And Malaysiakini told us in Syed Hamid: Anwar a US 'snitch' that a spokesman of the US State Department also cautioned Malaysia that US would oppose any politically motivated investigation or prosecution of Anwar.

By Western standards, the Malaysian authorities would by now be fairly chastened in the alleged persecution of Anwar Ibrahim.

Alas, by Malaysian standards, these US and IMF (a notorious and disliked name to Malaysians) support for Anwar Ibrahim are in reality sweet music to the ears of the UMNO ministers (much as they pretend outrage) because the foreign support of Anwar would prove to the ‘heartland’ that the UMNO insinuations and accusations against Anwar a la Syed Hamid's allegations have been 'true'.

Western logic doesn’t work here. Malay Machiavellian court intrigues demand a different mindset which the West has time and time again failed to comprehend, consider and counter.

Now a ‘nugget’, as one sweetie likes to term a juicy piece of information.

Not many were aware that in 1998, when Anwar Ibrahim faced sodomy charges, a World Health conference was by coincidence held in KL (or was it Singapore), where many Western ‘gay’ groups attending the conference were furious at the homophobic charges against poor Anwar, and wanted to lend their unequivocal support of him through vociferous protests.

Again, by Western standards that would have been most encouraging and welcome, but do you think it would have helped Anwar’s case in 1998 for gay groups to make noise over his criminal charges?

Though my good friend Dean Johns revealed to us in his Land of the rotten, home of the gullible Sodomy beats sodUMNy “… that Australia’s first Malaysian-born federal government minister, Senator Penny Wong, happens to be lesbian. And the leader of Australia’s Greens Party, Bob Brown, is avowedly homosexual, as is one of Australia’s most eminent and widely-admired jurists, Justice Michael Kirby.”

“Not all male homosexuals practice sodomy, of course, whatever the sexually-uninformed may believe. But in any case, it’s nobody’s business but their own. And I’d rather my country was run by an honest and public-spirited sodomist, or even an entire coalition and cabinet of sodomists, than by a bunch of homophobic hicks, crooks and serial ‘sodUmnists’.”

While I agree completely with him, I believe that in 1998 Anwar would have been politically ‘murdered’ through the gay groups' kind support as it would have confirmed to the ‘heartland’ he was a sodomite.

Unlike Dean Johns, but probably more like the muddled mind of a certain Mufti of a Malaysian State, a 'gay' would be perceived as equal to an evil sodomite. Afterall, that Mufti wanted to banish those inflicted by HIV-AIDS (even if the disease was contacted through blood transfusion) to a deserted island.

In fact I doubt Anwar himself would have welcomed those well meaning but unwanted support.

It was only through the explanations and urgings by a well-known Malaysian personality that those Western gay groups were dissuaded from worsening the situation for Anwar, as well as not to make life worse for the covert gay communities in Malaysian.

The consequential waves of gay bashing in Malaysia would have been terrifying if those Western gay groups had naively voiced their support for Anwar Ibrahim.

... which may explain why America keeps losing its wars in Asia - Korea (to a certain extent), Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq (the last of which is part of the Asian continent too).

Sodomy beats sodUMNy

Yesterday I posted Politics of mud or maturity?, showcasing how political differences or disagreement between friends needn’t affect their friendship nor end up in fisticuffs or puerile emo-words like “you hate Anwar” yadda yadda.

My matey, Dean Jones* Johns, columnist for Malaysiakini, in his Land of the rotten, home of the gullible had expressed his belief, contrary to mine, that Anwar Ibrahim, warts and all, is still the best bet for Malaysiakini.

* apologies to Dean and thanks to Crankshaft for noticing my 'deliberate' mistake wakakaka

I rate Dean as one of the hardest-hitting columnists in Malaysiakini, but the best part of his writing has been his tongue-in-cheek humour, jolly good play on the English words and puns, the last of which make me suspect he was a Chinese in his previous incarnation, and no doubt of the Cantonese variety too ;-)

Cantonese are renowned or notorious for their love for and use of puns, especially saucy and sexy ones. In fact a sweetie once told me that one could hardly swear in Mandarin, where t'a ma ter & wang pa tan would exhaust the northern Chinese's entire repertoire of obscenities ...

..... whereas by contrast the Cantonese dialect offers an ultra rich lexicon with exciting arithmetical pemutations in the use of obscenities, vulgararisms, saucy puns, sexy innuendoes and terrifying curses … whereby she convincingly demonstrated that evident truth to blushing me, yes, even a bloke who has dodgy comprehension of Cantonese.

Sure as hell Cantonese makes verbal intercourse more sizzling and titillating. And I do wonder at the karmic coincidence of Dean's parents-in-law living in Cantonese-speaking Ipoh.

Now, a secret – and I hope I am not compromising the confidentiality of Dean’s discussion with me. He’s actually pissed off with Malaysiakini changing the title of his article into what has been published, namely ‘Land of the rotten, home of the gullible’.

Married to a Malaysian and one himself at heart, Dean cringed at the very thought that Malaysians may find the title of his article insulting as those words would seem to imply that we are greedy and gullible, which he assured me were not his thoughts at all. The title has misrepresented his true views.

And to make it worse, ‘Land of the rotten, home of the gullible’ appears to paraphrase the well-known phrase 'Home of the brave, land of the free', perhaps even suggesting the article is about the US – God forbid!

In fact I would say Dean’s quite distressed with the Malaysiakini editor’s 'sense of creativity', though mind you, he didn’t mention anything about Malaysiakini editors.

I did ..... as I used to be a regular contributor of letters to Malaysiakini, I laughingly told Dean about my own experience with the Malaysiakini butchers of my masterpieces - wakakaka!

Dean’s original title for that piece was 'Sodomy beats sodUMNy', perhaps with the letter 'U' best read twice ;-)

Politics of mud or maturity?

My good mate, Dean Johns, columnist at Malaysiakini has penned a new piece titled Land of the rotten, home of the gullible.

No prize for guessing which country he has written about in his inimitable style, and on what (current) issue. I even merit a kind mention in his column, though Dean, unlike me, believes that Anwar Ibrahim, warts and all, may yet be Malaysia’s best hope

This is the beauty of our ‘civilised’ friendship, where we as friends can agree to disagree on political or other issues without needing to throw punches at each other, as Yang Berhormat, MP for Kelana Jaya, PKR’s Loh Gwo Burne had frighteningly discovered when he was bashed in the face by another PKR bloke.

Another of my good mates is blogger Susan Loone. She told me that she was once selected by PKR to stand as the party's candidate in an election (which I had blogged on) but which she declined for reasons of principles.

Obviously Susan and I don’t share (exactly) common political allegiance though both of us have strong socialist streaks, but we continue to be good mates and have on numerous occasions discussed politics without rancour.

When the day arrives in Malaysian politics, where there is no more personality cult or ethno-centric followings, then that will be the day Malaysians will enjoy a two party system.

That will be the day when an UMNO PM can provide fair federal funding to a non-BN controlled state because of the needs of Malaysians in that state.

That will be the day when UMNO, PAS and PKR will talk about Malaysian unity rather than Malay unity. (UPDATE: wakakaka - UMNO has now changed the theme of the UMNO-PAS 'Malay unity' talks to 'Islamic unity', as those 'protest voters' against the BN have been made to feel they shouldn't be just 'protest voters' in next election but confirmed voters for the Pakatan).

That will be the day when we can criticise politicians without being accused of 'hating' so and so! wakakaka!

NOTE: This one is dedicated to you, Crankshaft ;-)

Miscellanous - from reformasi to royalty

From Malaysiakini - Pakatan takeover plan still on track: Anwar.

Today Anwar Ibrahim said an opposition plan to seize power remained intact despite a series of secret talks between one of its partners with the ruling government.

Seize power? Anwar Ibrahim’s reformasi – wakakaka – this man has such thick skin he has no shame at all in showing the true colours of his so-called reformasi.

From Malaysiakini - Local fishermen unamused by Batu Puteh claims.

Malaysian fishermen are pissed off with Singapore's claim for exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Batu Puteh.

If one were to look at the map, one would see the outrageous nonsense of the Sings. Those Sings think Malaysia doesn’t have an EEZ rights too? Sheeesh!

Reminds me of an Indian story – elephant stood under a coconut tree; lil’ mouse was on elephant’s back, attempting to screw elephant – the cheeky lil’ sod. Coconut dropped on elephant’s head; Mama pachyderm cried “ouch”; mouse said: “Sorry dahleeeng, I didn’t mean to be so rough.”

F* Sing tikus at its bloody height of impertinence!

From Star Online - Kit Siang: Why Malay unity and not Malaysian unity.

Uncle Lim asked AAB this question regarding the once-secret UMNO-PAS' 'Malay unity' talks. I too ask the same question of PKR’s Mohamad Fairus Khairudin (Penang’s Deputy CM) – see PKR leader wants in on UMNO-PAS 'Malay unity' talks!

From Star Online - Rulers have special roles.

Highly admired Regent of Perak, once (prior to the March 08 election) touted as the ‘silver bullet’ to kill off the BN werewolf, told us yesterday that Malay Rulers are not decorative symbolic monuments who merely carry out ceremonial duties. Rather, they have roles in society, which means their views should not be taken lightly.

He then gave several examples of the royal righteous roles, one of which caught my eye.

HRH said of Nizar, the new MB, who sacked the state religious director without getting the Ruler's assent first.

HRH justified (or in kaytee’s reckoning, attempted to do so) his humiliation of Nizar, stating: “That is why the state government was asked to withdraw it!” because, according to his HRH, Nizar contradicted the principle of basic justice as the director had not done any wrong and was not given an opportunity to defend himself.

If you read my Supremacy of the people's voice in democracy I brought out HRH’s initial reason for rebuking and forcing Nizar to back down, on the grounds that the dismissed chap was a director of a State religious department, and the Sultan, as the State’s head of Islam, has his royal prerogative on all matters of State religion, including deciding who should be sacked or not sacked involving State religious issues.

And on those (religious rights) grounds, he revoked the MB’s decision in the dismissal.

Apart from the needless public humiliation of Nizar, and thus undermining his MB’s authority, I pointed out that Karpal Singh had been absolutely correct for speaking out against royal interference with politics and political management decisions.

Even though the man was the director of a State religious department, his sacking was not related to religious matters but rather his political behaviour as a State public servant – he was insubordinate to the PAS MB.

Certainly insubordination would then be within the rights and powers of the MB to dismiss him, even without consulting the Sultan as it has nothing to do with a religious issue.

Yes, I noted that there were the usual politically motivated calls, no doubt from BN, to charge Karpal with lèse majesty.

But, was Karpal Singh right? Let's see what HRH said yesterday of the case.

HRH did not bring out the Sultan’s right as the head of Islam in revoking the MB’s decision to dismiss that insubordinate bloke.

That's right - that reason was totally absent! What HRH said was that MB Nizar contradicted the principle of basic justice as the director had not done any wrong and was not given an opportunity to defend himself.

So it has now been admitted by HRH that it was an administrative issue and not a religious one!

A case of basic (administrative) justice! And so, according to HRH, he had (on behalf of Papa) intervened to ensure there was basic justice.

What about the unacceptable issue of insubordination to the MB? And the subsequent public humiliation of a MB? Was there basic justice for MB Nizar?

Quite frankly, by raising the case again and changing HRH’s reason for revoking the MB’s administrative decision, the Regent has made his justification worse.

If I were to draw any consolation from this sorry saga, I can only say HRH has at least indirectly heeded Karpal Singh’s admonition on royal interference with politics and political management decisions.

I saw the whole series of royal interferences (Perlis, Terengganu, and Perak) as opportunities for flexing of their once-absolute-but-neutralised royal muscles after Dr M left the stage.

The royal humiliation of MB Nizar left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Silver bullet?

PAS & DAP vs UMNO & PKR? Bizarre yet best!

OK, sodomy is off the front page whilst ‘Malay unity’ in Selangor (and perhaps Perak too), purportedly to keep the Chinese dominated DAP out of State governments, is on!

As Malaysiakini shows us in its news article Umno 'opportunists' causing friction in PAS, racially oriented politics would be the only news that could kick sodomy on its arse out (excuse the deliberate pun)

But of course, a combination of the two, salacious sleazy sexual misdemeanour involving racist politicians would certainly be top news ;-)

Mazlan Aliman, PAS Johor information chief said UMNO opportunists were attempting to sow discord among PAS leaders by deliberately revealing the two Malay-dominated parties had covert meetings to forge a power-sharing arrangement when there actually wasn’t any such pact – you know, the old (orang putih) colonial strategy of ‘divide and rule’.

Hmmm, I reckon Mazlan was mouthing the views of PAS spiritual leader Pak Haji Nik Aziz, because I would imagine PAS president, Pak Haji Hadi Awang possibly having a different opinion. That’s where the potential PAS schism may be.

Mazlan said: "I support the call by PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat for all PAS leaders to unite and avoid being divided by the machinations of opportunists. Umno must put its own house in order before meddling in PAS' affairs."

Of course now that PAS has revealed the UMNO lack of success in seducing PAS over to its side, Khir Toyo, being one always to see a half glass as half full, decided to rubbish Anwar Ibrahim as a consolation prize.

We are told by Malaysiakini article Umno-PAS rule in S'gor - 'Anwar ruined it' that Khir accused Anwar Ibrahim of ‘Malay disunity’, by influencing PAS not to cooperate with UMNO in forming a joint government in Selangor after the 08 March elections.

Khir had deliberately ignored the truth that it was PAS spiritual leader, Pak Haji Nik Aziz, who has virtually fatwa-ed PAS not to have any form of cooperation with the UMNO snake.

So Khir exploited the PAS rejection of a wooing UMNO to lay it on thick against Anwar, saying the PKR de facto leader was not supportive of 'Malay unity', as evidenced by the backing he enjoys from the 'extremist' Chinese party DAP and the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

He stated: "Unfortunately the influence of Anwar in PAS through the party's secretary-general Kamaruddin Jaafar blocked the initiative."

"As long as Anwar is important in Pakatan Rakyat, the muzakarah will not succeed. Anwar does not want to see Malays unite and that is why he formed Pakatan that thrives on the ideals of equality to the extent of elevating other religions on the same par as the primary religion in this country, Islam."

Obviously Khir wanted to destroy Anwar’s image in the eyes of the faithful in the heartland.

But Pak Haji Nik Aziz is not one to believe in UMNO’s offer of ‘Malay unity’, for he (most astutely) reckoned that any government formed through the proposed Pan-Malay coalition would only be for the interest of UMNO rather than Malay interests.

Now, this is something that PKR’s Mohamad Fairus Khairudin (Penang’s Deputy CM) should know, if not would know, but alas, he still had begged UMNO to invite PKR's Malay leaders besides those from PAS.

Given Mohamad Fairus Khairudin’s proclivity for an ethno-centric political alliance, I wonder whether PKR can continue to be a reliable member of the Pakatan Rakyat, as a PAS (under Pak Haji Nik Aziz) has surprisingly proven to be.

I dare not dream, yet must, of two ideologically puritanial, earnest and honest parties forming a 'clean' coalition, yes, the yin and yang of Malaysian politics, for a non-corruptible, transparent and totally accountable Malaysian government in the future.

Amin.

PKR leader wants in on UMNO-PAS 'Malay unity' talks

In my post Nik Aziz Nik Mat - Pakatan Rakyat's Optimus Prime? I discussed the extensive UMNO-PAS talks where Hadi Awang of PAS has indicated his preference to deal with a Malay-Muslim party like UMNO rather than a secular socialist (& satanic) party like the DAP.

Today Malaysiakini confirmed the UMNO-PAS (Hadi faction) talks in Hadi: Yes, we had talks with Pak Lah.

I had highlighted Pak Haji Hadi Awang’s political difference with his party’s spiritual leader Pak Haji Nik Aziz's. The latter prefers to have nothing to do with the UMNO ‘snake’ but I think he's under pressure from his Terengganu counterpart to show PAS' 'unity' on this Pan-Malay talks.

Malay-Muslim unity is big to some people, especially in times of trouble affecting their taken-for-granted political-social-economic-cultural supremacy.

I recall immediately after the 08 March 2008 general election, when UMNO realized to its shock that it had lost Kedah, Perak and the really big kahuna (the powder keg that led to the May 13 riots in 1969), Selangor, the UMNO man in the (ironically) Bandar Tun Razak constituency called for 'Malay unity', and proposed talks with PAS and the Malay elements of PKR.

He must have obviously been sh*t scared of the very idea of ketuanan Melayu being imperiled, and f* those MCA, Gerakan and MIC allies subordinates.

Since then there have been repetitive UMNO calls for Pan-Malay unity, with the (rancid) cream going to the Crown Prince of Kelantan, who in a speech on ketuanan Melayu had virtually slapped the face of his 2nd class non-Melayu subjects.

For more, read Kelantan Crown Prince 'slapped' non-Malays in face! where HRH claimed that Malays had been coerced into giving non-Malays citizenship, and therefore the latter should not seek equality or special treatment.

Anyway, on the call by UMNO Bandar Tun Razak for 'Malay unity', and proposed talks with PAS and the Malay elements of PKR, I suspect someone would have been smiling at the thoughts of having ‘talks’ with UMNO. But alas, PAS was the preferred partner for UMNO’s Malay unity gambit.

In fact Pak Haji Hadi Awang confirmed that talks between PAS and UMNO were held immediately after the elections, as called for by that UMNO bloke from Bandar Tun Razak.

Pak Haji revealed to Malaysiakini: "The first meeting held immediately after the elections was participated by Nasharudin, PAS central election director Mustapha Ali and Shah Alam parliamentarian Khalid Samad."

Wow! They certainly know the modus operandi of UMNO.

But Malaysiakini tells us that Husam Musa, PAS vice-president and obviously in Pak Haji Nik Aziz camp, slammed AAB's claim of having high level talks with PAS leaders.

Husam said AAB revealed that to "plant seeds of destruction in PAS."

Malaysiakini said Husam was pissed off with AAB’s use of the term ‘top leaders’. Husam was obviously reclaiming high grounds for Pak Haji Nik Aziz, perhaps in the shadow of a quietly creeping attempted coup d'état by the Hadi Awang camp?

Husam said that PAS is not owned by any leader no matter how high their positions may be.

We can see the Nik Aziz camp’s political preference in Husam’s criticism of AAB: "He is also trying to tempt the people to lose confidence in Pakatan Rakyat, hindering the post-12th general election agenda, and trying to distant non-Malay voters away from PAS (like the scenario) 40 years ago."

Malaysiakini reported that Husam stressed PAS will announce any political opinions/suggestions openly without keeping the people out of the loop, and UMNO may then accept or decline that suggestion.

Husam sure as hell doesn’t want UMNO to exploit the dearth of information on the two-party talks to UMNO’s benefits.

Husam stated that any suggestion shall be made "…without PAS being tied down to power sharing (arrangement) that indefinitely leaves PAS as the second fiddle."

… precisely the same feelings Pak Haji Hadi Awang has vis-à-vis Anwar Ibrahim and PKR.

Now, in my previous post I also commented that PAS is a political party that sometimes can’t make up its mind as to whether it’s an Islamic Party or a nationalistic (Malay) party.

Well, I can say the same for PKR, because yesterday I read in the Star article titled Open dialogue with all Malay groups, Umno urged, that Mohamad Fairus Khairudin of PKR and Penang’s Deputy CM, urged UMNO to invite all Malay organisations if it is serious about holding muzakarah (discussions) on Malay issues and Islam.

In fact he pointedly said that UMNO should be inviting PKR's Malay leaders, besides those from PAS.

Note his "PKR's Malay leaders" as opposed to 'PKR leaders', or even 'PKR's Malaysian leaders'.

He reckoned it would be an interesting development if all parties representing the Malays were able to gather at one table for discussion.

Interesting only? In fact I would dare say someone in PKR would be totally ecstatic, rapt, and in blissful nirvana.

Fairus of course chanted the agama dan bangsa mantra: “It is a big issue of finding common ground for the betterment of all Malays and Islam.”

And Fairus said these ethno-centric 'Malay unity' stuff at the same time as Penang CM Lim Guan Eng was asking PM AAB whether he was the PM for all Malaysians or only for Malays when he promoted secret PAS-UMNO talks?

Indeed, like Lim Guan Eng, I must ask PKR to make up its mind as to whether it’s a multi-ethnic party as it claims, or a nationalistic (Malay) party as demonstrated by an ethno-centric enthusiastic Mohamad Fairus Khairudin.

As I said, you can take the blokes out of UMNO but you sure as hell can’t take UMNO out those PKR blokes!

Nik Aziz Nik Mat - Pakatan Rakyat's Optimus Prime?

Nik Aziz regrets media obsession in sodomy case - that was the headline in Malaysiakini yesterday.

Pak Haji Nik Aziz, the MB of Kelantan, has urged the media to stop highlighting the alleged sodomy case involving Anwar Ibrahim. He said they were unwittingly humiliating Anwar even though he has not been charged yet nor proven guilty

I agree with him that we Malaysians have an unhealthy obsession with the salacious, whether it’s the MSM digging it into Anwar and his alleged sodomy, or the alternative media, the blogosphere, giving free rein to insinuations, and even Statutory Declarations against Najib.

In the latter, the murder case of the Mongolian woman, Altantuyaa Shariibuu, despite the fact that there are already two accused undergoing trial for her murder with a third and high profile person being accessory to the crime, these haven’t satisfied a certain camp, or rather its political agenda.

No, not until Najib is implicated, and mind you, not just implicated as an accessory to the crime, but preferably as the principal suspect.

And if he can’t be directly dragged in, then he must be implicated through the alleged or ‘surat-layang-ish’ involvement of his wife as the mastermind behind Altantuyaa’s murder.

I believe the ‘long bow-ish’ attempt to join the rather haphazard dots of circumstantial evidence until they lead towards Najib has been and still is politically motivated, and certainly pushed by a certain segment of politics.

I find the above no different to the condemnation of Anwar’s sodomy allegation by the Anwar camp.

Pity Pak Haji didn’t raise this as well.

Anyway, bugger (sorry, pun not intended) all the above, because this post is about Pak Haji.

Mark my word, this man is now the only one who can hold the Pakatan Rakyat together, hopefully until the next general election.

Certainly Anwar Ibrahim was the man who first brought the three ideologically-diverse parties of the Pakatan Rakyat together pre and immediately post 08 March 2008 general elections, but in this role, he has passed his ‘use by’ date.

A major problem contributing to his diminished status as the principal cohesive force for the three parties has been his obsession with the destabilisation of the AAB government, when he should have been focusing instead on building up one solid component of the two-party system everyone has been hoping for, and even believed has arrived.

Alas, far from it!

I have already explained my belief on why Anwar Ibrahim has been ‘destabilising’ the government – principally to threaten and pressure UMNO (even with frogs and lots of other ‘kacau’) until (he hopes) the old party recalls/invites him back into the UMNO fold.

Besides, the strength of the PKR is not what he likes or even feels comfy with – the formation of the Selangor exco exemplifies his dilemma.

Thus, I reckon Anwar hasn’t really been interested in a permanent tenure in Pakatan Rakyat, which may explain why he didn’t/couldn’t be bothered with building up the opposition parliamentary strength and know-how. He’s the one (probably the only one) in PR with the experience of governing at federal level, yet he has not bothered to even form a shadow cabinet.

Since 09 March 2008, he has indulged in nothing except an unending campaign of destabilising the Malaysian government, hogging the limelight with his antics and his boasts of seizing government, until he must have pissed off the other PAS bigwig, Pak Haji Hadi Awang.

Pak Haji Hadi Awang isn’t the sort of bloke who is prepared to play second fiddle to a man like Anwar Ibrahim who has been running around loose with his actions as if he has an open Pakatan cheque book and the imprimatur to use it as and when he likes, without the need to consult PAS or DAP.

The DAP has played along with Anwar’s personal agenda, seemingly like an indulgent brother, because it knows it still needs PKR support if it is to continue to have a role in State governments. Even the rule of Penang is dependent on the support of a couple of PKR ADUNs because DAP has only a total of 19 ADUNS in the State.

But PAS is a different mob. And Pak Haji Awang has a strong nationalistic streak too.

Hadi Awang believes it’s more preferable for PAS to play footsies with UMNO – after all, both are Malay-Muslim parties, and to some, there is no difference between a Malay and a Muslim, or a Muslim and a Malay. Besides the DAP is a socialist secular and thus satanic party. A case of agama dan bangsa.

There have already been extensive talks between PAS (the Hadi Awang faction) and UMNO, and if those bear fruits, then even Anwar Ibrahim can’t prevent the disintegration of the Pakatan Rakyat, with Selangor and Perak as the first two Pakatan-ruled States to go to the proposed BN-PAS pact.

But Pak Haji Nik Aziz will have no bar of UMNO. He had exclaimed succinctly what he thought of PAS working with UMNO (words to this effect, that): “Surely no one is so stupid as to be bitten twice by a snake from the same hole?”

Though PAS is a political party which sometimes can’t make up its mind as to whether it’s an Islamic Party or a nationalistic (Malay) party, Pak Haji Nik Aziz alone has the prestige, power, position and personality to impose his political preference, including working with other opposition parties (inclusive of the secular DAP), on PAS members …

… which is why I believe he is the only man to hold the Pakatan Rakyat together. I hope he does.

The nose of Anwar Ibrahim

Yesterday was a quiet day, as it should be, being a lovely Saturday. It signalled the beginning of the weekend and the near completion of the working week that has gone by - the week being the time period by which working people plan their immediate cycle of activities. Yes, people, especially (most of) those who work in organizations, start to wind down mentally.

I did likewise, putting my feet (virtually) on the table and a stubbie in my left hand, with cashew nuts by my right, to read Malaysiakini at leisure, and was delighted to find it telling us glad tidings, that Anwar hits the road again.

Malaysiakini reported that “… Barely 48 hours after being released from police custody, Anwar Ibrahim is back on the road again to continue his whirlwind tour throughout the country.”

It’s wonderful to know that his ‘hurt’ back is no longer troubling him after a horrendous night in police custody. My faith in the surgical skills of that one-only German surgeon, who operated on Anwar’s back, has been restored.

But of course, in his ‘man man lai’ regaling of the crowd at Cheng, Malacca, we learn from Malaysiakini that Anwar repeatedly stressed on his ‘ordeal’ during the arrest such as sleeping on the concrete floor and how he was stripped naked during a medical examination and almost photographed in the nude.

As I said earlier, I am glad his back has improved, almost miraculously as to enable him to travel not only to just Malacca, but as Malaysiakini described it, “…his whirlwind tour throughout the country.”

But on the other hand, maybe he might still be experiencing some pain even as he continues his nationwide campaign. What a brave man!

But then in another Malaysiakini news article Hospital: He was not stripped naked, Dr Zaininah Mohd Zain, the director of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), confirmed that Anwar Ibrahim was not made to strip naked.

She stated: “At no time throughout the examination was his decency violated.”

This was what Malaysiakini published:

Zaininah said that prior to the examination, two specialists had explained in detail the examination procedures to Anwar in the presence of his lawyer.

“Only after having obtained his written consent did they proceed with the examination,” she said.

After signing the necessary documents, Anwar was examined by two specialists whom Zaininah described had “adhered to proper clinical procedures during the whole course of the examination”.

But after he was released from overnight police custody and again at Malacca, Anwar told a different story, that he was stripped naked during the medical examination.

Only one of them can be telling the truth!

Anyway, while you undoubtedly will decide who has been fibbing, let's get back to the 'man man lai' speech.

Anwar promised the audience: “When I refused to be photographed, they said I was not cooperative. Well, when we take over and arrest Najib, let's see if he is willing to be photographed.”

Wow - “… when we take over …”! But when?

Malaysiakini also commented that in his 'man man lai' speech, Anwar has very little new material to his repertoire (what an apt word!), but he focused on casting doubts on the investigation of the sodomy allegations, which kaytee acknowledges is his basic right.

However, he also stoked public anger at the government's decision to raise fuel prices, which kaytee believes is mere political sh*t-stirring, admittedly the role of the opposition in a democracy, but considered as cheap and at times economically-irresponsible shots. A responsible opposition has to draw the ethical line somewhere.

I read that in 1974 when Anwar was in Abim, he was arrested and incarcerated under the ISA for political activism in support of farmers for their poverty (and hunger) in Baling. I admire such commendable stand for justice.

But when he was in government, even when in charge of Agriculture (1984), and then Finance (1991) and as DPM (1993), I wonder what happened to his outside-the-government stand for the Baling farmers?

Did he use his high & mighty UMNO-government offices to translate his Abim championship of the farmers into something solid for those petani petani? Or, did he forget completey about them?

Aiyah, it’s easy (and cheap) to make all sorts of promises or to act charitable and compassionate when one does not have the responsibility of accounting for the cost, affordability and economic management.

As an example., when Anwar was Finance Minister, the Sarawak State government begged him for a bigger slice of the 5% oil/gas royalties, BUT he said no. Now, outside the UMNO-led government, he says he would give 20%.

As I has blogged in The Haunting of Anwar Ibrahim more than 2 years ago:

… in the recent [2006] campaign in the Sarawak elections, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah put herself and her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, in a highly vulnerable position when she raised the issue of petroleum royalty given to Sarawak in its campaign to the run-up of the May 20 state elections.

Wan Azizah said the people of Sarawak should not be paying more for petroleum products because the state produced the commodity. She claimed that since Sarawak was a large petroleum-producing state, it should be paid more than the five percent royalty it is now receiving.

But her remarks ricocheted adversely on Anwar Ibrahim, who was former deputy premier and finance minister.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister George Chan Hong Nam seized on her statements to sarcastically say (words to the effect) it was rich of Wan Azizah to grandstand on the issue when it was Anwar as finance minister who had rejected a request for a bigger petroleum royalty for Sarawak - see Malaysiakini Deputy CM: 'Why didn't Anwar give us more?'.

Chan revealed: "When he (Anwar) was the finance minister, I myself asked for an increment in the petroleum royalty but he didn't give. Why is his party talking about it now?”

"I asked for more development for Sarawak because we don't have enough (development) and he also did not want to give (allocations). Why is PKR talking about it now? Why didn't he give us more when he was in power? Now he is no more in power, he can talk." […]

Chan said PKR had no right to manipulate and misrepresent the issue to the people as it was Anwar who had rejected Sarawak's request for the oil royalty increment.

Yes. … Former Bar president Zainur Zakaria said this of Anwar, when the ex-deputy premier had claimed to have been helpless to make changes while in government. He asked (of Anwar):

“But look, you were there (in government) for 16 years. Then, what were you doing all those years? What did you actually do when you claimed you couldn’t do anything?”

As I blogged in Zainur Zakaria Zapped AAB & Anwar Ibrahim, Zainur then showed Anwar the honourable example.

“(Former deputy premier) Musa Hitam resigned on a matter of principle because he couldn’t agree with Mahathir. If Anwar doesn’t agree with Mahathir, why didn't he resign?”

He stated that the option to quit the cabinet could be taken by any member of the cabinet if they disagree with a decision. Therefore Anwar Ibrahim cannot simply shrug off his participation and responsibility in the old Mahathir cabinet.

I had blogged that every time Anwar condemns Mahathir, he cuts off a slice of his own nose.

OK, be all these as they may be, I can't do much about his nose but at least I can wish him well that his back won’t trouble him too much.

Kelana Jaya MP bashed by PKR man?

In Malaysiakini news PKR invites ex-MCA leader to join party we are informed that Dr Tan Yee Kew, after serving 20 years in the MCA, has quit the party.

She had been frustrated by the pervasiveness of racial politics, corruption, the economic situation and the ketuanan Melayu dominance of UMNO in the BN. It took her 20 years to come to this realization but I suppose it's better late than never.

PKR wants her, and has enticed her entry into the Anwar Ibrahim’s party by dangling the carrot (or ch'ai t'au) that she will be made chairperson of the Klang Municipal Council.

Dr Tan Yee Kew, who was a former deputy Wanita chief, was a three-term MP for Klang, and needless to say, she would be bloody miffed at being dropped from the candidates list in the 2008 general elections.

But I urge her to look at the silver lining, where as a non candidate for the election, she was spared the public humiliation of the 08 March 2008 massacre.

I would also recommend for her to join the DAP instead – it’s safer because if you read the Star Online, you would discover that the '14-minutes' (from photographer to parliamentarian) man, PKR MP for Kelana Jaya Yang Berhormat Loh Gwo Burne was bashed by a PKR man.

The alleged assailant was said to be a personal aide of an Anwar ‘insider’, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, ADUN for Seri Setia.

Loh was selected personally by Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR de facto leader, immediately after he joined PKR one week before nomination date (and also on the personal urging of Anwar), to stand in the parliamentary seat of Kelana Jaya (effectively meaning he was the ONLY party nominee). He was swept into parliament on the political tsunamic wave.

In this one-sided kungfu fighting episode, Loh had attempted to intercede for some residents who weren’t happy about the construction of a place of worship at Desa Mentari.

He was bashed in the face by allegedly his fellow PKR member.

Being the soft spoken gentleman he has been reputed to be, he even apologized to his alleged assailant for having to report the matter to the police.

But Loh added that PKR should really do something ‘comprehensive’ against his alleged assailant.

Aiyoh, ‘comprehensive’ – such a big word, man, and chillingly so too!

But anyway, perhaps in the light of such intercourse (the verbal type lah) hazards for PKR people, Dr Tan should seriously consider my suggestion to join the DAP. Guaranteed no internal black eye - at most you would be bored to death by the DAP members' prim, proper and prudish mannerism.

See also:
Bahasa Mělayu - a letter to Yang Běrhormat

To DNA, or not to DNA, that is the Question

In Malaysiakini news article Syed Husin: We can't trust the police, we are informed that Anwar Ibrahim has refused a request to give a DNA sample. He fears the police could fiddle around with the sample to incriminate him.

The government is less sympathetic, accusing him of not cooperating. PM AAB said the police needed a fresh DNA sample for their investigation because the one taken in 1998 was too old.

The PM said: "If he is not guilty, why worry about giving a new DNA sample. If he is indeed innocent, there is nothing for him to fear."

The government even offered him his own choice of a foreign forensic expert but his lawyer R. Sivarasa said Anwar Ibrahim will not agree to that proposal, as the question of police fiddling remains a possibility.

In another Malaysiakini article Dr M: Sodomy again? Gov't not so stupid, Dr Mahathir reminded us that Anwar had also refused to swear on the Quran in front of religious authorities, unlike his alleged victim, Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

We recall that Anwar had instead resorted to the syariah court, complaining that he was defamed by Saiful in a qazaf case which will require Saiful to produce at least four male witnesses to the sodomy allegation, or Saiful will be in deep trouble.

In Parliament a couple of days ago, Mukhriz Mahathir had “… slammed Pakatan Rakyat MPs for insisting on more stringent standards of evidence as contained in Islamic laws for accusations of sexual violations”, alluding to the impossibility of having four male witnesses to the alleged sodomy case against Anwar Ibrahim, and that a DNA sampling should be more preferable and fair to all parties.

Mukhriz said: “There are leaders over there who are demanding for four witnesses (to the alleged act of sodomy). How can there be four witnesses? They would have sinned if they saw the commission of the act but did not do anything to stop it!”

That earned him an outraged rebuke from Charles Santiago who demanded of him: “Are you challenging Islam?”

Dr M argued that if the AAB government (whom he actually doesn’t like) wanted to ‘fix’ Anwar up, it wouldn’t be that idiotic as to use sodomy as a cause. He believed that the sodomy allegations came about because it has been true.

He revealed that “the last time” there were at least two people (at least?) who went to see him claiming they were sodomised by Anwar.

He averred: "But they were unwilling to make a report or be witnesses in court. One of them, however, did see the imam of Masjid Negara (Taib Azimuddin, now a PAS MP) to seek advice on the religious angle."

Maybe the good Haji could either refute or confirm what Dr Mahathir has revealed? And where necessary, the Quran could be the silent arbitrator.

Dr Mahathir twisted the knife deeper by sneering: "There are certain habits which are not easy to be rid off. Habitual smokers will tell you that. So will drug addicts."

Then Mahathir explained why his enemy, the AAB government will face international opposition to the police case against Anwar.

He said Anwar can be convincing in his arguments especially with those who want to believe in him.

"The Western press has already concluded that this accusation against Anwar is the same old political plot to prevent him from becoming the prime minister.”

"The last time it was I who was the prime mover. (Prime Minister) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) has denied he is involved this time, but the Western press and the American friends of Anwar will not be convinced and will not let him get off the hook."

A couple of days ago I so happened to read a letter to an Aussie newspaper asking the Australian government to sanction Malaysia because the Malaysian authorities were resorting to the same sodomy bullsh*t to deny Anwar Ibrahim the democratic rights to legally take over as the Prime Minister.

The Aussie letter writer was certainly a step ahead of Dr Syed Husin who had only claimed the same conspiracy but conceded that Anwar ‘will’ soon take over the government, whereas the Australian letter writer sincerely believed Anwar’s party had already won the last general election, and AAB was denying him the rightful and legal political claim to government.

Hmmm, maybe Dr Mahathir has a point in that “those who want to believe in him” will do so.

I wonder whether that letter writer is also a ‘fellow enthusiast’ of Shakespeare as Anwar had (last year) informed Aussies he was.

To DNA, or not to DNA, that is the Question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the minde to suffer
The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune,
Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles

Racism well & truly alive in Parliament

Note the wordings in the headlines of Malaysiakini news article Another shouting match over racism in the House!

Yes, that’s right, it says “Another …….. over racism in … House” ;-)

No worries, racism is still well and truly alive, as a matter of fact, kicking quite vigorously too.

What happened started with Nazri Abdul Aziz, the Minister in the PM's Department, announcing that non-bumiputeras are entitled to JPA (Public Service Department) scholarships.

Knowing that the word ‘entitled’ doesn’t mean much unless it’s spelt out in fine print, my heroine, sweetie Fong Po Kuan, asked precisely for that – namely, what’s the quota of the JPA scholarships for each ethnic group.

‘Quotas’ are very important as we all know – we are still trying to achieve 30% economic equity for bumiputeras.

Two years ago it went up to 45% and then, subjected to strong gravitational 'forces', plummeted down to 19%; in fact the figure porpoised for a fair while - see Bumi Equity - a Never Ending Story - with various figures in between including a 2002 university study by Dr M Fazilah, in which she pronounced:

“Nevertheless, the percentage of corporate equity owned by bumiputeras fluctuated between 16 percent in 1999 to 22 percent in 1995 and reached the NEP target only in 1997.”

That’s right, Dr Fazilah said: Bumi equity surpassed 30% TEN YEARS ago

Anyway, back to Parliament, otherwise known as the Monkey House.

At this stage (when Fong asked for more details about the ethnic share of the JPA scholarships) Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Umno-Pasir Salak) stood up and shouted: "The constitution is clear on bumiputera rights and we can't compromise that. No more compromises!"

Huh? I didn't realize the Constitution mentions JPA scholarships?

So all hell broke loose with the inevitable shouts of racism ringing loud across the so-called august House wakakaka.

Tajuddin then condemned the government’s new policy on the JPA scholarships as a ‘populist’ decision but obviously to him, not a ‘popular’ one.

Despite several DAP MPs protesting, Tajuddin was unrepentant, shouting: "This is Malay rights. I have met several cabinet ministers and they agreed me with me that scholarships should only be reserved for Malays. There should be no compromises!”

Hmmm, no longer bumiputera rights? Only Malay rights?

Kulasegaran interjected: “This is racist!”

Tajuddin retorted: "You shut up! You shut up! I have children studying in England, Ireland and Australia and they have no scholarships. But I want rural Malays and lower income groups - even in Sabah and Sarawak - to get scholarships, like what is said in the constitution!”

He sounded like some comments on my blog, I mean the 'shut up' bit ;-)

Kulasegaran: “In Pasir Salak, are there no Chinese and Indians?”

… perhaps implying that in the next election, the Chinese and Indians should not vote for Tajuddin.

Maybe Tajuddin panicked leow and resorted to hitting below the belt by labelling Kulasegaran a Hindraf supporter.

He shouted: “You think you are so smart? Penyokong Hindraf! Penyokong Hindraf! (Hindraf supporter! Hindraf supporter!) Anti-Malaysia.”

Then the man who thinks 50-year old women are no longer good enough for men to have ‘fun’ with, dear Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) said: “I support the Chinese and Indian communities. For them, set up foundations. But what’s written in the constitution is that the right to scholarships are only for Malays and bumiputera.”

;-) this bloke sure wants his cake and eat it as well. But we notice that apart from intimate knowledge on the age of women to have fun with, he's also another constitutional expert.

… by which time it was obvious House deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee had lost control of the Monkey House (hmmm, I wonder whether he was engrossed in playing sudoka under the speaker's desk?), because anak jantan Tajuddin challenged Kulasegaran to settle the issue outside the hall.

After the furore died down with the session over, a Tajuddin outside the House (no, he didn’t silat Kulasegaran), defended his verbal assaults on Kulasegaran. He said: "I'm not racist.”

Now, who would have thought he was - wakakaka

Continuing: “I've stated it before, if you want to help the non-Malay students, especially those who are doing well in their studies, by all means do it. But why not do it in such a way that is not at the expense of bumiputera students because if we do that, we will fail in our national integration and unity."

'National integration and unity' by marginalising non-Malay ethnic groups, especially the much marginalized Indians?

But my Penang larng Chong Eng opined: "Pasir Salak is racist. He is defending a racist policy. On the other hand, we are opposing a racist policy and yet we are called racists."

And cutie Fong said that racist remarks in the House have gotten worse in recent times, saying: “He (Tajuddin) speaks as though his constituency is 100 percent Malay. He speaks as though non-Malays are non-existent in this country. When you get elected, you should speak for everyone.”

Aiyah, I have arrived at the end of my post and forgotten to include a certain someone ;-)

See photo below for the true Maha-Dewa (he's walking last, in the place of honour!) wakakaka

source unknown - from an email circulating now

Anwar Ibrahim & the police - from black eye to bad back!

One of my saddest experiences on the web was when my good matey Chris lambasted me for being allegedly happy with the police arrest of Anwar Ibrahim in my post Arresting Anwar Ibrahim - Game of brinksmanship?

Even he, with whom I had shared a few many jokes against SIL in happier years, condemned me for going too far in my ‘hatred’ for Anwar.

I just wonder for the life of me how that post could be read to convey my alleged ‘hatred’? If I may remind readers I had also predicted:

"No charge has yet been laid against him and it may well be that the police will be forced to release him after 24 hours – unless of course …….. something develops."

Well, hasn’t my prediction been true as proven by Malaysiakini news Anwar freed on police bail?

Unsurprisingly, the police had f* up somewhat – two things sprang to mind:

(1) They kept Anwar overnight – was that necessary?

This gives credence to Anwar’s claim that it was a vindictive action against him because he had lodged a police report against the AG and the IGP over his treatment during his original trial – see Malaysiakini news article Overnight detention a case of 'vendetta'!

Anwar enlarged his claim to embrace a host of police actions against him, as if there was no sodomy allegation lodged by Saiful Azlan against him.

He averred: "It appears that the events of the last few days, the nature of my unwarranted arrest, my overnight incarceration which was actually absolutely unnecessary, were an act of personal vengeance against me. They should not use this as a personal vendetta against me."

If you had read the pro Anwar supporters, even that of my good matey Chris, you would be able to tell, that to them, as far as the person of Anwar was/is concerned, Anwar can do no wrong, somewhat similar to the UMNO ‘close-one-eye’ case – so really, what's the difference?

… hmmm, theirs have been a behaviour succinctly explained in an article by Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) titled The cult called PKR, where he wrote:

"That is the trouble with PKR. They dabble in cult personalities. When you are the current hot favourite, the flavour of the day, even your fart smells sweet ... "

"The PKR crowd is one emotional group of people. I suspect that if Anwar was to order them to commit mass suicide they might just do so."

How true!

Some don’t even bother to read what I had actually written in my posts before they came out swinging to get me, as an example, like Mr Phua Kai Lit ;-)

Now, did the police have a right to arrest him the way they did?

Anwar's supporters stated that the police, in arresting Anwar at 1 pm, had acted in bad faith by not giving the man a reasonable chance of a whole hour before the deadline of 2 pm.

They argued that there was nothing to say he should have gone straight from the ACA office to the police station. His return from Putrajaya to Bukit Segambut didn’t mean he couldn’t get back to the police station in Putrajaya by 2 pm. There was plenty of time for him to do just that.

In fact the Star reported Anwar saying the same thing:

He also took to task Federal CID director commissioner Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin for telling Malaysians a "blatant lie" by saying that they had the reason to believe that Anwar was not going to show up at the police headquarters at 2pm on Wednesday as promised.

"I gave my commitment that I would come. My lawyer had just spoken to DSP Jude Pereira at 12.45pm and assured him that I would show up on time," he said, adding that he was ambushed 5 minutes after that call.

Anwar said he was going home for a quick lunch after which he planned to proceed to the police headquarters.

But of course neither he nor his supporters mention the fact that he failed to turn up on Monday as he had promised earlier. This fact was not considered by his supporters.

In my post Arresting Anwar Ibrahim - Game of brinksmanship? I had blogged:

"He merajuk by claiming that the police had acted unprofessionally in 'intimidating and harassing' his staff and family while attempting to serve an order under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Sunday."

"I didn't buy his bullsh*t because the police had to do so, ie. serve that order ....."

In blatantly refusing to turn up at the police station on Monday as he promised, he had (either unwittingly or deliberately) transmitted to the police the message of “C’mon, lai lah, ayo mari lah, come catch me if you dare!”

Many had viewed that defiance as a game of brinksmanship.

Yes, I know our police are nasty bastards but in this case it was not the police who had first acted in bad faith. It was Anwar Ibrahim who made them lose faith in his ‘promise to turn up’!

No doubt police hormones were flying - anak jantan, anak jati and anak jambalaya, I think they were out to get him, to show him that he had to front up, no matter who he is.

In a way Anwar had been right that there was police vindictiveness, but I suspect it had more to do with his defiant recalcitrancy rather than his police report against the AG and IGP.

(2) And the dumbos in blue had been stupid enough to make him sleep on the concrete floor. They just had to martyr-ize him. Was that necessary, considering he's hardly a young buck!

His bad back, which I thought had already been cured by that very special operation only capable of being done in Germany, has ‘returned’ not just to give him a bad back but a bad name to the Police.

Once it was a black eye, now it’s a bad back!

But the fact that the cops dare not take his DNA without his expressed permission has been clearly indicated in Malaysiakini news article Police mull court action to get DNA, a sign they have been careful in dealing with this high profile person. Even Deputy IGP Ismail Omar confessed that the police will be exploring legal avenues to acquire a sample of Anwar Ibrahim’s DNA.

But this wariness should have been exercised in every dealings with Anwar, and not just in obtaining his DNA.

Anyway too late leow, for undoubtedly Anwar Ibrahim has reaped enough public sympathy to get him going for a while.

His target date of 16 September 2008 is just a mere two months away, and his party deputy president has already boldly claimed, as reported in The Star, that his arrest has been a move to thwart the Opposition’s takeover of the country – wow!

The Magic of Anwar Ibrahim?

Much as I have been abused and reviled for allegedly ‘hating’ Anwar Ibrahim, and most certainly for criticizing him ;-) I have never denied that he has been the glue that kept the diverse component parties in the loose coalition of Pakatan Rakyat together – see my post Can we trust Anwar Ibrahim? where I wrote “No doubt Anwar had done his part to keep the Pakatan in a cohesive form during the election campaign (and no one can take that away from him) …..”

Recently, in my post Anwar Ibrahim's worst nightmare emerges I discussed the dissatisfaction by Pak Haji Hadi Awang* of PAS who voiced his preference to deal with UMNO rather than the Pakatan with a secular DAP as an undesirable ally, where he stated:

* as different from Pak Haji Nik Aziz who is very suspicious of UMNO

“If others can meet Umno (leaders), why can’t PAS meet Umno? (Such comments) show a lack of understanding. On the basis of Islam, we have the right (to do so). PAS can negotiate with any party.”

Pak Haji also took pot shots at Anwar Ibrahim for being the de facto leader of the Pakatan, stating in no uncertain terms:

“No one is the sole leader of Pakatan Rakyat. (Its) leadership is collective, and we have mutually agreed that the respective party leaders can seek to influence our friends in BN to join us. Because of this, the issue of why PAS is meeting Umno should not arise.”

“After the victory, the role of PAS people needs to be taken into account. PAS people are not stupid. Do not sideline their contributions after the win.”

But if Pak Haji Hadi had read Malaysiakini news article Pakatan suspects Khairy has access to police report he may well change his mind about the DAP, because Malaysiakini reported that when Mukhriz Mahathir “… slammed Pakatan Rakyat MPs for insisting on more stringent standards of evidence as contained in Islamic laws for accusations of sexual violations”, alluding to the impossibility of having four male witnesses to the alleged sodomy case against Anwar Ibrahim, and that a DNA sampling should be more preferable and fair to all parties.

Mukhriz said: “There are leaders over there who are demanding for four witnesses (to the alleged act of sodomy). How can there be four witnesses? They would have sinned if they saw the commission of the act but did not do anything to stop it!”

Pak Haji would be (spiritually) heartened to note that many Pakatan MPs, both Muslim and non-Muslims, stood up to protest against Mukhriz’ alleged “… disparaging' of Islam.”

Now, get this Pak Haji, a member of those 'quasi-satanic' DAP MPs, Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang) also jumped up to defend Islam, demanding of Mukhriz: “Are you challenging Islam?”

Alhamdulillah and a secular 'wow'!

And of course apart from Charles Santiago defending Islam on behalf of PAS, in that Malaysiakini article, we also see ‘enemies’ like Mukhriz Mahathir and Khairy Jamaluddin joining forces to demand that Anwar Ibrahim provides the DNA sample.

The Anwar magic of cozy cohesive compulsion on others, even across the political divide into UMNO, is just amazing, and even when he was not present!

Appendix:

Oh, that anwarista word ‘hate’ which I have been accused of demonstrating against Anwar Ibrahim can be explained by an article by Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) titled The cult called PKR.

RPK wrote that piece criticizing Ezam Mohd Nor but his observations are equally applicable to all anwaristas. He remarked (relevant extract):

… The problem at that time, though, was that Ezam was PKR’s blue-eyed boy, the darling of the party, and any negative comments about Ezam, or Azmin Ali for that matter, was considered a treacherous act. You are a traitor to the cause, a traitor to PKR, a traitor to the opposition, a traitor to the Malay race, and a traitor to the entire nation -- all in one -- if you badmouth one of the PKR darlings.

That is the trouble with PKR. They dabble in cult personalities. When you are the current hot favourite, the flavour of the day, even your fart smells sweet. But once you fall out of favour then they even curse your poor innocent mother who has nothing to do with your political business and does not even know what is going on.

The PKR crowd is one emotional group of people. I suspect that if Anwar was to order them to commit mass suicide they might just do so. And that is dangerous, as time and time again history has proven. If Anwar could get a religious scholar somewhere in the world to come out with a fatwah (religious decree) that if you die for PKR you will go straight to heaven where 70 virgins are waiting for you, I bet we will not be short of candidates who will volunteer to undertake suicide missions.

Whether it is Anwar, Dr Wan Azizah, Nurul Izzah, Azmin, or Ezam, they all have their cult followers. The PKR people revere their idols and appear to lose their senses when in the presence of these demigods. So how to tell these PKR herds that Ezam is not what he appears to be and that he is a plant, a Trojan Horse, a termite meant to weaken the ranks of PKR? Try doing that and you will get a beer bottle broken on your head. So it was best to just keep quiet and watch. Time would reveal the truth. And, true enough, the truth has now been revealed.

I remember when I was once the sub-editor of the party newspaper, Suara Keadilan, and I published a letter from a reader that criticised PKR’s Youth Movement. The letter was about the high-handed manner the Youth Movement ‘security squad’ handled the crowd. Even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, when he was still Prime Minister, was not that well-guarded and his security team did not push and shove the crowd the way the PKR Youth boys did.

It was not my comment. It was a letter from a reader and I allowed it to get published. Wow, you should have seen the SMSess I received. The PKR Youth boys cursed me and one of Ezam’s ‘groupies’, Jo, even challenged me to a boxing match. I was having dinner with Johari Abdul and Dato’ Kamarul at that time and I showed them the SMS.

Another aspect of Anwar Ibrahim's magic!

Amin! - oh, this one is meant for the attention of Pak Haji Hadi Awang ;-)

Arresting Anwar Ibrahim - Game of brinksmanship?

When I read Malaysiakini news announcement Anwar arrested outside his house I thought to myself, this is one bizarre country when just last night, the bloke was debating against the Minister of Info on the issue of petrol prices, an event which was broadcast around the globe (well, at least for those who wants to see it).

When I saw that debate - yes, I saw in on Global media Channel down here in Australia (on my laptop at a drinking party) as recommended by Malaysiakini – I thought to myself Malaysia has come a long way to even allow an opposition person to appear in such prominence.

Today I was contemplating discussing the debate despite people having already made up their minds last night as to who was the better debater even before the debate started ;-) but alas, the arrest took me by surprise.

In another Malaysiakini report CID chief reveals why Anwar was arrested, the police claimed they were worried (or pissed off) that Anwar had no intention of fronting up at the police station to be interviewed by police, hence they arrested him to ensure they could interview him.

Malaysiakini quoted Bakri Zinin, the Federal CID director, saying that Anwar was supposed to have gone directly to the police headquarters immediately after giving his statement to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in Putrajaya.

"However, we were informed that after he left the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya, he had changed his route and was heading back to his house in (Bukit) Segambut.

"He was arrested as we had reason to believe he was not going to show up. We wish to point out that Anwar had initially agreed to meet us on Monday but failed to keep his appointment."

No charge has yet been laid against him and it may well be that the police will be forced to release him after 24 hours – unless of course …….. something develops.

Anwar was deliberately absent from his appointment with the police on Monday. He merajuk by claiming that the police had acted unprofessionally in 'intimidating and harassing' his staff and family while attempting to serve an order under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Sunday.

I didn't buy his bullsh*t because the police had to do so, ie. serve that order, thus I wasn't entirely surprised by his not turning up at the police station as he had originally agreed to.

I am not sure whether that had been part of his plan to defy authorities, and to push his defiance to the edge of the envelope, essentially a game of brinksmanship or even to create a scene worthy of international attention or domestic upheaval?

If it has been, then the authorities have played into his hands. On the other hand, if the authorities have (as feared) acted heavy-handedly, I reckon Anwar will emerge even more victorious.

With a person like Anwar, the authorities would have been better off just ignoring him – he thrives on media attention. Admittedly it wouldn't have been easy, what with Statutory Declarations ;-) flying high and low to taunt the UMNO leadership and to regale us with salacious gossips.

Of course Anwar's game of brinksmanship may possibly backfire against him if he believes that the authorities have been afraid to 'touch' him since global eyes are watching.

Today Malaysia is quite different from 1998 without a hostile-to-US-&-the-West Dr M. Instead it has as its PM an AAB who has been developing cozy relationship with the Yanks and Europe - told you this bloke is one sly, shrewd and cunning fellow.

Poor Anwar could conceivably end up for a long long time behind bars, with the US/West just making the occasional obligatory perfunctory mumblings.

Anwar Ibrahim's worst nightmare emerges

Yesterday when I posted The Achilles heel of Anwar Ibrahim to discuss his trademark impatience, I also mentioned that there were other factors that had lent force to his sense of urgency in wanting to either get back into UMNO or, as a second best option, seize power through massive BN party defections to PKR.

Today when I read Malaysiakini news article which said PAS Youth defends overtures to Umno I knew Anwar Ibrahim would now begin to realize his worst nightmare.

And what would that be, or why should it be so?

When I posted Can we trust Anwar Ibrahim? I wrote:

I recall that a year ago I read an Aliran article (sorry, couldn’t find it and can’t recall who wrote it) which succinctly analyzed the general election …

… [stating] that Anwar’s (and PKR's) support would have to come mainly from the non-Malays (I assume it must have meant the Chinese). This prediction or political analysis seems to be spot on for the following reasons:

We know in the recent election, the Malay voters swing was only 5% - as evidenced by UMNO as the BN component hanging on best after the people's verdict.

The Chinese swing was 30% … The Hindraf galvanized awakening of the Indians … – the voters swing was 35%.

Thus my take on the so-called 'new' Anwar is as follows:

I may not like him but that doesn’t mean he was/is stupid – in fact he’s what Ong and Oon [both columnists for Malaysiakini] said of him, shrewd and cunning.

He knew which side of his political bread was going to be buttered. The trick was to tread carefully between showing the ‘nons’ of his ‘born-again’ credentials and showing the Malays he’s still their ethnic warrior. A new version of the NEP was promoted but without dismissing Article 153 – in other words, have his cake as well as eat it. This is just a quick example.

Now I come to the part which has relevance with today’s article in Malaysiakini:

Anwar is not comfy with the Pakatan. All the boasts about frogs belie his fears of a Pakatan disagreement over his shameless undemocratic taunting of how he intends to win rule through promoting party hopping, a tactic he mastered when he was in UMNO. You can take the bloke out of UMNO but you can’t take UMNO out of the bloke. […]

He wants UMNO to ask him ‘to come home’. Then he won’t need to depend on the DAP or PAS, but especially the DAP.

Look, his man Khalid Ibrahim had felt bloody awkward forming up the Selangor exco, ..... It’s bad enough having the DAP full of ‘nons’ but the ethnic situation has been compounded by the PKR ‘nons’. Quite unlike an UMNO-MCA-MIC situation. […]

It’s not an image Anwar wants the heartland to see, and real power can only come from the support of the heartland.

No doubt Anwar had done his part to keep the Pakatan in a cohesive form during the election campaign (and no one can take that away from him) but it wasn’t just for altruistic reasons. His strategy was to reduce the BN-UMNO majority to less than 2/3, and then voila, to present his inner coterie as the component available (after an invitation) to restore UMNO’s 2/3, but AAB wasn’t biting for various reasons.

Hence he is piling the pressure on AAB daily with his froggie forecast. The subtext? Anwar wants back into UMNO ... or else!

Alas, as I mentioned in The Achilles heel of Anwar Ibrahim neither AAB nor the UMNO senior leadership are biting, and UMNO has instead played footsies with a delighted PAS (well, at least the Hadi Awang faction)

Another worry for him which is also slowly sinking in for his supporters is that PKR was borne along in the election mainly by Chinese and Indian votes. Push comes to shove, should the DAP and PKR come to a head on, except for a minority among the younger more idealistic set, most Chinese and Indian voters would opt for the DAP, or worse, even return to the BN.

Anwar won’t have a dream of ever weaning away the PAS and UMNO hardcore supporters into his camp. It’ll be a far tougher fight in the next election. And just don't forget, his PKR's 31 seats aren't pure PKR, not with Dr Jeya and Wee ... This may explain his continuous and frantic claims of frogs.

So to summarize, Anwar is acutely aware of several factors, namely that:

(a) the recent tsunamic swing over to the Pakatan Rakyat is probably a one-off. Yes, there may be future swings but certainly not of this magnitude,

(b) the swing has been mainly non-Malay voters,

(c) even if the Pakatan Rakyat wins federal rule in the next general election, and he becomes PM, PKR will be only a junior partner in the loose coalition,

(d) PKR is very dependent on non-Malay voters (a race-conscious but realistic statement),

(e) PAS and DAP may will demand quid pro quo claims (for supporting Anwar as PM) on cabinet positions,

(f) He may end up being a figurehead - something a man like him, whom I suspect of being captive to his own delusions of overblown importance and grandeur, could never ever tolerate.

Today in the mentioned Malaysiakini news article of PAS Youth defends overtures to Umno, PAS flexes its political muscles, with its Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub saying rather condescendingly that, in meeting with UMNO recently, PAS wasn’t intimidating PKR - wakakaka!

In fact Hadi Awang declared that PAS leaders have just the same rights as, if not more than PKR to hold discussions with UMNO on issues of mutual interest – in other words, PAS is saying to PKR: “F* off mate, you don’t have a monopoly on negotiations with UMNO on Malay or Islamic affairs. Who the hell are you to tell us who we may or may not talk to.”

And indeed Hadi Awang chided PKR by saying precisely that: “If others can meet Umno (leaders), why can’t PAS meet Umno? (Such comments) show a lack of understanding. On the basis of Islam, we have the right (to do so). PAS can negotiate with any party.”

Then he rubbed salt into the PKR’s wound of reality, by asserting PAS’ political independence, and in the process smashing what I believe to be Anwar Ibrahim’s delusion of his Olympus status, (acting) as if he was the only leader of PR. Hadi removed the gloves and said assertively:

“No one is the sole leader of Pakatan Rakyat. (Its) leadership is collective, and we have mutually agreed that the respective party leaders can seek to influence our friends in BN to join us. Because of this, the issue of why PAS is meeting Umno should not arise.”

Then good olde Pak Haji Hadi went from qualitative to quantitive pronoucements on PAS pre-eminence, reminding PKR leadership of PAS’ ‘predominance’ in Pakatan after the March 8 general election.

He reminded PKR that it holds 83 to PKR’s 40 ADUNs (DAP has 73 but is not participating in the Melayu-Islamic affairs round-robin footsie game).

Obviously chaffing at the rein because (probably to him) PAS had graciously taken a back seat for far too long in allowing Anwar Ibrahim to dominate the public limelight, Hadi warned ominously: “After the victory, the role of PAS people needs to be taken into account. PAS people are not stupid. Do not sideline their contributions after the win.”

Amin, Pak Haji.

Adios, Datuk Seri Anwar!

'Xcuse, we're DAP, we don't plot coup d'état!

Yesterday when I posted The Achilles heel of Anwar Ibrahim I quoted a Malaysiakini report 'Opposition had planned demo today' which had Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid claiming his ministry has received information that the opposition would be staging numerous demonstrations with the sole purpose of toppling the government.

I was alarmed by the term 'opposition' because that would include the DAP, which I doubt would be involved in the sort of street agitation that a particular group (not DAP) is particularly fond of and already notorious for.

Thus I added a comment that Syed Hamid had probably meant the PKR ;-)

“…numerous demonstrations were to be staged by the opposition with the sole purpose of toppling the government.”

The above statement by Syed Hamid of alleged 'opposition' intent reminded me of my post Anwar Ibrahim sings Canto-pop songs? one year ago where I commented on an article by one of Malaysiakini columnists, Manjit Bhatia, who lambasted the Malaysian non-Malays (mainly Chinese and Indians) for paying only lip service to their support for the opposition.

As an example of their alleged 'apathetic' political commitment, he singled out the general lack of non-Malay participation in the Anwar Ibrahim inspired street protest, the so-called reformasi revolution, that was launched after the former DPM was sacked from UMNO.

In that post I attached my letter to Malaysiakini rebutting Manjit Bhatia’s criticisms of the Chinese and Indians. I wrote (extract):

“…the Chinese wouldn't want to take sides in what was basically a tussle between two Umno factions - Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s and Anwar Ibrahim's ...”

“That one side lost was inevitable and certainly not the concern of either the Chinese or Indians. That the loser suffered all the subsequent nastiness is regrettable but hardly made that bloke a political reformist. Yes, Bhatia may not even be aware that Chinese Malaysians looked upon, and still do, Anwar Ibrahim and his so-called reformasi with cynicism, distrust and indeed disdain.”

“… most non-Malays didn't view the so-called reformasi street protests as a clarion call for Malaysians to join in to protest against a repressive state. They didn't associate their own repression with Anwar falling on his Umno keris.”

“To them, Anwar was not the solution but rather part of the problem. Anwar had played for high stakes in a game that determined his personal ascendancy to the top of Umno, and which didn't include non-Malay Malaysians.”

“So when he faltered in his ambitious endeavour, don't blame the non-Malays for not buying his spin that it was about political reforms. That's about as plausible as the Bush administration's fabrication on the Saddam Hussein-Osama Laden link.”

Well, my faith in the DAP as not the rebel rousing rabble was justified in a news report by Malaysia titled DAP trio: Meeting ... what meeting? where Lim Snr and Jnr, and Tan Seng Giaw demanded a retraction from Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who was quoted in the Star as saying that the DAP leaders had attended the meeting in PKR headquarters.

Lim Jnr said: “On July 9, none of the DAP leaders were in the PKR headquarters (in Petaling Jaya, for the alleged meeting). (Syed Hamid) said that if his intelligence is not true, he is willing to withdraw his statement. We are demanding that he withdraws his statement because it is false, it is untrue, complete fabrication, complete lie.”

“In fact we have not stepped into the new PKR headquarters. It shows that the intelligence department is not reliable. They can give false information, so perhaps they can be charged under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for spreading false news.”

All had alibis to discredit Syed Hamid's accusation. The Minister then attempted to tap dance away by blaming the (unintelligent) intelligence report he received. He tried to salvage some ‘face’ by merajuk-ingly saying:

“If they seek an apology properly, then I will apologise properly. If they shout and call names, then it is a bit difficult.”

Lim GE, take it from me, Syed Hamid has virtually said “sollee leow” – You know how it is with UMNO people, or those who were formerly from UMNO - to paraphrase Erich Segal, "UMNO means never having to say you're sollee" - wakakaka!