c
“We will win, because we are right,
and because reason is on our side.”
They had not accounted for people power. In three days, Anna’s fast snowballed into a huge political movement. Indians all over the world joined it. Opinion leaders started to back it. So did some business leaders.
Twitter saw millions of tweets. An unauthorized tweet became the most popular slogan on social media: Mera neta chor hai. Hazare later said that politicians shouldn’t be sent away. Everyone has the right to join the campaign. But the people there didn’t want their movement politicised. It belonged to the common man, they said
"You could tell UMNO was scoping out the trouble aspects of it."
But eventually the ANWAR loses patience with UMNO.
I never compare my heroes. Gandhi, for me, will always be Gandhi, the father of this great nation. JP will remain JP, the bravest of men, who won an impossible battle which restored us the freedom to write, speak and dream again. And now, there’s Anna Hazare who has taught us that nothing is impossible. However powerful a Government may be, it has to bow before the people’s wishes. Let no cynic convince you otherwise.
Anna Hazare, a little known player in mainstream politics, arrived in Delhi quietly with his little known Jan Lokpal campaign and almost miraculously emerged as India’s most powerful rallying point for the battle against corruption. For an entire week, thousands streamed in from all over the country to support and join his fast. Many of them, like school kids and rural folk didn’t have a clue what the Jan Lokpal Bill was all about. But that didn’t stop them from lining up behind Anna and, suddenly, he became the strongest moral force India has seen since JP led the students of Bihar in 1977 to upstage Indira Gandhi and dismantle the axis of evil that imposed Emergency on us. The Government initially dug in its heels, refused to give an inch. In a democracy, what is Parliament there for, what are ministers for if people were to directly participate in framing laws? How cheeky can this demand be, that the Prime Minister’s office should be brought within the Lokpal’s purview? Who are these people who think they represent the nation when elected representatives are around? So what if the Government has been sitting on the bill for 42 years? So what if scams happen? Isn’t Raja in jail? This farce went on for a while till Sharad Pawar, a wiser man and an old adversary of Anna, saw the writing on the wall. He resigned from the Group of Ministers formed to frame the bill. He knew Anna would not give in. That was the first victory. The second came when Sonia wrote Anna a letter, urging him to give up his fast, saying the Government would consider his requests. He politely refused. He asked for an official notification instead, before ending his fast. He was not prepared to be tricked.
Many are comparing Anna to Gandhi. They call his campaign our second freedom struggle: Freedom from corruption that has corroded our nation and destroyed its spirit and purpose. What specially defines this campaign is that young people have joined it in droves and the social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter were widely used by them to show their support for Anna. The Government, as usual, began by ignoring the fast, pretending it was hogwash. Then it used its twits to deride it. It even persuaded sections of the media to write it off as a movement ridden by internal dissensions. Cynics joked about it. How can a 72 old man with no money, no political party to back him, no powerful supporters in Delhi ever hope to fight the mighty Government? With a fast unto death! Are we joking?
The rest is well chronicled. The Government finally gave in, conceding every demand. The victory of the people was total. All the pomposity, the hubris, the smart one-liners on TV by Congress spokespeople vanished when it was announced that the Government had surrendered on every issue and will see the bill through Parliament in the coming monsoon session.
For those who were not around in 1947 or 1977, this is the first time a people’s movement has actually succeeded. The youth that Rahul Gandhi tried so hard to bring together have now got together for Anna Hazare. I saw them everywhere I went last week. In Jantar Mantar. In Azad Maidan. At the Gateway of India. On the streets of every city, on TV channels, speaking their hearts out. It was the biggest battle ever fought—and won, in less than a week. Like every Indian who played a tiny part in it, I feel proud and empowered. We have regained faith in our ability to change India. We have also proved that the young and the old can share the same dream.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dato Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, is pushing for a Royal Commission to enquire whether the man in the sex video is Anwar Ibrahim. The Minister said earlier the three Datos who exhibited the video are whistle blowers. Certain UMNO leaders past and present also appear to have a fervent need for the public viewing of the video without regard to the sensitivities of the people, in particular the children.
The Inspector General of Police Ismail Omar also took the unusual step of announcing the video is authentic while further investigations were needed to determine whether the three have committed any offence. When all these are considered, the only reasonable inference ordinary Malaysians can make is that this sex video is another smear campaign.
UMNO has a fixation to paint Anwar as a sexual deviant. This has been relentlessly pursued to put an end to his political career. As a consequence, Malaysians have to bear with regular and repeated servings of sex scandals allegedly committed by Anwar. In trying to portray Anwar as being immoral and therefore unfit to lead, this sex video instead exposed the moral decay within UMNO.
The release of the sex video by the trio of UMNO veterans is a desperate gamble to cling to power at all costs. Far from a coup de grace over Anwar’s head, this sex video has become the death throes of a doomed UMNO regime
Watching toads jump from one political party to another has become a sport Malaysians are quite used to. But when it comes to “public intellectuals”, their shift from staunch critic to apologist of the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government still evokes incredulous amusement among honest intellectuals.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar’s fallout with PKR, instead of taking him further left as intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky have done, seems to have taken him further right. Nowadays, he is wheeled out as the “deus ex machina” in any Barisan Nasional-staged farce. [Deus ex machina was literally a god brought on stage in classical dramas by a mechanical contrivance to resolve difficulties in the plot].
So, true to the BN script involving the sex video, Dr Chandra also wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI):
“Chandra said it was the wrongdoer and not those who exposed the wrongdoing that should be targeted.” (NST 10.4.11)
He said the three datuks were not the wrongdoers and proceeded — as in the BN script with the accompanying media screenplay — to challenge Anwar Ibrahim to clear himself:
“Chandra, who is now a social activist and an academician, also gave his support for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to determine the identity of the man in the video despite objections from Anwar’s family and supporters. He said they should have no compunctions about the establishment of the royal panel if they were convinced that Anwar had done no wrong. However, he warned the opposition leader of serious repercussions if it was proven otherwise, “as others in similar circumstances have done”.
Now if I was to follow the example of the three datuks and showed a sex video involving someone who looks like Dr Chandra, would he even deign to entertain my challenge that he proves that the man in the video is not him?
I don’t think Dr Chandra would nor should he! For, do we really need a RCI for a case that could be easily solved with elementary police work? I don’t think Sherlock Holmes would even deign to take up such a case. We expect RCIs to enquire into matters of greater public importance.
Now, the difference in the three datuks’ sex-video case is, Anwar Ibrahim has made a police report. That being the case, it is up to the police to take action as to whether there is any truth that these three impeccably moral datuks are “whisleblowers” who are trying to save us from an immoral politician or whether they are vexatious villains who are trying to fix and defame the leader of the Opposition.
The police have thus to find out who the man in the sex video is; and if the man is not Anwar Ibrahim, they have to charge the three moral datuks for blowing the job at trying to be whistleblowers, under the appropriate purveying pornography laws. The mainstream media will also have to carry the can for the elaborate scheme to defame a politician. Do they ever feel shame?
It amazes me how our police could ever apprehend international terrorists when they cannot find out who the man in the sex video is — especially since there is supposed to be a whole 15-minute sequence of him caught in the act.
It further amazes me how the police could have detained more than 10,000 people under the ISA since 1960 and out of these, we have not heard of any international terrorists amongst them. On the other hand, Mat Top the alleged Malaysian terrorist who was killed by the Indonesian police and linked to the Bali bombings was never detained under the ISA! What does this tell us about the ISA? And what does this tell us about the Malaysian police?
It is time for the police to redeem themselves and spare us this tiresome sex-video farce and the equally tiresome pronouncements of the BN’s deus ex-machina.
The police know whether the three Datos have committed an offence by looking at Section 5(1) of the Film Censorship Act 2002. The section provides that no person shall have in his possession, circulate or exhibit any film which is obscene or is otherwise against public decency. Section 5(2) provides that anyone who contravenes Section 5(1) commits an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment or both.
The trio in the media conferences admitted they exhibited the video. Anyone who has seen this video confirms it is obscene. Why is there the hesitation to act? Is it because they are from the same side?
To set up a Commission of Enquiry to determine whether Anwar is the man in the video the matter must fall within the provisions of Section 2(1) of the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950. Section 2(1) provides that a Commission may be set up to enquire into the following:-
(a) The conduct of any Federal Officer;
(b) The conduct or management of any department of the public service;
(c) The conduct or management of any public institution; or
(d) Any other matter in the opinion of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong is for public welfare.
A Commission can only be set up in this case if it is for public welfare. Therefore in order for Anwar’s moral character to be a matter of public welfare the Government must concede he is going to be the next Prime Minister. If the future Prime Minister is to undergo such an enquiry then Anwar is right to ask for an enquiry on the present Prime Minister. Never in the history of our nation did we have a Prime Minister with so many clouds hanging over him. Applying Nazri’s brand of logic for the RCI because Wan Aziza denied the man in the video is Anwar then enquiries on the Prime Minister must be conducted since he denied his involvement in those matters. This has not been done. The double standard is therefore clear for all to see.
Anwar’s reply to Nazri’s proposal for a Commission of Enquiry that the Government first hold enquiries on Altantuya, Port Dickson, the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and customs assistant director, Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, succinctly sums up the moral hypocrisy that have beset the UMNO stalwarts. Roger Malcolm Mitchell said:
“The devil decries evil
Virtue is his guide
To find the hidden villain
Listen to the loudest voice”
The loudest voice belongs to the moral hypocrite. Although they can try to convince themselves that transgressions by Anwar and opposition members must be condemned rigorously while those on their team can be overlooked, they have to convince the Malaysian public that what they have done is acceptable conduct. Double standards can never be accepted. They may be able to give to each other “self-proclaimed halos” and preach to the public “to do as I say but not as I do” but the people can see through this. Moral hypocrisy allows them to gain the benefits of appearing virtuous without incurring the costs of personal virtuous behavior.
Malaysians have unfortunately until recently kept silent on this and thereby encouraged this behavior. The question for Malaysians is that even if these leaders can deceive themselves into believing they are acting for the common good in releasing the sex video, can we Malaysians deceive ourselves? For some, moral hypocrisy is a useful tool for self-delusion but for many of us it will not be enough to overcome our conscience to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. Our minds cannot justify double standards and our hearts cannot accept as right what we know is wrong.
The decay in UMNO set in because they have been in power for too long. Malaysians have allowed UMNO’s self-delusion to fester and it has become gangrene. Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees who wanted to stone the adulteress that “He who has no sin cast the first stone“. One by one, they left until only Jesus and the woman were left and Jesus said “Go and sin no more”. We should be grateful the UMNO veterans were not there, otherwise Jesus would have run out of stones!
UMNO having cast the stone outraged our society’s dignity and insulted our intelligence. They think that once we see this grainy black and white video of a pot-bellied contortionist performing with such rigor that would be physically too demanding for an Olympian much less a sixty-four year old with a bad back, we will all rush out and vote for UMNO and BN. They have obviously not heard what Eleanor Roosevelt said:
“Great minds discuss ideas;
Modest minds discuss events
Small minds discuss persons"
Sadly, they think we not only have small minds but also feeble ones that will make us vote for the corrupt, oppressive and arrogant because of what the man and the woman were doing in the video. NGO’s like Suaram have condemned the sex video. Enalini Elumalai, Suaram coordinator in a press statement urged Malaysians to reject “sexual politicking” as it is shameful and an insult to the dignity of all Malaysians.
The President of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (“MCCBCHST”), Reverend Dr Thomas Philips said MCCBCHST viewed the video with disgust. He said their aim in publicly humiliating our elected opposition leader of Parliament offends the sensitivities of decent people no matter what race or religion they belong to.
Mohd Roslan Md Nor, the secretary general of The Malaysian Ulama Association (“PUM”) in a statement said those calling for a screening of the video in Parliament are “suffering from a cancer of rubbish politics.” He said the trend of trying to degrade and spread slander is not Malay Muslim culture. Moreover, it is illegal and unethical anywhere around the world. Recording, possessing and distributing the video is clearly haram. By releasing the video at the same time the Sarawak assembly was dissolved, they hoped it would help BN in the state elections. They should have released the bibles and not the video.
They forget it is issues, policies and reforms that are what we want to know and would determine the people’s vote. We do not want to see a sleazy video. We want to watch a debate between Anwar and Najib on Pakatan Rakyat’s Orange Book versus BN’s 1 Malaysia. We want to know who has the courage of conviction to make the structural reforms so badly needed for our nation to regain its competitiveness. We want to see who has the strength of character to rebuild our education system so our children can think creatively, innovatively and stand amongst the best in the world. These are the issues that should determine our votes.
We have enough of allegations of sodomy, sexual impropriety and every other type of smear politics that can be invented to steal an election with the cooperation of a controlled media that is so derelict in their duty of responsible reporting that what they write should be labeled as black propaganda and not news. If UMNO and Barisan Nasional are to win an election on the basis of smear politics it will give the signal that this is the way to go for all future elections.
The solution lies with us, the people. When we are at the ballot boxes, we have to punish and show our disgust against those who indulge in “gutter politics’” by voting them out. We must teach them a lesson that they will not forget or we will forever be dealing with the garbage of cesspool politics.
- William Leong Jee Keen is the MP for Selayang and the treasurer for PKR
No comments:
Post a Comment