Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now back with Umno. He rejoined the party today together with his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah and son Mokhzani.
The former premier resigned in a huff last May 19 after a very public spat with his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
...hari yang gelap semakin gelap, aku adikmu dan engkau abang!...era mahathirism kembali
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Najib dengan rasmi PM ke-6
Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak hari ini dengan rasminya perdana menteri Malaysia keenam apabila istiadat pengurniaan surat cara pelantikan dan istiadat mengangkat sumpah setia serta menyimpan rahsia sempurna dilangsungkan di Istana Negara, 10.10 pagi.
...sempena PM baru, penulis akan kerap melontarkan ide, komen, sinis dan pendapat, Lo Hrus Grak, kembali bertugas!
...sempena PM baru, penulis akan kerap melontarkan ide, komen, sinis dan pendapat, Lo Hrus Grak, kembali bertugas!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Yang Di-Pertuan Agong boleh bertindak
Oleh: Professor Abdul Aziz Bari (http://www.waubebas.org/)
Cara Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi menjawab soalan-soalan pemberita mengenai Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim sejak kebelakangan ini menunjukan bahawa beliau memandang serius cabaran Ketua Pembangkang itu. Sebelum ini Abdullah biasanya berkata bahawa Anwar hanya bergimik apabila mendakwa bahawa beliau mempunyai cukup bilangan ahli parlimen yang akan melompat ke Pakatan Rakyat, lantas membolehkan kerajaan baru dibentuk. Tetapi mutakhir ini Abdullah telah bertukar nada. Anwar telah dituduh sebagai pengancam keselematan dan ekonomi negara. Tuduhan ini membayangkan bahawa Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) mungkin akan digunapakai. Jelas sekali kerajaan kini merasa tergugat. Selain cabaran daripada Anwar, parti pemerintah juga digugat oleh perebutan kuasa dalaman. Jika kita lihat reaksi beberapa menteri terhadap penggunaan ISA baru-baru ini, tidak mustahil jika kita katakan bahawa Abdullah tidak lagi dapat mengawal sepenuhnya kabinet beliau.
Negara kita boleh dianggap sebagai menghampiri situasi krisis. Dalam waktu sebegini, kita memerlukan sesuatu yang mungkin kelihatan sedikit ‘di luar perlembagaan’ (extra-constitutional) untuk menangani keadaan. Cara-cara biasa mungkin tidak berkesan, terutama kerana kerajaan seolah-olah telah panik dan kelihatan tidak lagi berkebolehan untuk menasihatkan Yang Di-Pertuan Agong dan mengendalikan tugas-tugas biasa dalam pentadbiran.
Negara kita berbeza dengan Thailand dan Indonesia kerana kita tidak mempunyai Mahkamah Perlembagaan untuk dirujuk. Biasanya kita merujuk kepada Mahkamah Persekutuan tetapi sepanjang 51 tahun lepas Mahkamah Persekutuan tidak pernah membicarakan perlanggaran perlembagaan. Dan, berbeza dengan Mahkamah Agong Amerika Syarikat yang telah beberapa kali membicarakan kontroversi-kontroversi berkaitan perlembagaan, Mahkamah Persekutuan kita tidak langsung dirujuk semasa krisis perlembagaan pada tahun 1983, 1988 dan 1993. Mungkin ini merupakan tempias daripada kurangnya keyakinan rakyat terhadap kredibiliti dan kebolehan hakim-hakim kita.
Negara kita berbeza dengan Thailand dan Indonesia kerana kita tidak mempunyai Mahkamah Perlembagaan untuk dirujuk. Biasanya kita merujuk kepada Mahkamah Persekutuan tetapi sepanjang 51 tahun lepas Mahkamah Persekutuan tidak pernah membicarakan perlanggaran perlembagaan. Dan, berbeza dengan Mahkamah Agong Amerika Syarikat yang telah beberapa kali membicarakan kontroversi-kontroversi berkaitan perlembagaan, Mahkamah Persekutuan kita tidak langsung dirujuk semasa krisis perlembagaan pada tahun 1983, 1988 dan 1993. Mungkin ini merupakan tempias daripada kurangnya keyakinan rakyat terhadap kredibiliti dan kebolehan hakim-hakim kita.
Maka kita tinggal dengan satu sahaja pilihan iaitu Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. Yang Di-Pertuan Agong sebenarnya mempunyai beberapa peranan dan kuasa khusus yang boleh digunapakai dalam situasi sekarang. Baginda boleh mendapatkan bantuan daripada Majlis Raja-Raja yang diberi kuasa oleh perlembagaan untuk membincangkan apa sahaja perkara yang dirasakan perlu.
Masalah yang sedang kita alami sekarang berkisar di sekeliling isu perlantikan kerajaan, yang dalam bahasa perlembagaan sebenarnya ialah isu perlantikan perdana menteri. Perlembagaan memberikan tanggungjawab ini kepada Yang Di-Pertuan Agong berdasarkan budi bicara Baginda. Dalam situasi yang terang, contohnya jika terdapat majoriti di parlimen dan ketua yang jelas, maka Yang Di-Pertuan Agong tidak mempunyai pilihan selain daripada melantik ketua tersebut sebagai perdana menteri dan seterusnya menerima nasihat perdana menteri dalam urusan pembentukan kabinet. Ini boleh berlaku selepas pilihanraya umum, kematian perdana menteri semasa masih memegang jawatan, ataupun setelah berlaku perletakan jawatan perdana menteri.
Perletakan jawatan boleh berlaku dengan beberapa bentuk. Contohnya perletakan jawatan biasa seperti yang dilakukan oleh Dr Mahathir Mohamad pada tahun 2003. Dalam konteks negeri dan peranan sultan negeri tersebut pula, kita boleh melihat contoh yang berlaku setelah Dewan Undangan Negeri tidak lagi menyokong Menteri Besar mereka seperti yang dialami oleh Menteri Besar Selangor Harun Idris pada tahun 1976 dan Menteri Besar Kelantan Mohamed Nasir pada tahun 1977. Tetapi perlembagaan negara kita tidak mempunyai klausa yang jelas dalam isu perletakan jawatan. Satu-satunya peruntukan yang menyentuh isu perletakan jawatan ialah Artikel 43(4) yang menyebut bahawa mana-mana perdana menteri yang kehilangan sokongan dewan rakyat perlu meletak jawatan. Tetapi perlembagaan kita tidak menyebut mengenai proses menarik balik sokongan terhadap perdana menteri. Ini telah dimanipulasi oleh UMNO dan Barisan Nasional. Speaker Dewan Rakyat seolah-olah berusaha keras untuk menafikan usaha Pakatan Rakyat membawa usul tidak percaya di parlimen.
Apa peranan Yang Di-Pertuan Agong dalam situasi sekarang? Berdasarkan undang-undang, Yang Di-Pertuan Agong perlu bertindak mengikut nasihat kerajaan. Hakikatnya, walaupun tidak disebut secara jelas dalam perlembagaan, Baginda perlu memastikan wujud sebuah kerajaan pada setiap masa. Seterusnya, jika terdapat persoalan mengenai kredibiliti dan legitimasi sesebuah kerajaan, Yang Di-Pertuan Agong tidak boleh bersikap tunggu dan lihat sahaja. Baginda wajar bertindak proaktif dan mengawal keadaan. Tidak ada institusi lain yang boleh memainkan peranan ini. Kita tidak boleh bergantung dengan kerajaan sedia ada tatkala kesahihan kerajaan tersebut sendiri sedang dipertikaikan.
Mungkin jika kita mengikut protokol dengan ketat maka Anwar tidak boleh ke Istana Negara sekarang. Dengan itu, Yang Di-Pertuan Agong sewajarnya menjemput Ketua Pembangkang tersebut untuk mengadap dan mempersembahkan senarai ahli parlimen yang beliau dakwa akan menyokong beliau dalam kerajaan baru. Yang Di-Pertuan Agong mempunyai hak untuk mendengar secara terus daripada ahli-ahli parlimen tersebut, sama seperti mana Sultan Selangor dan Raja Perlis telah memanggil mengadap ahli-ahli dewan undangan negeri mereka selepas pilihanraya Mac lalu. Sekiranya Yang Di-Pertuan Agong mendapati dakwaan Anwar adalah benar dan Anwar memang mempunyai sokongan yang mencukupi daripada ahli-ahli parlimen, maka Baginda boleh menitahkan agar Abdullah meletak jawatan. Bukan sahaja Abdullah boleh dititahkan untuk meletak jawatan, bahkan dalam situasi sedemikian, berdasarkan undang-undang, perletakan jawatan menjadi tanggungjawab Abdullah dan kabinetnya.
Jika diteliti perlembagaan asal yang dihasilkan oleh Lord Reid, sebenarnya memang terdapat peruntukan yang membolehkan Yang Di-Pertuan Agong memecat perdana menteri dalam situasi sedemikian. Tetapi peruntukan ini tidak dimasukkan dalam draf akhir yang diluluskan menjadi perlembagaan negara kita. Bagaimanapun, saya berpendapat bahawa Yang Di-Pertuan Agong masih mempunyai kuasa untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini.
Artikel 43(4) juga menyentuh mengenai pembubaran parlimen. Tetapi Artikel ini perlu dibaca dengan Artikel 40(2)(b) yang memberi kuasa kepada Yang Di-Pertuan Agong bertindak berdasarkan budi bicara dalam menentukan sama ada perlu atau tidak parlimen dibubarkan setelah diminta oleh perdana menteri. Berdasarkan pengalaman negara-negara Komanwel, Suruhanjaya Reid mengatakan bahawa terdapat beberapa sebab kenapa pembubaran parlimen perlu diserahkan kepada budi bicara Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, antaranya ialah untuk mengelakkan negara kita dipaksa mengulangi pilihanraya berkali-kali oleh kerajaan yang tidak stabil. Jika kita teliti semula situasi sekarang, maka bagi saya tidak ada keperluan bagi Yang Di-Pertuan Agong membubarkan parlimen walaupun diminta. Kita baru sahaja menjalankan pilihanraya umum pada Mac 2008 dan kita boleh membentuk kerajaan tanpa perlu satu lagi pilihanraya.
Artikel 43(4) juga menyentuh mengenai pembubaran parlimen. Tetapi Artikel ini perlu dibaca dengan Artikel 40(2)(b) yang memberi kuasa kepada Yang Di-Pertuan Agong bertindak berdasarkan budi bicara dalam menentukan sama ada perlu atau tidak parlimen dibubarkan setelah diminta oleh perdana menteri. Berdasarkan pengalaman negara-negara Komanwel, Suruhanjaya Reid mengatakan bahawa terdapat beberapa sebab kenapa pembubaran parlimen perlu diserahkan kepada budi bicara Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, antaranya ialah untuk mengelakkan negara kita dipaksa mengulangi pilihanraya berkali-kali oleh kerajaan yang tidak stabil. Jika kita teliti semula situasi sekarang, maka bagi saya tidak ada keperluan bagi Yang Di-Pertuan Agong membubarkan parlimen walaupun diminta. Kita baru sahaja menjalankan pilihanraya umum pada Mac 2008 dan kita boleh membentuk kerajaan tanpa perlu satu lagi pilihanraya.
**Professor Abdul Aziz Bari ialah Professor Undang-Undang di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (http://www.waubebas.org/)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Anwar's popularity adds to rulling party's fear and loathing
By James Chin, The Canberra Times
Former deputy prime minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim won a crucial by-election for the parliamentary seat of Pemantang Pauh on Tuesday. That Anwar was going to win was never in doubt. He was first elected to the seat in the early 1980s and his wife became MP when he was jailed in 1988.
Last month, she resigned from the seat so Anwar could get back into Parliament.What was unexpected was the huge margin of victory. Anwar’s wife won the seat in the March general elections with slightly more than 13,000-vote majority. Many had expected Anwar to win by about 10,000 votes rather than the nearly 16,000 votes he took on Tuesday.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition poured everything it had into the campaign. Led by the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, the BN promised nearly 60million ringgit (about $A20million) worth of development.
Almost every minister visited the constituency offering more goodies if Anwar was defeated. The BN has spent millions in trying to discredit Anwar, using the mainstream media and giant video screens spread all over the constituency, to remind voters that Anwar is under criminal indictment for sodomy.
Sodomy is a serious offence under Islam and more than 60 per cent of Pemantang Pauh’s voters are Malay Muslims. The BN showed a tape of Anwar’s accuser swearing on the Koran that he was sodomised by Anwar. Malay voters were told also that Anwar was a race traitor.
Anwar champions the removal of the New Economic Policy, or NEP. Under the guise of affirmative action, this policy discriminates against the non-Malay population in all areas of political and economic life.
Special scholarships, bank loans, contracts and even a university were established exclusively for
the Malays. While it was initially popular among the Malay population and deeply resented by non-Malays, in recent years, the younger, better educated, Malays have become critics of the NEP.
It is a known fact that the NEP has enriched only those with link to the United Malays National Organisation, the ruling party, and that poorer Malays have benefited much less. Some Malays who supported opposition parties were even denied access to the NEP.
Younger Malays are starting to realise that the NEP, far from helping them, is actually a tool for UMNO to manipulate and buy its political support from the Malay community. The culture of corruption created by the NEP has reached the plateau that a large segment of the Malay community has decided that the only way to get rid of the corruption is to get rid of the NEP and UMNO. They also want an end to racial politics in Malaysia pioneered by the BN, and UMNO in particular.
UMNO’s ideology of ”Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay Supremacy has meant open and blatant racial discrimination against the non-Malay population.
One senior Chinese minister described UMNO’s relationship with its non-Malay parties in the BN parties as akin to a ”master-slave” relationship. Race relations are now much worse after 50 years of independence.
Anwar has promised to replace the NEP with the Malaysian Economic Policy, or MEP, which does not have racial criteria. The overwhelmingly majority of the younger population sees this as the only real long-term solution to racial polarisation.
Anwar has promised that he will engineer the defection of about 30 MPs from the BN by the middle of September, and he will take over as prime minister then. There is every reason to believe that Anwar is capable of doing this, although the BN will still try to do its best to stop him. The BN will do its best to make sure that Anwar is convicted of sodomy.
It does not matter that more than 80 per cent of the population thinks that the sodomy allegations are politically motivated. The only political game Malaysia now, at least among UMNO, is to stop Anwar. The security apparatus will also be used against Anwar’s allies. Several leaders in Anwar’s parties have been arrested for corruption, and bloggers who are sympathetic to Anwar are being sued for defamation and publishing false reports on the internet.
The Government is also expected to pass laws that restrict political chatter on the internet, and crack down harder on civil society groups. The BN is still a powerful political machine and when it is threatened, it moves back to its authoritarian mode.
There is every reason to believe that there will be mass arrests under the Internal Security Act to stop Anwar from becoming prime minister.
There are too many vested interests that will stop at nothing to make sure that their corruption and past misdeeds are not exposed by Anwar’s new administration.
They have every reason to fear the consequences of an Anwar ascendancy. When Anwar’s party took power in several states after the March general elections, they exposed shady land deals and government contracts worth millions. A Morgan Stanley report published a few years ago says that corruption has cost Malaysia the equivalent of more than $110billion in the past 30 years. The NEP was promulgated about 30 years ago and it was only after the NEP came into being that ”money politics” became synonymous with UMNO.
If Anwar eventually becomes Malaysia’s prime minister, it will be one of Asia’s most remarkable political comeback tales. The closest one to it is that of Kim Dae Jung. Sometimes called the Nelson Mandela of Asia, Kim was nearly killed by South Korea’s intelligence service in the 1970s, imprisoned, put under house arrest, sentenced to death for sedition and banned from politics. Kim managed to overcome all these obstacles before becoming South Korea’s president from 1998 to 2003.
*James Chin teaches at Monash University’s campus in Malaysia.
Former deputy prime minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim won a crucial by-election for the parliamentary seat of Pemantang Pauh on Tuesday. That Anwar was going to win was never in doubt. He was first elected to the seat in the early 1980s and his wife became MP when he was jailed in 1988.
Last month, she resigned from the seat so Anwar could get back into Parliament.What was unexpected was the huge margin of victory. Anwar’s wife won the seat in the March general elections with slightly more than 13,000-vote majority. Many had expected Anwar to win by about 10,000 votes rather than the nearly 16,000 votes he took on Tuesday.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition poured everything it had into the campaign. Led by the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, the BN promised nearly 60million ringgit (about $A20million) worth of development.
Almost every minister visited the constituency offering more goodies if Anwar was defeated. The BN has spent millions in trying to discredit Anwar, using the mainstream media and giant video screens spread all over the constituency, to remind voters that Anwar is under criminal indictment for sodomy.
Sodomy is a serious offence under Islam and more than 60 per cent of Pemantang Pauh’s voters are Malay Muslims. The BN showed a tape of Anwar’s accuser swearing on the Koran that he was sodomised by Anwar. Malay voters were told also that Anwar was a race traitor.
Anwar champions the removal of the New Economic Policy, or NEP. Under the guise of affirmative action, this policy discriminates against the non-Malay population in all areas of political and economic life.
Special scholarships, bank loans, contracts and even a university were established exclusively for
the Malays. While it was initially popular among the Malay population and deeply resented by non-Malays, in recent years, the younger, better educated, Malays have become critics of the NEP.
It is a known fact that the NEP has enriched only those with link to the United Malays National Organisation, the ruling party, and that poorer Malays have benefited much less. Some Malays who supported opposition parties were even denied access to the NEP.
Younger Malays are starting to realise that the NEP, far from helping them, is actually a tool for UMNO to manipulate and buy its political support from the Malay community. The culture of corruption created by the NEP has reached the plateau that a large segment of the Malay community has decided that the only way to get rid of the corruption is to get rid of the NEP and UMNO. They also want an end to racial politics in Malaysia pioneered by the BN, and UMNO in particular.
UMNO’s ideology of ”Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay Supremacy has meant open and blatant racial discrimination against the non-Malay population.
One senior Chinese minister described UMNO’s relationship with its non-Malay parties in the BN parties as akin to a ”master-slave” relationship. Race relations are now much worse after 50 years of independence.
Anwar has promised to replace the NEP with the Malaysian Economic Policy, or MEP, which does not have racial criteria. The overwhelmingly majority of the younger population sees this as the only real long-term solution to racial polarisation.
Anwar has promised that he will engineer the defection of about 30 MPs from the BN by the middle of September, and he will take over as prime minister then. There is every reason to believe that Anwar is capable of doing this, although the BN will still try to do its best to stop him. The BN will do its best to make sure that Anwar is convicted of sodomy.
It does not matter that more than 80 per cent of the population thinks that the sodomy allegations are politically motivated. The only political game Malaysia now, at least among UMNO, is to stop Anwar. The security apparatus will also be used against Anwar’s allies. Several leaders in Anwar’s parties have been arrested for corruption, and bloggers who are sympathetic to Anwar are being sued for defamation and publishing false reports on the internet.
The Government is also expected to pass laws that restrict political chatter on the internet, and crack down harder on civil society groups. The BN is still a powerful political machine and when it is threatened, it moves back to its authoritarian mode.
There is every reason to believe that there will be mass arrests under the Internal Security Act to stop Anwar from becoming prime minister.
There are too many vested interests that will stop at nothing to make sure that their corruption and past misdeeds are not exposed by Anwar’s new administration.
They have every reason to fear the consequences of an Anwar ascendancy. When Anwar’s party took power in several states after the March general elections, they exposed shady land deals and government contracts worth millions. A Morgan Stanley report published a few years ago says that corruption has cost Malaysia the equivalent of more than $110billion in the past 30 years. The NEP was promulgated about 30 years ago and it was only after the NEP came into being that ”money politics” became synonymous with UMNO.
If Anwar eventually becomes Malaysia’s prime minister, it will be one of Asia’s most remarkable political comeback tales. The closest one to it is that of Kim Dae Jung. Sometimes called the Nelson Mandela of Asia, Kim was nearly killed by South Korea’s intelligence service in the 1970s, imprisoned, put under house arrest, sentenced to death for sedition and banned from politics. Kim managed to overcome all these obstacles before becoming South Korea’s president from 1998 to 2003.
*James Chin teaches at Monash University’s campus in Malaysia.
Friday, September 12, 2008
12 September: Perisytiharan Permatang Pauh
Meyingkap kembali deklarasi permatang pauh yang di buat oleh Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada 12 Sept 1998. Selepas menanam benih, kini selepas 10 tahun putik perubahan makin hampir di gengaman.
Perisytiharan Permatang Pauh
Menyedari gesaan al-Quran yang bermaksud “tidaklah kami mahu melainkan untuk melakukan islah sekuat daya kami”;
Permatang Pauh 12 September 1998
Perisytiharan Permatang Pauh
Menyedari gesaan al-Quran yang bermaksud “tidaklah kami mahu melainkan untuk melakukan islah sekuat daya kami”;
Dan berilhamkan tradisi budaya-budaya Asia yang keseluruhannya menganjurkan pembaharuan diri dan masyarakat;
Dan menginsafi bahawa Malaysia kini dicengkam kemelut yang dahsyat dan memerlukan kekuatan dalaman untuk bangun semula;
Maka kami rakyat Malaysia yang berbilang bangsa dan agama bertekat untuk melancarkan gerakan reformasi yang menyeluruh:
Gerakan reformasi yang terpancar perjuangan hati nurani,dari kesedaran bahawa sesungguhnya diri manusia itu mulia danmerdeka, mempunyai hak dan tanggungjawab, diri manusiaharam dizalimi dan diaibkan, haram di belenggu dan disekattanpa mengikut proses dan undang-undang yang adil;
Gerakan reformasi untuk menegakkan keadilan untuk semua,yang kuat dan yang lemah, yang kaya dan yang miskin;membersihkan institusi dan proses undang-undang daridicemari oleh penyalahgunaan kuasa dan rasuah;
Gerakan reformasi untuk mendaulatkan kuasa rakyat melaluiproses demokrasi. Democrasi itu satu kemestian, keranasemangat keadilan yang ada dalam diri manusiamembolehkan demokrasi dilaksana, tetapi kecenderunganmanusia untuk berlaku zalim menjadikan demokrasi satukewajipan;
Gerakan reformasi untuk memperjuangkan keadilan ekonomi,menjana pertumbuhan dan pengagihan yang saksama, janganyang kaya bertambah kaya yang miskin papa kedana. Duniaini mencukupi untuk keperluan semua, tetapi tidak mencukupiuntuk memenuhi kerakusan individu;
Gerakan reformasi untuk membanteras rasuah danpenyalahgunaan kuasa, mengikis manipulasi pasaran olehsegelintir golongan rakus dan mahakaya;
Gerakan reformasi untuk memperkukuhkan jayadiri budayayang dinamis, setia kepada warisan bangsa yang murni danterbuka kepada segala yang baik dari semua budaya;
Gerakan reformasi untuk membawa bangsa Malaysia kezaman maklumat dan dunia tanpa sempadan, menjanakebijaksanaan, keyakinan dan keterbukaan untuk menjalinpersahabatan sejagat berdasarkan prinsip kebenaran dankeadilan.
Kami akan menggerakkan reformasi ini dengan aman, mengikut semangat perlembagaan dan bernafaskan prinsip pemerintahan undang-undang.
Masanya telah tiba. Bersatulah untuk reformasi.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Speaking for Reformasi generation
From The Malaysian Insider
SEPT 2 — A decade ago today, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was dismissed by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. From the halls of power, as Anwar puts it in one of his earliest prison letters, he descended into “the labyrinths of incarceration”.
From the ruins of Anwar’s previous political life, however, a Reformasi generation arose. Throughout the long decade, despite being jailed the first six years and spending a considerable amount of time overseas in the immediate two years after release, Anwar aroused passionate support and devotion from many, some out of sympathy while others felt that he embodied the national quest for change and maturity.
But, the beauty of this long march is that Reformasi was not just about Anwar; it was very much about us.
Like they said about JFK’s assassination, we all remember what we were doing when we first heard of Anwar’s dismissal.
Anwar’s political stock went south after the June 1998 Umno general assembly when his proxy Datuk Zahid Hamidi failed in his attack against Dr Mahathir. By late July, as Anwar tried in vain to rescue his friend Datuk S. Nallakaruppan from police detention, some analysts concluded that it was just a matter of time before Anwar departed the political scene.
Before Malaysians could begin their National Day weekend, on Friday, Aug 28, 1998, Anwar’s allies — Bank Negara Governor Ahmad Don and his deputy Fong Weng Phak — resigned.
The National Day celebration was the calm before the storm.
Anwar was expected to do a Musa Hitam. Naively, we thought resignation was the only exit for Anwar as sacking was never in our political lexicon.
On Sept 1, 1998, Dr Mahathir pegged the ringgit. On the morning of Sept 2, the rate of RM3.80 to one US dollar was announced.
The government often portrays currency control as the silver bullet in countering the economic crisis of 1997/1998. But as Professor Jomo K.S. pointed out, it came about 14 months after the first attack on the ringgit. The likely truth is that the measure was bulldozed through to prevent a slide in the ringgit caused by Dr Mahathir’s sacking of his popular deputy prime minister and finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.
At 5.30pm on Sept 2, the Prime Minister’s Department notified the press in a short statement that Anwar had been dismissed from all government positions.
From his Treasury office in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar went back to his official residence, where the electricity and water supply had been cut. He emerged more than 20 hours later to call a press conference on Sept 3 at his then private home in Damansara Heights.
Anwar was probably under some form of house arrest during the initial hours as the police didn’t know what to do with him. It won’t surprise me if the police were contemplating the option of arresting him there and then.
Perhaps the only reason why Anwar was not arrested immediately was the impending Commonwealth Games which was to be held from Sept 11-21.
Anwar was sacked from Umno at the party’s emergency supreme council meeting which ended at around midnight on Sept 4,1998.
The nation was stunned. Not only by the abrupt moves of Dr Mahathir but by the vicious attempts to taint Anwar’s reputation through a series of affidavits played up by the mainstream media.
With friends from New Era College, where I was a student of Chinese literature, I attended the impromptu ceramah at Anwar’s house on Sept 6. Like many of my peers, it was my first taste of a ceramah. Ironically, I can still recall that the first speaker we heard that day was Dr Chandra Muzaffar, who was then Anwar’s most articulate defender.
It was barely a week or so after we had attended several vigils for Lim Guan Eng, who had been sent to prison on Aug 25, 1998, outside the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Those nights were sobering and sad.
At Anwar’s house, the crowd frequently shouted “Reformasi” and “Allahu Akhbar”; and Anwar promised to fight back, whatever it takes. To a young student, undeniably, there was an air of excitement in the midst of uncertainty when the No. 2 man in the country chooses to fight the system.
As the Commonwealth Games opened, Anwar left his private home for the first time on Sept 11 for Friday prayers and subsequently toured the nation until he was arrested on Sept 20. I saw him a few days later at a DAP centre in Kajang in solidarity with Guan Eng, where Anwar linked his fate with that of Guan Eng’s.
The grand finale was scheduled to be held at Dataran Merdeka at 4pm on Sunday, Sept 20. But Queen Elizabeth II was visiting a church nearby. Tens of thousands of people thronged the National Mosque. Naturally, it was my first time in a mosque. With the so-called “confessions” of Dr Munawar Anees and Sukma Darmawan, it was apparent that Anwar would be arrested soon.
The group marched to Dataran Merdeka and Anwar left at about 6pm. My friends and I proceeded with a splinter group of probably 10,000 people to walk to the Prime Minister’s residence.
We were a generation growing up without knowing any other Prime Minister except Dr Mahathir. But on the march to Sri Perdana, we shouted “Undur, undur Mahathir” (Step down, Mahathir). It was a liberating experience.
We reached there a little before 10pm. It was our first taste of tear gas and water cannons. Those in the front row were heavily beaten by the FRU.
I went home with the images of young Malay women shouting “zalim” (cruel) as we ran together towards the direction of the Lake Gardens. Instantly, I was quite certain that, like me, these young Malay women, who were at the receiving end of tear gas and water cannons while seeing their boyfriends being beaten by the FRU, would never support Umno or the Barisan Nasional in their lifetime unless there was a major change for the better.
It was said that nationalist and independent movements in colonial states began with the “cramped pilgrimage” of students and indigenous functionaries to the capital or metropolis.
The sense of camaraderie in adversity often leaves a lasting psychological impact. Anwar was arrested that night. As they say, the rest is history. The roads of Kuala Lumpur in September 1998 were tragic but nonetheless an uplifting experience for those of us who walked on them.
Though I was interested in politics at a very young age, I would not have been an active participant that early in my life had it not been for September 1998. I went on to campaign for the DAP in the 1999 general election and worked for DAP MP Teresa Kok subsequently, before going overseas to study politics and graduating with a B.A. thesis on Pas.
Quite a few friends I met through activism since 1998 are now political leaders in their own right in Pas, the DAP and Keadilan. The “cramped pilgrimage” for justice in the face of physical oppression and other abuses by the state is the deepest common bond among the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.
Ten years of Reformasi changed the life paths of many. Perhaps it is now time to change the path of our beloved nation in the spirit of Reformasi.
Liew Chin Tong, DAP MP for Bukit Bendera, was 21 years old when he witnessed Anwar’s last few days of freedom in September 1998.
SEPT 2 — A decade ago today, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was dismissed by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. From the halls of power, as Anwar puts it in one of his earliest prison letters, he descended into “the labyrinths of incarceration”.
From the ruins of Anwar’s previous political life, however, a Reformasi generation arose. Throughout the long decade, despite being jailed the first six years and spending a considerable amount of time overseas in the immediate two years after release, Anwar aroused passionate support and devotion from many, some out of sympathy while others felt that he embodied the national quest for change and maturity.
But, the beauty of this long march is that Reformasi was not just about Anwar; it was very much about us.
Like they said about JFK’s assassination, we all remember what we were doing when we first heard of Anwar’s dismissal.
Anwar’s political stock went south after the June 1998 Umno general assembly when his proxy Datuk Zahid Hamidi failed in his attack against Dr Mahathir. By late July, as Anwar tried in vain to rescue his friend Datuk S. Nallakaruppan from police detention, some analysts concluded that it was just a matter of time before Anwar departed the political scene.
Before Malaysians could begin their National Day weekend, on Friday, Aug 28, 1998, Anwar’s allies — Bank Negara Governor Ahmad Don and his deputy Fong Weng Phak — resigned.
The National Day celebration was the calm before the storm.
Anwar was expected to do a Musa Hitam. Naively, we thought resignation was the only exit for Anwar as sacking was never in our political lexicon.
On Sept 1, 1998, Dr Mahathir pegged the ringgit. On the morning of Sept 2, the rate of RM3.80 to one US dollar was announced.
The government often portrays currency control as the silver bullet in countering the economic crisis of 1997/1998. But as Professor Jomo K.S. pointed out, it came about 14 months after the first attack on the ringgit. The likely truth is that the measure was bulldozed through to prevent a slide in the ringgit caused by Dr Mahathir’s sacking of his popular deputy prime minister and finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.
At 5.30pm on Sept 2, the Prime Minister’s Department notified the press in a short statement that Anwar had been dismissed from all government positions.
From his Treasury office in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar went back to his official residence, where the electricity and water supply had been cut. He emerged more than 20 hours later to call a press conference on Sept 3 at his then private home in Damansara Heights.
Anwar was probably under some form of house arrest during the initial hours as the police didn’t know what to do with him. It won’t surprise me if the police were contemplating the option of arresting him there and then.
Perhaps the only reason why Anwar was not arrested immediately was the impending Commonwealth Games which was to be held from Sept 11-21.
Anwar was sacked from Umno at the party’s emergency supreme council meeting which ended at around midnight on Sept 4,1998.
The nation was stunned. Not only by the abrupt moves of Dr Mahathir but by the vicious attempts to taint Anwar’s reputation through a series of affidavits played up by the mainstream media.
With friends from New Era College, where I was a student of Chinese literature, I attended the impromptu ceramah at Anwar’s house on Sept 6. Like many of my peers, it was my first taste of a ceramah. Ironically, I can still recall that the first speaker we heard that day was Dr Chandra Muzaffar, who was then Anwar’s most articulate defender.
It was barely a week or so after we had attended several vigils for Lim Guan Eng, who had been sent to prison on Aug 25, 1998, outside the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Those nights were sobering and sad.
At Anwar’s house, the crowd frequently shouted “Reformasi” and “Allahu Akhbar”; and Anwar promised to fight back, whatever it takes. To a young student, undeniably, there was an air of excitement in the midst of uncertainty when the No. 2 man in the country chooses to fight the system.
As the Commonwealth Games opened, Anwar left his private home for the first time on Sept 11 for Friday prayers and subsequently toured the nation until he was arrested on Sept 20. I saw him a few days later at a DAP centre in Kajang in solidarity with Guan Eng, where Anwar linked his fate with that of Guan Eng’s.
The grand finale was scheduled to be held at Dataran Merdeka at 4pm on Sunday, Sept 20. But Queen Elizabeth II was visiting a church nearby. Tens of thousands of people thronged the National Mosque. Naturally, it was my first time in a mosque. With the so-called “confessions” of Dr Munawar Anees and Sukma Darmawan, it was apparent that Anwar would be arrested soon.
The group marched to Dataran Merdeka and Anwar left at about 6pm. My friends and I proceeded with a splinter group of probably 10,000 people to walk to the Prime Minister’s residence.
We were a generation growing up without knowing any other Prime Minister except Dr Mahathir. But on the march to Sri Perdana, we shouted “Undur, undur Mahathir” (Step down, Mahathir). It was a liberating experience.
We reached there a little before 10pm. It was our first taste of tear gas and water cannons. Those in the front row were heavily beaten by the FRU.
I went home with the images of young Malay women shouting “zalim” (cruel) as we ran together towards the direction of the Lake Gardens. Instantly, I was quite certain that, like me, these young Malay women, who were at the receiving end of tear gas and water cannons while seeing their boyfriends being beaten by the FRU, would never support Umno or the Barisan Nasional in their lifetime unless there was a major change for the better.
It was said that nationalist and independent movements in colonial states began with the “cramped pilgrimage” of students and indigenous functionaries to the capital or metropolis.
The sense of camaraderie in adversity often leaves a lasting psychological impact. Anwar was arrested that night. As they say, the rest is history. The roads of Kuala Lumpur in September 1998 were tragic but nonetheless an uplifting experience for those of us who walked on them.
Though I was interested in politics at a very young age, I would not have been an active participant that early in my life had it not been for September 1998. I went on to campaign for the DAP in the 1999 general election and worked for DAP MP Teresa Kok subsequently, before going overseas to study politics and graduating with a B.A. thesis on Pas.
Quite a few friends I met through activism since 1998 are now political leaders in their own right in Pas, the DAP and Keadilan. The “cramped pilgrimage” for justice in the face of physical oppression and other abuses by the state is the deepest common bond among the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.
Ten years of Reformasi changed the life paths of many. Perhaps it is now time to change the path of our beloved nation in the spirit of Reformasi.
Liew Chin Tong, DAP MP for Bukit Bendera, was 21 years old when he witnessed Anwar’s last few days of freedom in September 1998.
'Expect more than 40 to defect'
“Come September 16, we will show who has in fact been dreaming or bragging.”
So confident is Sarawak PKR chief Dominique Ng that he told a press conference this afternoon in Kuching that Pakatan Rakyat coalition could now count on more that 40 MPs to cross over from Barisan Nasional.His statement came amid reports that a top PKR leader met with leaders of a BN component party in Kota Kinabalu this morning to pledge support for the opposition’s move. Ng said in addition to individual MPs, he expected enough BN parties to join Pakatan for the opposition to have sufficient numbers to oust the government by the Sept 16 deadline.
Meanwhile, Ng announced that the state PKR would be holding a series of dinners, including one in Kuching on Sept 15 and another in Miri on Sept 16, in conjunction with Malaysia Day celebrations. PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has on the weekend mooted the proposal to declare Sept 16 as a public holiday in all five Pakatan-held states in Peninsular Malaysia.Ng, who is the party's sole assemblyperson in Sarawak, added that it would be declared a public holiday in the East Malaysian state “when Pakatan forms the state government”. According to Ng, Sept 16 was a public holiday for workers in Sarawak until 1994 when the Sarawak Labour Ordinance was amended by the state government. Ng added the Federal Constitution was also very clear on the significance of those two days - Sept 16 is Malaysia Day, while Aug 31 is Merdeka Day.The leaders of Sarawak PKR will gather at Padang Merdeka in Kuching on the morning of Sept 16 to commemorate Malaysia Day.
In Sarawak, one of the parties mentioned as a possibility is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), led by state development minister Dr James Masing. It has six MPs. A PKR source said the crossovers in Sarawak are likely to come from all the state's four BN component parties - PRS, SPDP, SUPP and PBB. But their leaders have all publicly denied this. The source added that the crossovers from Peninsular Malaysia are about equal in number.
source:malaysiakini
p/s possible crossover from umno leaders, i'm sensing these three will lead the crossover;
YB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (MP-Pagoh)
YB Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan (MP-Jerantut)
So confident is Sarawak PKR chief Dominique Ng that he told a press conference this afternoon in Kuching that Pakatan Rakyat coalition could now count on more that 40 MPs to cross over from Barisan Nasional.His statement came amid reports that a top PKR leader met with leaders of a BN component party in Kota Kinabalu this morning to pledge support for the opposition’s move. Ng said in addition to individual MPs, he expected enough BN parties to join Pakatan for the opposition to have sufficient numbers to oust the government by the Sept 16 deadline.
Meanwhile, Ng announced that the state PKR would be holding a series of dinners, including one in Kuching on Sept 15 and another in Miri on Sept 16, in conjunction with Malaysia Day celebrations. PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has on the weekend mooted the proposal to declare Sept 16 as a public holiday in all five Pakatan-held states in Peninsular Malaysia.Ng, who is the party's sole assemblyperson in Sarawak, added that it would be declared a public holiday in the East Malaysian state “when Pakatan forms the state government”. According to Ng, Sept 16 was a public holiday for workers in Sarawak until 1994 when the Sarawak Labour Ordinance was amended by the state government. Ng added the Federal Constitution was also very clear on the significance of those two days - Sept 16 is Malaysia Day, while Aug 31 is Merdeka Day.The leaders of Sarawak PKR will gather at Padang Merdeka in Kuching on the morning of Sept 16 to commemorate Malaysia Day.
This will be the fourth year the party is observing Malaysia Day with the hoisting of the national and state flags at the site.Padang Merdeka, which is in the heart of the city, is where the Proclamation of Malaysia was read out on Sept 16, 1963 by a representative of the federal cabinet, the late Khir Johari, in the presence of the then state governor Tun Haji Openg and the then chief minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan.Who are likely to jump? There have been intense speculations in Sarawak and Sabah as to which BN component parties are likely to join Pakatan.In Sabah, the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp), led by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee, has been frequently mentioned, and this has not been denied by its leaders. Another party on the list is said to be Upko, which is led by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Bernard Dompok, also a former chief minister of Sabah. The two parties have six MPs between them.
In Sarawak, one of the parties mentioned as a possibility is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), led by state development minister Dr James Masing. It has six MPs. A PKR source said the crossovers in Sarawak are likely to come from all the state's four BN component parties - PRS, SPDP, SUPP and PBB. But their leaders have all publicly denied this. The source added that the crossovers from Peninsular Malaysia are about equal in number.
source:malaysiakini
p/s possible crossover from umno leaders, i'm sensing these three will lead the crossover;
YB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (MP-Pagoh)
Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah (MP-Tambun)
YB Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan (MP-Jerantut)
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