The Real Anwar Ibrahim

Of late, the blogersphere has been buzzing about the so called ''chameleon", on how he is an American agent, Islamist radical, martian and what not. I think that Anwar is missunderstood, locally and internationally, of course the local mainstream media bias against him is one factor, coupled with the western media cynicism about him due to his Islamist ties, what we have is a man with great intentions but missunderstood by many.

Firstly, Anwar is not an blind ally of the west, we can see it from his support of the western-perceived terrorist group Hamas. In the west, Hamas is labeled as a terrorist organization where as in the Muslim world, Hamas is seen as a group of freedom fighters fighting for their rights as Palestinians to reclaim their lost land that the Israeli regime occupies currently.

Besides that, respected counter-terrorist expert Ilan Weinglass claimed that Anwar has ties with the Muslim brotherhood which is said to have members like fame Ulama Yusof Qardhawi which of course is an Islamist. Anwar even supports Iranian nuclear ambitions which the west and the Isrealis are vehemently against.

Anwar is also a close friend and supports Turkish PM Erdrogran who himself has attacked Israel a few times recently. So, from the above arguments an many more, he is not a an American puppet or agent as some politician claimed as branding Anwar as such is only a political ploy by his detractors to cut his appeal among voters especially Malay Muslim.

Having said that however, he is not an Islamist cup of tea either, as he also has ties with a few ''non-friendly" to the Islamists allies in the west. The architect of the Iraq war, the neo-conservative Paul Wolfowitz is a good example that will send shivers to his Islamist allies. He worked with Wolfowitz as Chairman of the Foundation of the Future where he served as chairman. The foundation is created to promote democracy, transparency and popular political participation( I didn't like the sound of the last one) in the middle east.

He was also involved in other bodies like the NED( national endowment for democracy) and International Crisis Group which in some cases can be viewed by the Islamist conservatives as an attempt to realign the Islamic values that accept liberal western concepts like secularism, freedom and so on thus a treat to conservative Islam( in the west it can also be called extremist Islam or radical Islam). So calling him a radical or extremist wouldn't fit in the picture too, as his above work contradicts the extremist and radical beliefs thus how can one call him as such when obviously he clearly is not.

My analysis of Anwar and a sentiment shared by many including the Foreign Policy Magazine is that he is a unique moderate individual who is able to bridge the gap between Islam and the west, even the east and the west. Many leaders seemed to prefer to play it safe by choosing one side and demonising the other, as they say, those in the middle will only get trampled by two fighting sides, but Anwar showed courage in this case by trying to be the mediator of the two worlds.

Not many leaders in this world have an understanding of Islamic principles and Western principles or Western principles and eastern principles which Anwar has, so he is in a position to be the bridge between the two civilisations, thus creating not a world in which one dominates with hegemony, but a world with the two civilisation living side-by side enlightening each other, creating the best of both worlds so to speak.

Thus he is accorded a ranking in the 30s by the magazine of world thinkers that is shaping foreign policy and world affairs. A clash of the two civilisations will only create disasters for both sides as can be seen in Bush war on terror where innocent civilians end up becoming the victim, so Anwar has a unique leadership role in this world to prevent such clash from occurring.

That is why he continues to be courted by western leaders and Islamist leaders alike, despite what is said about him by people suspicious of him, from Western nations to eastern ones as he can offer them the other side of the story like how the Islamic countries should embrace democracy and how the west should not fear Islam( Islamophobia) as the religion is peaceful in nature.

In conclusion, while Anwar's work should be commended as a great commitment for the future of this planet, it must be noted that despite all that, some in the west and in the Islamic world might not be to fond of the two worlds co-existing thus he might end up failing to prevent the clash of civilisations. Worst than that, he might unknowingly be missused by some extremists and western imperialists for the race to create a new world order in which winner takes all.

Anwar must be cautious of such event occurring as failure to do so will lead to the sancity of Islam as religion and sovereignty of nations to be destroyed or it will lead to extremists elements taking over the moderates ones on this earth thus creating havoc to mankind. His success will lead to a greater world where as his failure will lead to a destroyed one.

I wish him the best in his pursuit and may Allah S.W.T guide him on his journey which filled with trials and tribulations at home and abroad, of course, all great struggles will involve such elements, but the task of a great leader is to lead fellow man through such trials and tribulations so that they can create a greater world for all man.

Links
Him being an extremist or a radical-http://newledger.com/2010/07/unholy-alliance/
Him being an American agent or involved in western activities-http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2596&Itemid=178
(ps, there are many such links, type Anwar and NED and googled it for example, I just picked a few that have been making headlines in the blogersphere.)

Malay Unity?

Recently, many quarters are calling for Malay unity among the largest race in Malaysia, citing failure to do so might lead to the Malays being weak and vulnerable, thus allowing ''others" to take advantage of them. This siege mentality, from my point of view, is the very reason why the Malays are left in the current state that they are suffering from. It is this mentality of the Malays, that they are under siege, that they justify the act of their''protector" despite it being unjust or unlawful.

First of all, for the sake of discussion, for Malay unity to come to fruition, they must be an underlying value(s) that unites and binds all of us, this value(s) must be able to precede other values including political ideologies and so on. With no doubt is better if it is a positive value rather than a negative one. Now in our present state, the Malays lack this much needed value. Assuming that PAS and UMNO unites and creates another entity, without values, the combined entity is useless as history had shown in the 70s when the two joined hands under the BN. It was a failure.

The secular nationalist and the Islamist values that UMNO and PAS holds respectively pitted one against another and that coupled with distrust and so on lead to the break up. Furthermore, their core voters consist of the same group, the Malays, thus fueling further competition.

A second assumption I would like to make is that if the two party joined hands again, it will create a political context in which the largely Malays( UMNO and PAS), VS the largely Non-Malays( PKR and DAP), this will only lead to a hegemony in our political space and extremist in both group will prosper which is not good for Malaysians in the long run. Malay supremacy can be pushed to an extent where is damaging for the country race relations as there is no way MCA or MIC can stand up to UMNO and PAS no matter how strong they are.

A hegemony political space will lead to the creation of a hegemony government that will implement policies that are hegemony in nature. Plural Malaysia will not prosper if a hegemony Malaysia emerges, rather the effect is rather destructive than a constructive if one is to use the Malaysia's point of view than a Malay one.

Furthermore, in an event that this new combination is not performing in the interest of the Malays as the propagators of Malay unity hope it would, they will no check and balance from the microscopic context of Malay politics. The Malays will be trapped and be forced to support this new entity irrespective of whether they are performing or not( look at the state of reliance of the Malays to UMNO now, the reliance will be bigger if the party will merge or join hands with PAS) with no alternative for the Malays.

To me it is not upliftement of the Malays if UMNO merges with PAS, rather it is the opposite. I would prefer the Malays unite not under a combination of political parties, rather unite under common values and principles irrespective of political inclination( like in the west how they unite in upholding principles of freedom, human rights and democracy).

The Malays will be better of that way as politicians can't misuse Malay unity for the sake of personal or political gain not to mention it will lead to a well served Malays as politicians from both side of the divide will compete to serve the Malays for votes thus leading to a better served Malays.

In conclusion, I would encourage for the Malays to dissemble the siege mentality and think progressively about this PAS-UMNO merger of sort as it will not really help the Malays, rather it will only make the problem worse. In my opinion, for the Malays to be uplifted, the Malays themselves must take action that uplift themselves, than the politicians will must likely follow suit.

As reminded many times here, real change happens from the bottom-up and not the other way around thus for the Malays to be better of, we must look at ourselves and make improvements on us rather than rely solely on the politicians who most of them have their own political agendas to fulfill.

Remember what history had taught us before, when the Malays rely solely on the the Sultans or other leaders, we end up losing more than we gain( many states in Malaysia were lost this way, just look at Perak) but when we as a people unite, even the mighty British concurred with us( the rejection of Malayan Union), please remember that when considering UMNO-PAS unity and Malay unity.

Genuine or Cosmetic Change?

I'm have no idea what proper tittle should be given for this article so I decided to simply write Genuine or Cosmetic change as the title for this article as from my point of view, many of the so called ''change" advocated by the politicians in these country are cosmetic in nature and not genuine change which Malaysians really need right now.

I would like to comment on the effort of Malaysia's political parties, in trying to win votes from voters, have done some pretty remarkable things considering their past histories and so on in changing themselves.

Firstly, the fact that PAS is considering to field a non-Muslim in an election is pretty remarkable. This move is testament to PAS effort to reach out to the non-Muslims voters, further distancing themselves from the hardline Islamic image that they have been perceived by many non-Muslims voters. This should add meaning to PAS creation of the PAS supporters Club which they establish to bring PAS closer to the non-Muslims voters as members now may be chosen to contest for office despite the fact that the club has no full membership status and are not allow to vote in party election.

Then there is the effort by DAP to invite Malays to join the party. The party had set up a new exclusively Malay branches and they are also trying to recruit them in existing branches. The appointment of Tunku Abdul Aziz, the former head of Transparency International Malaysia as the party's vice chairman is testament to DAP's effort in bringing the party closer to the Malays after long being perceived as a Chinese chauvinist party.

Despite all that, the party must do more to shed it's anti-Malay image and the appointment of Tunku Abdul Aziz as Vice Chairman of the party while it helps, will not bring much change of perception among Malays of DAP as Tunku is not rely an influential Malay figure that can help court the Malays to join or vote DAP.

Finally,there's the recent move by UMNO in publicizing the entrance of 40 young Ulama's into the party in which Najib, the UMNO President himself was there to receive their memberships. The move can be seen as UMNO's way of boosting is Islamic image after long being seen as a secular party especially to the Islamist. Even former Perlis Mufti, Dr Asri name appeared although he didn't enter UMNO. This will probably help UMNO steal some votes from is traditional nemesis PAS especially the moderate Islamic-conscious Malays.

In conclusion, I would like to remind all parties that although these changes are a welcoming sign, I am also fully aware that our politicians are masters at making cosmetic changes in order to gain votes. I am not implying that these changes are cosmetic in nature as these moves are a good first step for the respective party. The benefits that awaits them are huge, the political gains aside.

PAS can formulate policies that are Islamic while taking into account the non-Malays feedback and ideas, not to mention a perfect way to have a two-way communication between PAS and the non-Malays in explaining issues associated with the party like the extremist image and so on.

We can learn from Prophet Muhammad S.A.W never alienates the non-Muslims in his administration as they views and concerns are always taken account to in his administration thus creating an inclusive society that unites all Muslims and non-Muslims alike, so there is no reason for PAS not to try to emulate Prophet Muhammad S.A.W in their approach in handling the non-Muslims.

DAP can be really aspire for Malaysian Malaysia with the inclusion of the Malays in it's party struggle rather than judging by the current make up of the party of non-Malays Malaysia or worst, Chinese-Malaysia. The party can push the concept and it's democratic socialist principles higher if the Malays are in DAP so that the party can be more inclusive thus hopefully can be accepted by the Malays at least to a certain extent.( I would like to add that I am against communal politics as it's overshadowing progressive politics where issues that bring us progress like economy, education and so on are at the forefront not race.)

Finally, UMNO can certainly gain by the influx of Ulama in the party as they can suggest how to incorporate Islamic principles in it's political struggle and the administration of the state and federal government. UMNO can be Islamic to the core( not being an extremist, but truly practicing Islam) and not simply pretending to be Islamic as some of it's politicians are trying to do.

The incorporation of Islamic principles can hopefully help UMNO tackle corruption, fund mismanagement, lack of integrity and many moral issues the party and the government that the party led are having problem in solving.

It's struggle to up lift the Malays can also be boosted by applying Islamic principles and values like amar marauf nahi mungkar( the Malays are not criticism friendly as it's often regarded as "biadap'' nor are the Malays the type to offer criticism as it will be called "jaga tepi kain orang" despite the criticism is to invite to do good deeds and avoid evil ones.) and many others.

The developments are certainly a positive one, let us see whether it is purely cosmetic change for political gains or a genuine reform for the betterment of the party's ability to serve the people. They can fool us once, but not twice, unless we are fools, if that is the case, I will offer my deepest regret and sympathy to our fate as a people of a nation where, despite being fools we are either unaware of how foolish we are or simply too ignorant to enlightened ourselves. May God help us if that is the case as fools are powerless to create positive changes for themselves, let alone for society as a whole, so God is our only hope then.

A Reformist

I'm called to write this as recent and past events had shown me that the word reformist is often misused by certain quarters to gain political popularity for their own political agenda. The event, the recent one where UMNO's Youth Chief Khairy Jamaludin claimed that he and Prime Minister Najib are reformist which strucked me as a surprise as how can the prestigious tag ''reformist'' bestowed by history to man and women who change the course of civilization, the likes of Lenin, Gandhi,Jefferson, Elanor, Catherine The Great be simply referred to any Tom, Dick or Khairy( or is it Larry?).

First of all, reformist must bring about real change in a society that, the change itself so powerful that it can overcome a political or economical structure lasting for thousand of years, it can inspire people to throw away common beliefs and wisdoms and accept and new way of thinking and behaving, thus rewriting the social and political landscape.

Lenin is an example of a man who achieved this feat. He overturned the thousand years old Tsar regime which before this is an institutional structure of the Russian society, the old established economic structure of peasants who worked for aristocratic landowners or later capital owners for as long as the Russian society existed also didn't escaped his reforms where they were finally freed from the chain that locked them to the aristocrats as the nation strive for a society without class. Calling Lenin a refomist might be an undersatement as the proper tag should be a revolutioner, as some may consider a reformist as tame if compared to revolutioner, but from my thinking, one must be a reformist first then move on to the next level of revolutioner, thus there's a refomist in Lenin before he move up to being a revolutioner that he is. Khairy, who is a smart guy can evaluate whether such feat is comparable to his or Najib's achievement, but my view is that both of their work combined can't match Lenin's feat.

Mahatma Gandhi is another reformist. Before him there's an India, divided along the lines of religion, race, language and so on and then there's the empirial British who colonized them benefiting from this division which they manipulated well by using the divide and rule way of administration. Beside the already prevalent division, there exists a mental barrier inside all Indians at that time that independence is impossible as the British is unbeatable. Despite all that, Gandhi managed to unite the nation, against all odds, introduce a concept of non-violence resistance which is a revolutionary concept used by other great leaders like Marthin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. He managed to discard the commonly held beliefs at that time that the British are unbeatable and India can't gain independence from them which by discarding such beliefs lead to the independence of India movement where although the other nationalists of the time are calling for the picking up of arms and riffles to fight against the colonialist, Gandhi insisted in non-violence resistance thus going against the tide of the time.

Unfortunately for the self described reformist Khairy and his boss, not only they are advocating more of the same, like they are advocating the continuation of the social order that existed during the British colonial period here with policies that divides rather than unite us, but they are doing so by way of force, manipulation, deceit, using sedition to scare the different races and so on, thus automatically tarnishing the word'' reformist'' by describing himself and his boss as one.

Finally, there’s an act of changing the social landscape to a positive one. That, to my thinking is the major aim of a reformist. In both the example given, there's a change in the social landscape, for Russia, it ended the aristocratic grab of the wealth of the nation where all Russians can better enjoy the wealth of the rich country irrespective of class and for India, despite their differences, they all unite as Indians and gained independence, but nothing can compare to the feat that Nelson Mandela achieved when he ended apartheid in South Africa. Years of slavery and colonialism didn't stop the country that he lead to embrace the whites as their own where together they are joining hands to build a better nation for all of them so that the next generation can enjoy the effort of their forefathers irrespective of their race. The dark past are buried as they toiled for a brighter future.

Here in Malaysia, the past still haunts us, just look at the May 13 incidence as a case in point where instead of burying the dark past and working together for a brighter future like the South Africans are doing, we are living in the dark past, denying ourselves a brighter future thus passing the darkness to future generations. Real reformist will not sit down and let this happen, but UMNO which the party that Najib leads and Khairy belongs are ensuring that the dark past is forever with us so that their party will continue to be relevant to Malays who are scared that the siege by the ''others" will lead them in a state of diaspora thus ensuring the continuation of the party's rule of this country.

In conclusion, it's best that Khairy reexamined his statement and make correction to it as by my thinking, there's absolutely no way that he and his boss can be called a reformist, however for Khairy, he is still young and is not too late for him to change his ways and work towards reforming this country so that he can be called a reformist by his countrymen and who knows, maybe by mankind themselves just like the likes of the heroes mentioned above. Only time will tell if that will happen or not.

Real and Rhetorical Change

The theme of change seems to be the main ethos in the Malaysian political landscape since the March 8 General Election Tsunami. I am of the view that although once popular from Barack Obama's campaign slogan of '' Change'' to Pakatan Rakyat's reformasi, the credibility of the word has since diminished. We can see that in the US today despite some major changes, there are still partisan politics not by-partisan politics that Obama advocated, lobbyists and wall street remained influential over main street and so on. The campaign glitter had somewhat faded, and Americans are now facing reality once again.

Malaysia political landscape also was mesmerised by this word. Anwar mobilised the masses into believing that the Pakatan Rakyat is the agent for change with Reformasi being the theme of the opposition thus leading the opposition to it's best General Election performance.

UMNO, realising the power of that word also joined the bandwagon with slogans like UMNO Mampu Berubah and so on. The government itself introduced the Government Transformation plan and so on indicating change. But lets face it, after more than 2 years can we still believe in the word ''change"?

The reality is much of our politics are still the same. Despite the introduction of 1Malaysia, race still dominates the political landscscape. Just look at how issues are played by both side of the political divide, we will see the dominance of race. Just to prove my point, just pick up a copy of Utusan, the newspaper which is UMNO controlled and you will see how everything is racialised.

Look at what certain statement by non-Malays Opposition members and you will noticed immediately how race was the reason for such statement. So the change that many hope for, the change that wll bring an end to communal politics seems to be nothing more than an empty hope.

Then we look at cronyism and nepotism, are they getting worse or better, well whatever the answer may be, they are still alive and well, both in the ruling and opposition sides. Just look at the Selangor state government owned sand mining company KSSB where there's a discrepancies involving it's management of funds. So the knight in the shining armour in the opposition that the people who voted for them saw turned out to be a disappointment for them.

The issue of corruption remains prevalent. Despite the fact that MACC was given much needed power boost by the government, until it's a fully independent body, it will not be an effective graft busting agency. Just look at it's handling of the PKFZ Scandal, Lingam case and so on.

In conclusion, the real change that the people yearned are not coming anytime soon based on current trend. The reality is just as President Obama said during his campaign, real change occurs from the bottom up and not the other way around. So, if we want real change,the people must be involved irrespective of political leanings and so on. We have seen how the NGO movement in Malaysia has created change for what they represent. Just look at Hindraf and Perkasa to name a few. It's time Malaysians take part in the way the country is governed as only that can make real change happen and not just ''change'' as a mere political rhetoric.

The Jewish Factor

I was surprised by the recent development in Malaysian politics involving our politicians and the Jews. Who would have thought that despite our nation's stand against the the Jews-Zionist network and Israel, our politicians from both side of the political divide seem to be well linked to them despite they themselves claiming the other of either being close to the Jews or being a Jewish agent.

Firstly, we look at the opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Jewish link which include Paul Wolfowitz among others, the architect of the Iraq war, not to mention he also close with many American politicians whom we can't fully trust due to their believe in the American agenda such as free-trade and Pro-Secular stand not to mention their own personal links with the Jews.

This stand and many others propagated by America are not necessarily bad, but it must be done by ourselves as a sovereign nation that we are, molding such values and principles based on our culture and capabilities as our survival is at stake, so such move require deliberate design so as it can co-exist with our nation's core values and so on. We have seen the fate of countries who embrace democracy and free-trade blindly that cause damage rather than progress to nation such as Russia after the collapse of Soviet Union and so on.

Then we have our Prime Minister whose association with the firm that have links to the Jews, APCO, that created a stir in Parliament when the opposition leader raise this issue that lead to some quarters calling him to be referred to the Parliament's special rights and privileges committee for him to be suspended. APCO is said to be link with the Jews helping dictators improve their image so that their abuse towards the people won't affect their image among their people and the international community.

Don't get me wrong, but if they are efficient at doing their jobs, then go ahead, hire them, as rightly or wrongly, human nature is as such that image counts, it' true in economics, politics and so on. So the move will benefit the country with improve confidence in our economy and government from local and foreign investors, than I don't really see the problem as long as our stand on the Palestinian occupation by Israel stays.

Now, is it wrong for them to befriend or hire personalities or firms with links to the Jews? I think it's okay if we have the right intentions to do so. Again, our hatred and skepticism of the Jews and the western figures that are linked to them or simply attached to the western agenda have been used by our politicians to forward their political agenda.In the end, real issues like corruption and incompetence will be buried under the issue that is least important to our nation's progress like ties to the Jews and west. Of course we must be wary of them and their imperialist agenda, but not to the extent of xenophobia.

The reality is that we are using and consuming a lot of Jewish or Jewish link items such as McDonald's itself. We are using their know-how like ideas in economics, management and so on. We must remember that they(Jews and whites) are willing to embrace other ideas and ideals such as during the Islamic Civilisation when they without shame studied our ideas and ideals whilst improving it along the way. They are willing to work with us, use our institutions to forward their ideals. So now we must do the same so that we can progress just as they did then.

In conclusion, Malaysians especially the Malays must be willing to learn from the Jews and the west. Look at their positive traits, apply it appropriately and improve it, that's how we progress unless we are happy and being backward until the end of time, which, will make it easier for the reasons we fear them to become the reality of the day, so the only answer is to learn from the outside world to strenghten our economy, politics, culture, military and so on to avoid the said fear from becoming a reality.

Morality and Politics

The recent events unfolding in our political landscape serve as a clear indication of lack of morality among all quarters in our political circle. Morality while varies in it's importance to individuals as morality is subjective to the respective individual such as what can be perceived as an immoral acts to some like the issue of abortion and gender change may seem like a norm or human rights to others.

Having said that however, the importance of moral values, or a moral compass to be exact in individuals especially those eyeing public office cannot be misconstrued as unimportant as this should guide the individual and the public in assessing his or her character in the performance of the duties entrusted to them by us.

The first big event that shock me to a certain extent is the MCA Presidency victory by former Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek despite him being involved in a sex scandal which video was an eye sore to some and entertainment to many speaking with candour if I may as that the reality we are dealing with here.

It surprises me as I believed that Ong Ka Ting should be the winner as despite claims of cronyism which involve his brother, Ong Ka Chuan and the fact that he's the leader in MCA when MCA suffered a massive loss of Parliamentary seat in the last General Election which can't be blame solely on him rather the behaviour of UMNO, which I think was the major reason MCA suffered such loss and not so much of Ong Ka Ting's failure to steer the party. Nonetheless public figures like Dr Mahthir all call for the results to respected as the delegates have chosen their man despite it being a reflection of how they feel about Dr Chua's immoral act.

The second event regards the Hulu Selangor's by election where some in UMNO Selangor made a suggestion in nominating former MB Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib which again surprises me as he was involved in a case involving currency irregularities amounting to 3.8 million in Australia. He's was found innocent simply because he claimed he didn't understand English and so couldn't understand the rules and regulations. Then he lied to his royal highness the Sultan of Selangor about his marriage with his highness daughter.

So with such a character of his, it surprises me as to why some in UMNO Selangor is suggeting him rather than someone with better character and moral values not to mention possibly younger except possibly that he can probably guarantee and win for UMNO. So, now winning is indeed everything even though you put crocks and criminals in office or the state legislative assembly.

To be fair however, such act is nothing new in Malaysians politics as a whole, as we can see from the case of Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong whose pictures and videos of her sleeping wearing only some sort of gown circulated on the web believed to be taken by his boyfriend which happened to be in her bedroom while she's asleep despite the fact that they're not married. PKR didn't take any action so the precedence in morality failed to be set up as there's nothing much PKR or Pakatan can say about Dr Chua when they themselves failed to act on Elizabeth Wong.

In conclusion, it's up to the public now to enforce moral values to our politicians by punishing them through rejection of not only the individuals, but also the party so that they will get the message that Malaysians want a morality based society and we demand them to give it to us eventhough it means political liability for them as only with morality in center stage in our government can it be spread across to other sectors in Malaysia and since politicians control the government, it's with them that this morality issue should begin with. If we the public act, we can give birth to a Malaysia that is a moral based society that we can all be proud of.