Selasa, 2 Oktober 2012

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim

[VIDEO] Anwar Ibrahim: Book Launch “Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan”

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 09:23 AM PDT

Tinderbox by MJ Akbar

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 09:18 AM PDT

Speech by Anwar Ibrahim at the launching of MJ Akbar's Tinderbox, on 2nd October 2012, The Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur

First, let me just say that there is never a dull moment when reading MJ Akbar. He can be diplomatic if he wants to, but most of the time he doesn't tolerate fools. So, he will call a Taliban, a Taliban – and not some 'turbaned fundamentalist of salafist persuasion', or by some other apologetic description.

Reviewing MJ Akbar's books is, however, a different kettle of fish. Yes, he's never dull but because he seems to have so much to say, speed reading him is quite a futile exercise. Just keeping up with his thought processes sometimes requires mental energy of herculean proportions.

Most mortals will consider themselves very fortunate to have one of two talents: one, to have the gift of the gab but lacking in writing skill; and the other, the more common one I should say, writes well but for some reason or other, somewhat challenged in the verbal skills department. MJ Akbar is blessed with both: well, certainly no question he is a superb writer but give him the microphone, and he'll talk until the cows come home. (My apologies, I forgot that since the breaking of that scandal, any reference to 'cows, beef or even butter' may be considered seditious!)

So, I'm very much relieved today that I am not here to review his works. Indeed, it is such an honour for me that MJ has asked me to launch Tinderbox. And having declared my incapacity to review his writings, I therefore now exercise my severe limitations merely to share some thoughts about his works.

I have followed MJ Akbar's books as a continuum – from Byline, then Nehru: The Making of India, and Kashmir: Behind the Vale, just to name a few. Notice that I used the word 'followed', and not 'read'.

And I believe herein lies a significant difference. One may have 'read' a book or be a 'reader' and yet may not be keen to read another one, while one who has 'followed' wears the badge of loyalty to the writer – as far as his books are concerned.

He displays it prominently in his library, proudly proclaiming that he is in the know about such and such a book. When a new one comes up, he will be among the first to tell his friends about it and ask whether they know that a new book is out. He has 'read' it, of course, – but not necessarily 'read it through'. He visits the tome as and when the occasion arises.

He takes it with him in his travels. Now, speaking of travelling, it depends on where one is going. For instance, if you plan to visit the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan then for heaven's sake don't take Tinderbox with you.

Now, this book: I'm not sure if the reading leads us to the dark conclusion that Pakistan is in self-destruct mode. But I'm sure that not everyone will agree that Pakistan is simply beyond repair. Nevertheless, I believe it is legitimate to explore answers to the question: why is Pakistan in the situation it is today? What is the situation really? Well, that is the question discoursed in the book, among other things.

The book is said to be controversial. But as we know, controversy is not something a writer worth his salt ought to be shy of. The title obviously gives quite a bit away. It's not for me to talk too much about this book, but suffice it to say that whether you call it time bomb, powder keg or tinderbox, there is some explosive stuff being talked about.

So for those who are thinking of a light and easy read, this is probably not for them. It is neither fiction nor drama where poetic license allows the writer to spice things up and we are prepared to engage in some suspension of disbelief. To my mind, it is a political treatise on a subject by someone well versed in its history and divergent ideologies. And as T.S. Eliot says, "History may be servitude, History may be freedom."

And speaking of freedom, I would of course be remiss if I didn't mention Pakistan's great leader (Quaid-i-Azam), Muhammad Ali Jinnah who is without doubt universally acclaimed as pivotal in the creation of Pakistan. Just about six months before he passed on, he said: "The story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties."

Now, this latest outing by MJ Akbar will put him in the cross hairs of quite a few people and be that as it may, I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions. But make no mistake: if you need an intellectual wakeup call on an issue that not only impacts the sub-continent but the entire region, this is your book.

Thank you.

KENYATAAN MEDIA: Isu Kepentingan Wanita Diketepikan Dalam Bajet2013

Posted: 01 Oct 2012 09:59 PM PDT

KENYATAAN MEDIA
2 OKTOBER 2012

1.    Terima kasih kepada pihak media yang hadir pada hari ini dan ini amat dihargai. Pada hari ini saya ingin mengulas mengenai belanjawan yang baru dibentangkan oleh PM Dato' Seri Najib.

 

2.    Isu-isu Wanita adalah luas dan pelbagai. Wanita membentuk separuh daripada penduduk Malaysia, tetapi penglibatan  wanita di sektor pekerjaan dan politik, adalah masih terhad. Pada hari ini, saya ingin melahirkan suara hati, sebagai seorang wanita yang pernah bekerja sebagai doktor pakar mata di hospital kerajaan selama 15 tahun. Saya juga ingin berbicara sebagai seorang muslimah dan ibu kepada 6 orang anak; saya bersyukur walaupun ayah mereka, Anwar Ibrahim dimasukkan ke dalam penjara dengan zalim, semua anak-anak kami boleh dikatakan berjaya mendapati pendidikan tinggi dan kini mempunyai kehidupan produktif dan gembira. Saya juga ingin berkata sebagai seorang nenek yang sudah mempunyai tiga orang cucu dan juga sebagai seorang ahli politik. Dengan pengalaman yang pelbagai inilah maka saya ingin membicarakan tentang isu-isu wanita.

 

3.    Wanita Pakatan Rakyat yang diketuai bersama oleh YB Hajah Zuraidah daripada KEADILAN, YB Chong Eng daripada DAP dan YB Hajah Siti Zailah daripada PAS telah berjaya menerbitkan satu polisi yang dipanggil "Agenda Wanita Malaysia". Dokumen ini mempunyai 7 teras yang komprehensif untuk meningkatkan dan memberdayakan Wanita: dasar pendidikan yang lebih baik, kelangsungan kesihatan dan kualiti hidup, penglibatan dan peluang ekonomi, kesejahteraan sosial, pendemokrasian politik, penguatkuasaan undang-undang daripada diskriminasi dan memupuk agenda Wanita muda. Kesemua dasar-dasar yang tersebut diatas ada terkandung di dalam Belanjawan Pakatan Rakyat kami.

 

4.    Saya ingin membuat perbandingan diantara Belanjawan Pakatan Rakyat dengan belanjawan BN UMNO dan akan menjelaskan dua polisi kami iaitu :-

• Caruman Wanita Nasional; dan

• Elaun Penjagaan Anak.

 

5.    Caruman Wanita Nasional adalah satu skim jaringan keselamatan sosial bagi Wanita suri rumah. Ideanya adalah seperti berikut; sekiranya suami meninggal dunia, menjadi kurang upaya atau menceraikan isteri, suri rumah akan mempunyai simpanan wang untuk menangani sebarang kemunkginan yang boleh terjadi. Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat bercadang untuk memberikan caruman sebanyak RM600 setahun kepada setiap suri rumah, dan akan memastikan dan menggalakkan suami menyumbang sejumlah wang sebanyak RM120 ke RM1,200 setahun kepada caruman yang sama.

 

6.    Sasaran skim ini adalah untuk memastikan seorang suri rumah mempunyai sekurang-kurangnya simpanan sebanyak RM30, 000 ketika usia 50 tahun. Kami menjangkakan terdapat 5 juta suri rumah yang bakal menyertai skim ini dan ianya akan menelan belanja kira-kira RM3 bilion setahun. Walaupun skim ini adalah berdasarkan kepada prinsip kebajikan, sasaran ekonominya adalah untuk menggalakkan simpanan peribadi. Skim ini adalah merupakan salah satu program kita untuk meningkatkan pendapatan isi rumah (disposable income).

 

7.    Skim Elaun Penjagaan Anak diperkenalkan untuk menolong wanita miskin yang bekerja dimana pendapatan isi rumah yang kurang daripada RM1, 000 sebulan. Bagi setiap kanak-kanak di bawah umur 12 tahun, kita akan menyediakan dana jagaan kanak-kanak sokongan sebanyak RM1, 000 setahun. Sokongan ini berhasrat membantu ibu yang bekerja untuk membayar yuran pengasuh menjaga anaknya ketika ibu sedang berkerja.

 

8.    Kini terdapat kira-kira 470,000 isi rumah miskin yang layak untuk skim ini dan pada kadar purata 2 orang kanak-kanak di bawah umur 12 tahun bagi setiap isi rumah, skim ini akan menelan belanja kira-kira RM940 juta setahun. Walaupun mahal, skim ini mempunyai sasaran ekonomi untuk membebaskan lebih ramai Wanita untuk menyertai tenaga kerja.

 

9.    Kesimpulannya; kedua-dua projek memberdayakan Wanita tersebut akan menelan belanja RM3.94 bilion setahun. Pada keseluruhannya, Pakatan Rakyat berhasrat untuk membelanjakan sehingga RM4.5 bilion setahun untuk kesemua program wanita, ini merupakan 10 kali ganda lebih daripada apa yang ditawarkan oleh UMNO BN.

 

 

Dato Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail,

Presiden

Parti Keadilan Rakyat

 

 

 —-

 

 Press statement , Dato' Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, President.

 

1.    Thank you for your presence today and for giving me this opportunity to comment on the budget.

 

2.    Women's issues are wide and varied. Women make up half of the population, and yet we are under-represented in the workforce and in politics. I speak as one who was a working woman, an eye doctor in government hospitals for 16 years while juggling further studies and motherhood. I also speak as a muslimah and a mother of 6 children. Thankfully all my children were blessed with the opportunity for higher education and they are leading happy and productive lives now, despite the dark days when their father was jailed. I also speak as a grandmother of three grandchildren. Today, I also address all of you, as a politician. Thus, it is with this wide and varied experience and understanding that I wish to discuss with you, the key matter of women's issues.

 

3.    As you may know, the women of Pakatan Rakyat are led by YB Hajah Zuraida from PKR, YB Chong Eng from DAP and YB  Hajah Siti Zailah of PAS. They have put together a policy document, called "The Malaysian Women's Agenda". This document calls for seven comprehensive thrusts to uplift and empower women: the need for better education, better health and quality of life, economic equity, social safety net, political participation, comprehensive legal protection from discrimination and nurturing young women. Spending plans to implement these policies are contained in our Pakatan Rakyat Budget.

 

4.    I wish to highlight, as a contrast to UMNO BN's miserly budget, our two most critical policies:

·                     Caruman Wanita Nasional (National Contributions Fund for Women); and

·                     Childcare Allowance.

 

 

5.    We propose the Caruman Wanita Nasional as a social safety net scheme for women who are homemakers. The idea is simple; in the event the husband dies, becomes disabled or divorces his wife, the woman homemaker will have some financial savings to fall back on. A Pakatan Rakyat government will provide a yearly payment of RM600 to homemakers, whilst ensuring the husband also contributes a sum ranging from RM120 to RM1,200 per year. The scheme's target is to ensure that a homemaker will have at least a savings of RM30,000 at age 50. We expect 5 million homemakers to participate in the scheme and it will cost about RM3 billion a year. This policy is not just based on compassionate grounds, but on real life problems faced by homemakers. Homemakers tend to have little to no income, so they almost have no savings of their own. It is also designed to encourage personal savings, and it is part of our broader policy to increase disposable income of households. 

 

6.    The Childcare Allowance scheme is designed for working women of poor households earning less than RM1,000 a month. For every child below the age of 12, we will provide a childcare support fund of RM1,000 a year per child. This will go some way toward helping the working mother pay for a baby sitter for her child, whilst she works. There are currently about 470,000 poor households that will qualify for this and at an average headcount of 2 children per household being below 12, this program will cost about RM940 million. This is not a handout policy but it is an economic instrument to enable more women to join the workforce.            

 

7.    In conclusion, our two projects for empowering women call for spending of RM3.94 billion. All in, we intend to spend up to RM4.5 billion a year on programs for women. This is 10 times more than UMNO BN's spending plans for women.

 

Dato' Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail

President

Parti Keadilan Rakyat 

Outstanding Article (Why Anwar Ibrahim?)

Posted: 01 Oct 2012 08:51 PM PDT

PLEASE HELP CIRCULATE THIS-ITS TIME RACE POLITICS ENDED IN OUR COUNTRY!!!Great article by John Lee M K. You will never believe that this is a 22-year-old.
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It ignores a simple reality: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has already made history by being the first Malay politician to ever actually win more political support through an explicitly non-racial platform. It is practically impossible to underestimate how Anwar bucked the trend; he has completely turned our understanding of politics in this country on its head.

History has already made it crystal-clear; Malay politicians who try to unite the country by appealing to a common sense of Malaysian-ness inevitably wind up heading into political oblivion. Dato Onn Ja’afar’s political career went up in flames the moment he founded the first multiracial political party in the country, in spite of it having every conceivable advantage – it was literally the incumbent party of the time because of Onn’s towering status in Malayan politics. And it, of course, foundered completely.

Since then nobody has even tried to unite the Malays as Malaysians. Unite the Malays as Malays, of course; Syed Jaafar Albar famously proclaimed in the 1960s that he was a Malay first and a Malaysian second. Syed Hussein Alatas made an admirable attempt to change Malaysian politics through Gerakan, and we all know how that turned out. Literally every Malay leader who has tried to be Malaysian first ever since has risked being branded as a sell-out, a puppet of the non-Malays and a stooge of Lee Kuan Yew.

The one exception was Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who experienced some brief success with his Bangsa Malaysia idea. This only makes sense, considering Dr Mahathir’s iron-fisted handling of anyone who dared to oppose him; it is thus a pity that he never took this policy beyond mere words.

The moment Dr Mahathir handed over the reins to his successor, Malay politicians were up in arms criticising Bangsa Malaysia as a ‘nebulous’ and untenable concept for daring to acknowledge that the non-Malays have a place in this country too.

So here we are today: 51 years after independence, the easiest way to tar a Malay politician next to calling him a Jew-lover is to accuse him of saying this country belongs to the Chinese and Indians too. That is simply how Malaysian politics works; to win the support of the Malays, you need to denounce the non-Malays as foreign squatters, who are only here as a matter of privilege rather than right, a privilege revocable at any time.

And what a coincidence it is – that is exactly how the Malaysian government works too. If you’re not an Indonesian who can be counted as a Malay, your application for permanent residency or citizenship can never hope to see the light of day. If you’re not a Malay, you can expect to hear your fair share of racist remarks in a public national school – and not from students, mind you, but teachers. As a student you can expect a syllabus which teaches you about the meaning of ketuanan Melayu rather than bangsa Malaysia. As an employee you can expect a civil service where you’re not welcome unless they need you to fulfil their minuscule quota of non-Malay recruits. As an entrepreneur you can expect a government – and many government-linked companies – which will not give you any business unless you are a Malay. Half a century after independence, and that’s what 40% of this country has to look forward to.

And since this is how the government works, up-and-coming politicians and political activists realise this is how politics works too. That is why even though you will never hear the typical Malaysian voicing such sentiments, political activists will readily denounce the non-Malays as foreign squatters here at the behest of a social contract which gives them the privilege, not right, to stay and live here.

Since this is how politics and government have worked since time immemorial, we owe Anwar an incredible debt for nearly single-handedly
turning all this – everything – completely on its head. For the past half century, to be a good Malay leader, you have either had to publicly proclaim your support for ketuanan Melayu – and not the mild ketuanan as in strong leadership, but ketuanan as in ‘blood will run in the streets if our demands are not met’ – or you have had to simply avoid commenting on the issue and just hope you can be all things to all people. Anwar ran on a platform, not of vague meaningless nice-sounding platitudes, but a platform explicitly against everything ketuanan Melayu stands for.

This is a man, mind you, who celebrated the end of his ban on active politics by damning ketuanan Melayu and consigning it to the dust heap of history. This is a man who has publicly and repeatedly proclaimed that his commitment is to the sovereignty of the people – ketuanan rakyat – rather than the dominance of the Malays.

This is a man who has never wavered from his stand that the philosophy of government assistance based on racial origin, rather than economic
status, is fundamentally and morally wrong. This is a man who has repeatedly, wherever he goes, whoever he speaks to, driven home the
same point, again and again: ‘Anak Melayu, anak saya. Anak Cina, anak saya. Anak India, anak saya.’

And this is a man who has had everything in the traditional playbook of Malaysian politics thrown at him. He’s been labelled a heretic, a sodomite, a liar, a hypocrite, a traitor willing to sell the Malays and Malaysians out at a moment’s notice. The ruling coalition has done everything in their power to make it known far and wide that this is a man committed to non-racialism; committed to a Malaysia where everyone belongs.

Regardless of whether you think he deserves it, or if he was just lucky, credit is due to Anwar: where so many brave Malay leaders have fallen and failed, he has won an incredible victory. Onn Ja’afar was vilified simply for opening up his political party to Malayans of all creeds and colours; Anwar has gone above and beyond, explicitly declaring that this is a country for all Malaysians, whoever they might be. And he has won a resounding victory.

It would be one thing if he scraped through with a majority of less than 5,000 votes in the recent by-election, but the fact is, it was not even close – not with a landslide majority of 15,000, larger even than the majority his wife won before he explicitly condemned ketuanan Melayu. Anwar has succeeded where everyone else has failed; he has carved out a broad base of political support, not on a platform of rights or privileges for one community, but a platform of justice and equality of opportunity for all communities.

Criticise Anwar all you like for his inconsistent and wishy-washy stands on other issues. Criticise his coalition for its internal dissension and strange hypocrisy all you want. You can even say you have no intention of trusting a man who might just stab you in the back the moment he gains power.

The fact of the matter is, you do not have a choice between Anwar and your ideal, committed, consistent, sincere Malaysian leader. Your choice, in the here and now, is between Anwar and a regime built on racism, built on stoking the flames of mistrust and hatred. This regime of hatred has delivered its promise of ketuanan Melayu; why should we expect things to be any worse under a regime promising ketuanan rakyat? At the worst, it’s the same old shit under a different government; at best, we might finally have a government and a political system which works for all Malaysians rather than whoever yells the loudest and threatens the most blood.

As far as taking power is concerned, this is still a long shot. Anwar may yet turn out to be a flop on delivering if he ever gets the chance to govern. But the simple and stark reality is, as far as we who live in the present are concerned, he is our best and only chance to put a stop to this insanity.

Anwar is not the perfect vessel for uniting the country, but there is a reason he scares the powers that be: he is the first real chance we have ever had to unite the country against the demons of racialism and parochialism. And for now, he is our only chance. He is the only one who can cross ethnic barriers to proclaim a commitment to a Malaysia where Malaysians, not Malays, are sovereign, and actually win more support than before.

I am no huge fan of Anwar, but I recognise what he has done, and how far he has come. I support him, not because I like him as a person, but because I believe in the cause he champions, and because I believe that if there is any person in this country who can make that dream a reality, it is Anwar Ibrahim.
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