LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, fighting a Swedish extradition warrant, on Tuesday said he fears that he would not get "natural justice" in Sweden where the police "bamboozled" two women to accuse him of sexual assault.
The 39-year-old Australian is currently free on bail in the UK while facing the extradition proceedings to Sweden.
Sweden wants Britain to extradite Assange to face questioning over allegations from two Swedish women that he raped one of them and sexually assaulted the other in Stockholm in August this year.
But Assange said the Swedish women who have accused him of sexual assault had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility they had caught a sexually transmitted disease from him.
He insisted he was fighting a Swedish extradition warrant because he believes "no natural justice" would occur in Sweden. "I don't need to go back to Sweden," Assange told the BBC.
"The law says I... have certain rights, and these rights mean that I do not need to speak to random prosecutors around the world who simply want to have a chat, and won't do it in any other standard way."
He said the Swedish authorities had asked, as part of their extradition application, that he and his Swedish lawyer be gagged from speaking about the case.
"What is requested is that I be taken by force to Sweden and once there, be held incommunicado: That is not a circumstance under which natural justice can occur," he said.
Assange also said it was possible that the allegations against him arose from the two women going to the police for advice rather than to make a complaint.
He said "one description" of what had occurred was that after having discovered they had each been sexually involved with him, they had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases, had gone to the police for advice "and then the police jumped in on this and bamboozled the women".
But he also said there were "other people making descriptions" that the women had deliberately abused a loophole in Swedish law, whereby if they went to the police for advice, they could not be charged with filing a false report.
The same loophole also existed for approaching the police about sexually transmitted diseases, Assange claimed.
WikiLeaks has leaked thousands of secret US diplomatic cables -- a move that secretary of state Hilary Clinton said was "sabotaging peaceful relations" between countries.
But Assange insisted his mission was "to promote justice through the method of transparency".
"The world has a lot of problems that need to be reformed - and we only live once," he said.
The 39-year-old Australian is currently free on bail in the UK while facing the extradition proceedings to Sweden.
Sweden wants Britain to extradite Assange to face questioning over allegations from two Swedish women that he raped one of them and sexually assaulted the other in Stockholm in August this year.
But Assange said the Swedish women who have accused him of sexual assault had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility they had caught a sexually transmitted disease from him.
He insisted he was fighting a Swedish extradition warrant because he believes "no natural justice" would occur in Sweden. "I don't need to go back to Sweden," Assange told the BBC.
"The law says I... have certain rights, and these rights mean that I do not need to speak to random prosecutors around the world who simply want to have a chat, and won't do it in any other standard way."
He said the Swedish authorities had asked, as part of their extradition application, that he and his Swedish lawyer be gagged from speaking about the case.
"What is requested is that I be taken by force to Sweden and once there, be held incommunicado: That is not a circumstance under which natural justice can occur," he said.
Assange also said it was possible that the allegations against him arose from the two women going to the police for advice rather than to make a complaint.
He said "one description" of what had occurred was that after having discovered they had each been sexually involved with him, they had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases, had gone to the police for advice "and then the police jumped in on this and bamboozled the women".
But he also said there were "other people making descriptions" that the women had deliberately abused a loophole in Swedish law, whereby if they went to the police for advice, they could not be charged with filing a false report.
The same loophole also existed for approaching the police about sexually transmitted diseases, Assange claimed.
WikiLeaks has leaked thousands of secret US diplomatic cables -- a move that secretary of state Hilary Clinton said was "sabotaging peaceful relations" between countries.
But Assange insisted his mission was "to promote justice through the method of transparency".
"The world has a lot of problems that need to be reformed - and we only live once," he said.
You can control what you can buy, even that which you cannot afford to buy. In today's world what is terrifying is what you cannot put a price to. One big reason why WikiLeaks is so threatening to established structures in world, even those that ostensibly believe in guaranteeing the right to free speech, is that it stands, at least for now, beyond the pale of the financial system. It cannot be bought over, it cannot be bribed and it cannot be offered the inducement of advertising support. That leaves the option of intimidation, something that the state is usually quite good at as we can see from what is happening to Julian Assange.
In some ways, what we have been seeing in India is the increasing role played by money in institutions that were hitherto kept at some distance from it. The Radia tapes point to something deeper than a few journalists behaving inappropriately; they show us how money is infecting journalism, not necessarily by way of bribing individuals but by its very presence and importance. In the last few years the line that has got blurred the most is not just the one between editorial and advertising but between the journalistic interests of the title and its business interests. Increasingly, as editors speak the language of business and speak in terms of brand valuations, and as the language of journalism is drained of its ideological content and becomes secular, the desire and ability to control news becomes greater. What we are seeing is a spirit of mutual envy between business and media; the former lusts at the power wielded by media particularly given its relatively modest financial scale while the latter is waking up to the possible financial rewards that can accrue from leveraging its assets, namely that of readership or viewership that believes what it carries. By monetising ideas like credibility and power, it becomes possible for journalism to becomes part of a larger unified system that shares common interests. The oppositional nature of journalism becomes a selective one, and is used to generate a larger asset base in terms of greater ratings and abandoned when it doesn't work.
Structures bound in money show a strong ability to protect themselves and use crises to further entrench themselves. The financial meltdown last year has not resulting in weakening the power of corporations; they availed of massive financial injections from governments and are back doing what they have always done. Once we have started measuring the progress of nations in exclusively financial terms, and given that the organised corporate world contributes an ever larger share to that number, governments have no choice but to support business, through thick and thin.
Valuations are particularly useful instruments of conquest for in their occasional extravagance, they point to the premium that conquerors are willing pay for the power that their acquisitions bring them. Money becomes a colonist when deployed in this way. A recent transaction in India saw a company pay a price that was over thirty times the annual profit of the acquired company. As a larger trend, we see how local corporations surrender their independence to their multinational counterparts when the price becomes one they simply cannot refuse. The ability to buy creates the ability to conquer, and this works just as well when Indian companies go shopping internationally.
The Internet started out being a structure that stood outside money. It is still relatively scale neutral in that no one institution or corporation can use muscle their way into our consciousness on the Internet. The medium is largely elective, and is led by what interests people rather than broadcasters believe interests them. Of course, money is increasingly a critical part of the Internet story; in fact most successes are framed through its lens with stories of easy billions in valuations creating a new generation of cyber-entrepreneurs. But even so, the nature of the medium makes control that much more difficult. In particular, social media with its effervescent stream-of-consciousness character becomes potentially a strong counterpoint to the information created by established power structures. We saw this at work in the Radia tapes issue, where the pressure created by those on Twitter made it impossible for media to ignore the story, in spite of its best attempts.
Social media is again a structure that does not depend on money, in an overt sense, at least today. One cannot become more popular by spending more. Traditional advertising, by which companies had the right to intrude into our consciousness with a high degree of certainty does not work on the Internet. What companies need to do instead is to present themselves in a way that make them human and interesting, so that people want to have a two-way dialogue with them. Nothing would make things easier for corporations than being able to monetise social media in a way that gave them greater control over it, for as things stand, they have to rethink their entire model of how to make people buy their stuff.
What we are seeing today is the beginning of a truly profound change. If structures that bypass money are indeed able to withstand the pressure that is and will continue to be put on them by the existing power elite, then it will redefine the relationship between the rulers and the ruled. Money serves a critical purpose in our social and economic life, but is there a world outside it? We are on our way to finding that out
BY
Hussein Abdul Hamid
Wikileaks. Entrapment. Lee Kuan Yew. Australian and Singapore intelligence Agencies. Office of National Assessments. Pundits predict clear BN win. Jeffrey to quit PKR. Parliamentary panel wants six-month suspension for Anwar……ecetera, ecetera, ecetera…..Anwar Ibrahim...What Else?
All things and everything is being rolled out to give credibility to this Najib/UMNO driven train hurtling towards Anwar. Najib already has Anwar blind folded, feet shackled, hands tied behind his back and placed at the end of the railway line in front of a 10 ft thick granite wall waiting to be crushed to smithereens.
Like everything that Najib does he is only brave enough to move when he thinks that everything is in place. All the i’s have been dotted and the t’s crossed….so he thinks! He forgets Mahyuddin and Mahathir lurking in the shadows. He forgets that many in UMNO wants him to parade himself in front of everyone but none will tell him that he has no clothes on. Nobody tells him what would happen after the train hits the wall. The train cannot stop…the train does not have the option of reducing speed by steering itself into an uphill direction as a runaway truck without brakes can… …..but Anwar, if he moves nimbly, still has time to free himself and walk away. Najib cannot!
For Najib becoming Prime Minister gained him temporary immunity from the Altantuya juggernaut that was bearing down upon him. Taking Anwar out of the 13th GE will extend that immunity, confirm the death sentence on Altantuya’s two proxy “murderers” and set Najib free and make him again Prime Minister of Malaysia and Rosmah as First Lady…so he thinks!
The 13th General Election will certainly be upon us soon. It is as certain as having Khir Toyo acquitted of corruption charges for lack of evidence, as sure as Liong Sik being allowed to hold on to his massive wealth, and as sure as Ibrahim Ali being used as a mule to carry UMNO come election time.
Has anything changed with Anwar after Saiful? The manner in which PKR party elections were conducted…maybe. But where in politics does it say that a politician has a duty of care to help his political opponents win? What did Mahathir do to neutralize Musa and Razaleigh? What did Mahathir do to rid UMNO of Abdullah? UMNO brought back a corrupt Isa Samad because they needed a corrupt Isa Samad to win in Bagan Pinang….ecetera ecetera ecetera… what happened during PKR’s recent party election was that it rid itself of a very unpleasant threat – Zaid. For we now know that Zaid was indeed a musuh di bawah selimut. Good riddance.
The intrigues and back stabbing within MCA has presented the party with a President who was previously sacked in 2009 for damaging the party’s image with his sex scandal. Only in MCA….only in MCA! Samy Velu use of caste and money to advance his case in MIC has given him many merry years as President to take for himself what is rightfully for the Indians. And only in Malaysia can a corrupt ex Minister retire and enjoy his loot from his time in government in peace. I will not go into Sarawak and Sabah…too much time needed for things that are already well documented. In all this, within Barisan Nasional, deception and lies are rewarded with power and wealth. Massive wealth.
So my friends read what you want. Listen to all that is being said. In the quiet of the evening do as I do….sit and think. If you have good friends sit with them in quiet contemplation.Take yourself back to that day when balaclava clad thugs from PDRM went to get Anwar from his house in Damasara. Take yourself back to that time when we see Anwar striding into court with his black eye but still defiant and unbowed.
Take yourself back to the early days of Reformasi when all this started. All this that have led to Barisan Nasional losing their two-thirds majority in Parliament. Renew your sense of outrage at a BN government and a Mahathir that has gone mad hell bent in going after Anwar again because only Anwar constitute a threat to their existence. Get back the anger that you had when you saw PDRM bludging so many defenseless Malaysian with their truncheons and kicking them with their leather boots. And remember the many instances of nepotism, corruption and abuse of power that has become endemic in an UMNO that has failed the Malays.
Then bring yourself back to the present and ask yourself what has changed?
For UMNO and BN my friends nothing has changed. They are still arrogant. Corruption and nepotism is still rife. Like in the days of old Mahathir still rules but this time he pulls the strings from behind the curtains. Najib talks about KPI, about Greater KL, about that Tower, F1….anything and everything that will allow them to have great wealth at the people expense. Our money… their gain!
And Anwar? What of Anwar? Remember sodomy one…well there is now sodomy two! Remember Reformasi…..well we now have Pakatan Rakyat with representatives in the Dewan Negara and the Dewan Rakyat. Remember Permatang Pauh, Selayang, Puchong, Kepong, Kota Melaka……well we now have Kedah, Kelantan, Penang and Selangor. Where we go from here is for us to decide. Not Anwar not Najib.
With the Internet we know in real time what is happening in our country. We know in real time when MACC murders Teoh Beng Hock and PDRM bludgeon Kugan to death. We know in real time what the powers that be did at the GH mortuary to stop Kugan’s family from seeing the state of his mutilated corpse. We know in real time every time PDRM kills another suspect in their custody or gun down suspects that they are chasing in what they routinely tells us is “self-defence”. Imagine four adult Policemen with automatic weapons against two teenagers with a parang! And 14 year old Aminulrasyid Hamzah was shot to death….“seorang yang disyaki penyamun ditembak polis awal pagi di Seksyen 11 Shah Alam….sebilah parang dijumpai di dalam kereta disyaki digunakan sebagai senjata untuk menyamun….suspek kedua berjaya melepaskan diri..”
We know in real time what PI Bala said Najib did with Altantuya. We know in real time the massive rorts in Mindef. There is no escaping the truth. No escaping if you have done wrong. No forgiveness for lies told. Tiada Maaf bagi mu… You can run but eventually you cannot hide…that goes for every Politician in the country!
Yes we have the Internet but Najib and BN has everything else. Media, Newspaper, Television and a limitless amount of resources – both financial and technical, to put their lies and concocted stories to us. That is what they are trying to do now. Everyday in their Papers, their Television and through every imaginable way they can – their purpose is to kill off Anwar. Najib thinks that when Anwar is gone he will kill Pakatan Rakyat.. Kill Pakatan Rakyat and he will kill the hopes of the people for a decent future for ourselves and our children. We cannot allow him to do this.
Remind yourself that our fight is to rid us of UMNO/BN. This UMNO within our country that kills the very thing that gives life and sustenance to it. UMNO/BN is a parasite that lives off us all. Our struggle to take back our own country from the clutches of a corrupt BN…these parasites! Our fight is against everyone and anyone that stands in our way of doing this.
How skillfully Najib/UMNO/BN has used the resources at their beck and call in their attempt to isolate Anwar. Think my friend…
· Sodomy against Murder?
· Saiful against Altantuya?
· Saiful against RM$500 million of the people’s money given to Razak Baginda?
· Saiful against PKFZ.
· Saiful against Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan and Aminurashid?
· Saiful against RM$70 million paid to APCO?
· Saiful against a Political Police Force call PDRM?
Ecetera! Ecetera! Ecetera!
That is all they have on Anwar. Saiful….and that too still to be proven in court. But see how well they craft their battle? Money and power misused, allows Najib to do this in the present political climate under the Barisan Nasional.
As I have said before…we cannot allow this to happen! It insults our intelligence. It will gives free license to UMNO to continue to plunder and pillage our country’s wealth…or what is left of it…..an UMNO that has consistently and without fail unashamedly use race, religion and money to further their vested interest.
And so my friends go read what is written. Go listen what is being said….but always hold on to your right to make your own decisions in the quiet of your thoughts. Remember….You are one…With me we are two. Together we can make a difference. Together we will have Pakatan Rakyat become the Government come the 13th GE. God willing….God willing.....
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