Selasa, 13 Disember 2011

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim

As Trial Nears End, Opposition Leader Vows No Surrender

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:33 PM PST

The New York Times

By LIZ GOOCH

Shortly after the prosecution filed its closing arguments Tuesday and declared that it had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, was guilty of sodomy, Mr. Anwar emerged from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to cries of "Reform!" from his supporters.

"I still hope that sanity and justice will prevail and the judge will have to decide based on the facts and the law," said Mr. Anwar, who faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, said as he left the courtroom.

The trial, which has extended over nearly two years, is expected to end on Thursday with a reply from the defense. Mr. Anwar will then face an anxious wait for a verdict that could prevent him from running in elections widely expected to be held next year and realizing his long-held ambition to become prime minister.

Sodomy, even between consenting adults, remains a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and any prison sentence would bar Mr. Anwar, 64, from contesting elections for five years from the date of his release.

Some analysts, however, predict that a guilty verdict could enhance support for the political opposition and bolster its contention that the trial was politically motivated. The government has denied such assertions.

More than a decade has passed since Mr. Anwar, who served as deputy prime minister from 1993 to 1998, was convicted of earlier charges of abuse of power and sodomy.

Released from prison in 2004 after the Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction, Mr. Anwar now leads an opposition alliance that holds more parliamentary seats than ever after the governing coalition, which has dominated Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2008 elections.

Mr. Anwar has not backed down from his assertion that he is the victim of a conspiracy and the government his persecutor. And he does not believe that the verdict in the new trial, in which he is charged with forcing a male aide to have sex, will be any different from the first.

A guilty verdict, he says, is a "foregone conclusion."

"Am I prepared?" he said Thursday in an interview at his party's headquarters. "Yes, I don't have a choice."

But he added, "Whether I am in jail or convicted or otherwise, reform and change must take place."

Several months after the 2008 elections, Mr. Anwar was charged with sodomizing his former political aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in a Kuala Lumpur apartment. Mr. Anwar has described the allegation as a "blatant and vicious lie."

In final submissions to the court on Tuesday, the prosecution disputed the defense's claims that DNA evidence considered crucial in the trial could have been tainted. The prosecution said Mr. Anwar had failed to refute key elements of Mr. Saiful's testimony when he delivered a statement from the dock. Because he did not give evidence under oath, Mr. Anwar was not subject to cross-examination.

Mr. Anwar's lawyers, who have complained that the trial has not been conducted fairly, had sought to paint his accuser as a "consummate liar."

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized the trial.

Condemnation has also come from Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president who, with Paul D. Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy secretary of defense, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year that the trial "threatens not just Mr. Anwar but all those in Malaysia who have struggled for a freer and more democratic nation."

But for all his pessimism about his chances of acquittal, Mr. Anwar voices equal optimism about the opposition's prospects in the next election: "Not if — when," he said.

James Chin, a political scientist and director of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, said that a guilty verdict would lend credence to the opposition's assertions that the trial was a government conspiracy. "If he gets a guilty verdict and a very harsh sentence, this will be a very good thing for the opposition," Mr. Chin said.

Bridget Welsh, an associate professor at Singapore Management University who specializes in Malaysian politics, said a guilty verdict would support the view that the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak "is so insecure that it has to use the judiciary against the opposition leader."

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"This will bring international attention to the issue and within Malaysia consolidate Anwar's base of support," she said.

While the opposition has often been beset by claims of disunity in its ranks, Mr. Anwar said the parties had been working to come up with a "clear platform" on key policies ahead of the election.

"Our target is to win the elections," Mr. Anwar said. "I'm very optimistic."

He said the opposition must present a coherent, united voice and emphasize its commitment to democratic reforms, and communicate its message to the public — something Mr. Anwar complained was difficult because of the government dominance of television and newspapers.

Calls for greater protection of civil liberties have grown louder in Malaysia this year, and Mr. Najib has announced that he will undertake a series of legislative changes.

But his actions have failed to satisfy the Malaysian Bar Council and other rights advocates, with many criticizing the government's new Peaceful Assembly Act. Although the act would eliminate the need to obtain a police permit for protests, it would ban street demonstrations and require protesters to notify the police in advance.

Mr. Anwar, who said he would allow street protests if elected, said Malaysia has the ingredients for its own "Arab spring" if changes are not made.

He said Malaysia was not comparable to Libya under Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's regime or Syria under President Bashar al-Assad. But, he said, "all the ingredients of a repressive regime, an authoritarian regime, are there."

As Mr. Anwar awaits the verdict, he said he would be traveling around the country, meeting members of the public to garner support for the opposition.

He said that, if he is jailed, he believes the government "will just try and erase me as they did before in 1998, because they thought by just jailing me that Anwar's role and future is erased for good."

But he left no doubt that he would not go quietly if convicted. In a courtroom speech delivered during the trial, he vowed that the "truth will eventually prevail."

"Come what come may," he said, "I shall never surrender."

Najib Risks Malaysia’s Reputation In His Treatment Of Anwar Ibrahim

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:10 PM PST

The Guardian

The portents do not look good for Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week. If Anwar is found guilty – and the trial judge seems to have made up his mind already – he will not be the only or even the most important victim of an egregious, politically suspect injustice. Malaysia’s democratic reputation will have been critically wounded, and for that outrage, Malaysians will have their prime minister, Najib Razak, to thank.

The plodding Najib’s overriding objective is winning the general election expected next year, possibly within a few months. The son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, the nephew of its third, president of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno), and a former defence minister, Najib was born to power and is accustomed to wielding it. As the charismatic leader of the opposition coalition, Anwar represents the biggest challenge to his continuing ascendancy.

It hardly seems coincidental that the sodomy charges were levelled at Anwar shortly after the opposition inflicted unprecedented defeats on Umno and its allies in the 2008 elections. Anwar’s main campaign plank – combating the official, institutionalised discrimination that favours ethnic Malays over the country’s large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities – threatened the post-colonial order that has kept Umno and its National Front coalition on top since 1957.

In a court appearance earlier this year, Anwar, 64, a married father of six, denied accusations he had had sexual relations with a former male aide. Homosexuality is punishable by law in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years in jail. The allegations were “a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination” and a “blatant and vicious lie” spread by his political enemies, he said. “This entire process is nothing but a conspiracy by Najib Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars.”

Najib flatly rejects the idea of a political vendetta. But the recycling of sodomy accusations – Anwar was jailed on a similar charge in 1998 and detained until the conviction was quashed in 2004 – suggests a lack of originality characteristic of the prime minister. The case turns on the testimony of the alleged victim and DNA evidence produced by the prosecution. Defence lawyers suggested this week that Anwar’s accuser was a “compulsive and consummate liar” who may have been put up to it. Yet the trial judge has already declared the prosecution’s evidence “reliable” and credible”, leading Anwar to claim he is being denied a fair trial.

Najib gives every appearance of preparing for snap polls on the assumption that Anwar will be out of the way and the opposition decapitated. He told Umno’s annual congress to prepare for battle because “the time is near” and urged delegates to work harder, for example by using social media, to attract a “new generation of Malaysians who are more critical and have rising expectations of the government”. The party must adapt or face “tragedy”, he warned.

To Najib’s evident alarm, that tragedy almost occurred in July when tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The highly unusual public display of discontent was spurred by a range of factors: spending cuts, official corruption and cronyism, a defective electoral system, curbs on public assembly and debate, and state-imposed censorship considered draconian even by regional standards. The example of recent political upheavals in neighbouring Thailand and Singapore also played a part. In response, thousands were beaten and detained by police.

Now Najib is taking no chances as his lieutenants warn that Anwar is fomenting an Arab spring-style uprising – a so-called “hibiscus revolution”. Having more or less reneged on shaky, post-July promises of civil rights reform, Najib is now pushing through remodelled restrictions in the form of the Peaceful Assembly act.

The act effectively makes peaceful assembly impossible by restricting it to undefined “designated places”. No gatherings are permitted within 50 meters of prohibited places including hospitals, schools or places of worship. The police can dictate the date, time and place. Najib’s idea of engaging the “new generation” of young Malaysians is to ban anyone under the age of 21 from organising a protest.

Opposition parties, lawyers and activist groups have condemned the new law, as has Amnesty International. But Najib Khairy Jamaluddin, Umno’s youth-wing leader, articulated Najib’s paranoia last month when he accused Anwar’s coalition of “trying hard to manufacture panic and disorder” by promoting street rallies instead of elections. “The opposition often quotes social movements in the Middle East to instigate people to take part in street revolutions and in the process manufacture a Malaysian version of the Arab spring,” Khairy said.

Najib’s authoritarian tendencies, blatant political scaremongering, and the judicial travesty that is Anwar’s trial all suggest Malaysia’s western allies, including Britain and the US, should take a closer look at their friend. Malaysia is valued as a trading partner, counterproliferation collaborator, and noncombatant member of the Afghanistan coalition. But the government’s human rights record and democratic practices merit closer scrutiny.

In a visit last year, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton extracted a promise that Anwar would receive a fair trial. “The US believes it is important for all aspects of the case to be conducted fairly and transparently and in a way that increases confidence in the rule of law in Malaysia,” she said. In a recent speech, Clinton urged all states to end discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

As Anwar’s ordeal approaches an ugly climax, it seems increasingly unlikely that these benchmarks will be met. The next question is: what will Malaysians and their friends do about it?

Pejabat Sarawak dan 13 Kerabatnya Dituduh Korup

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 05:02 PM PST

Kompas.com

Kelompok-kelompok dan para aktivis lingkungan dari Malaysia, Eropa, dan Australia, Selasa (13/12), mengimbau pihak berwenang Malaysia menangkap seorang gubernur yang kuat dan 13 kerabatnya yang dituduh melakukan korupsi.

Penanda tangan seruan itu antara lain Greenpeace dan Bruno Manser Fund yang bermarkas di Swiss. Mereka mengeluarkan sebuah surat yang dikirim kepada Pemerintah Malaysia. Mereka mendesak agar Menteri Besar Negara Bagian Sarawak Abdul Taib Mahmud, yang berkuasa sejak 1981, segera ditangkap.

Para lawan politik Taib sudah lama menuduh bahwa korupsi sistematis dan penjarahan sumber daya alam di Sarawak, yang terletak di bagian utara Kalimantan, dilakukan oleh Taib (75) dan keluarganya.

Surat yang ditandatangani 17 LSM dan aktivis itu menyatakan kejahatan yang dilakukan antara lain pengambilan dana, tanah publik, penyalahgunaan jabatan, penggelapan, pencucian uang "dan konspirasi untuk membentuk sebuah organisasi kejahatan".

Organisasi Bruno Manser Fund, yang memimpin upaya ini, mengatakan, catatan publik di beberapa negara memperlihatkan Taib dan anggota keluarganya memiliki saham di 332 perusahaan Malaysia dan di 85 perusahaan asing dengan nilai aset miliaran dollar AS.

Pusat tak bertindak

Surat itu menambahkan, saham keluarga Taib di 14 perusahaan besar Malaysia melebihi 1,46 miliar dollar AS. "Kami menduga keras hanya pelanggaran hukum sistematis dan penggunaan metode ilegal yang memungkinkan Taib dan anggota keluarga mendapatkan aset korporasi yang begitu besar," demikian salah satu pernyataan dalam surat itu.

Imbauan itu dikirim kepada jaksa agung, badan antikorupsi, dan inspektur jenderal polisi Malaysia. Komisi Antikorupsi Malaysia beberapa waktu lalu mengatakan sedang menyidik Taib. Akan tetapi, direktur penyidikan di badan itu, Mustafar Ali, menolak berkomentar.

Seorang pejabat di kantor Taib juga menolak berkomentar. Taib sebelumnya menyangkal tuduhan-tuduhan semacam itu.

LSM-LSM itu mengatakan, penangkapan kasus ini perlu agar tersangka tidak keburu melenyapkan bukti-bukti.

Para pejabat Sarawak telah mengatakan, negara bagian yang kurang berkembang itu perlu mempercepat pertumbuhan ekonomi. Namun, para lawan Taib menuduh korupsi terjadi lewat pemberian konsesi bisnis kayu dan kontrak lain di Sarawak.

Pembangunan dengan dasar keserakahan telah menyebabkan penebangan hutan, pembangunan bendungan yang beres, dan juga menyebabkan terjadinya penggusuran suku-suku asli.

Mereka juga menuduh pemerintah pusat tidak bertindak karena ingin mempertahankan Sarawak sebagai kubu politik bagi koalisi Barisan Nasional. (AFP/DI)

Life After NFC: A Bleak Future Ahead For Khairy Jamaluddin

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:39 AM PST

Malaysia Chronicle

Rafizi Ramli, the PKR director for strategy, received the official reply from UMNO Youth to his debate challenge on the RM250 million Shahrizat Jalil-NFC debacle only 3 weeks after throwing down the gauntlet.

Worse still, UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaludin decided to chicken out, saying he could not make the event which had been slated for December 12 as he had another engagement.

After deep thought, which critics say is surprisingly slow for an Oxford graduate, it appears that Khairy finally came to his senses and decided that not only is it a lost cause, but it could also lead to more UMNO wrong doings being exposed.

Furthermore, the UMNO top echelon have put their foot down, making it clear they want a full stop on the matter before more amongst them were implicated, resulting in themselves not being categorized as "winnable" candidates by their party.

No Rembau but maybe Kepala Batas

Now, Khairy has been exposed as the main player who pushed the buttons in the project to start a cattle livestock industry in Malaysia. However, his tight daily schedule and impatience could have led him to overlook many salient points in getting the project off the ground.

He must surely regret it now because it has come back to haunt him, jeopardising his already tattered political future and ambition to be the youngest prime minister in Malaysian history.

The 35-year-old Khairy had foolishly defended the debacle. Unfortunately, because of that he is as good as a nobody now. The UMNO grapevine is hot with talk that his comfortable seat in Rembau is also going to be given to Hassan Muhammad the present Mentri Besar of Negeri Sembilan.

It seems that the only seat available for Khairy, should he insist on contesting, would be Kepala Batas, which is currently being held by his father-in-law and former premier Abdullah Badawi.

In his political maneuvers, Khairy has made many enemies both within and outside UMNO since the early days when he was so naive as to believe that his father-in-law could stay in power until the day the post would automatically be handed over to him.

Now Khairy has to face the stark reality that he was sidelined the day Najib Razak took over as prime minister and UMNO president. Many in UMNO were even overjoyed when Khairy was not given a Cabinet post as they blamed him for the party’s poor performance in the 2008 general election.

Unfocused and unwise

Despite all his advantages, Khairy is not focused and not wise enough to take advantage of all the inside information he has on UMNO and the government even during Badawi's premiership and now under Najib. The clout he held during his heyday was not used to build a solid political foundation, but instead allegedly used for grabbing as much money as he could.

The NFC debacle could have been avoided in the classic UMNO way by pulling some strings. He should have kept quiet and pretended not to know aything about the project.

At the very least, he should get his facts right and realize how serious the debacle was, since nowadays it would be an impossible task to keep things under the lid. He could have convinced Najib that whatever misgivings that the PM may have for him, Badawi, Shahrizat or even Muhyiddin, exposing the debacle just won't worth it.

Instead Khairy tried to be a hero, explaining the complex NFC transactions on his own but on a piece-meal basis, so that each time more blunders were exposed which Khairy did not expect or anticipate.

Eventually due to his foolishness, even UMNO delegates at the party’s recent annual assembly said they were ‘fed-up’ with the controversies of the  top leaders. Pahang Umno delegate Wan Amizan Wan Abdul Razak said that these made it difficult for the leaders at the division level to explain to the grass roots, many of whom felt uneasy about the widespread corruption allegations.

To date three UMNO strongmen have asked Shahrizat to resign namely Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar, former premier Mahathir Mohamad and lately Abdul Ghapur Salleh, the Kalabakan MP and the number will swell bigger.

Failed to convert his advantages well

In February this year during a two-hour talk event at Imperial College in London where Khairy was a guest speaker, he was said to have been “scintillating, stimulating and substantive” when asked about the political and voting trends and when the GE-13 should be held.

This shows that he does have access to inside information. To stay relevant, he should tap the  advance information to plan for his own interest. But Khairy did not. He is not as shrewd a politician as he should be. This can be taken as a sign of his political demise or that he has actually given up trying.

Instead of finding ways to use his connections and informers for his own gain and development, he is without any proper direction in his actions. He makes stupid blunders, creates controversies or makes racists remarks that are unbecoming of an Oxford graduate. No wonder, the people ridicule him for being a hypocrite.

Bleak future ahead

Khairy should have associated or aligned himself with some team or camp with strong support within UMNO. He should stop trying to be his own man like Zulkifli Nordin and Hassan Ali. Khairy doesn't have the ability, capacity, nor the potential and whatever opportunity he had has gone. Wasted!

The future for Khairy Jamaluddin is very bleak indeed. If he decides to end his own political career before GE-13, he will be doing a service for the rakyat (populace). Firstly, he will save the rakyat from his future blunders as he has created many in the past.

Khairy is also not fit to be the future prime minister as he has proved himself to be lacking in substance, outstanding traits, charisma and vision. He has failed to make the UMNO youth wing relevant and powerful, with at least some bargaining power with the UMNO supreme council.

Sometimes, good looks, good physique, an Oxford degree, a charmed life and a famous father-in-law are not enough. To make it in politics, you require much more and sad to say, Khairy won’t be able to tell us what these qualities are!
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