Malaysia's Anwar: Enough support to topple govt
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim gestures during a rally at a stadium in Petaling Jaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Sept. 15, 2008. Anwar said Monday he is on the verge of ousting Malaysia's entrenched government after sending an audacious letter to the prime minister that urged him to hand over power "smoothly and peacefully." (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
By Vijay Joshi
Associated Press Writer / September 16, 2008
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday he has more than enough pledges of support from ruling coalition lawmakers to topple the government, and he urged the prime minister to give up power voluntarily and peacefully.
Anwar's claims -- his strongest yet -- signaled he could be on the verge of nudging the ruling National Front coalition from power for the first time since independence in 1957.
Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi brushed off Anwar's claims. "This is Anwar's mirage. It is nothing. It is merely a dream," he said.
Anwar's People's Alliance won an unprecedented 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament in March general elections, 30 short of a majority. During the last six months, Anwar has been wooing disgruntled lawmakers from the National Front.
"We have received firm commitments from MPs (members of parliament) in excess of the number required to form a new government," Anwar told reporters. "It is increasing by the hour. I am not joking."
Anwar refused to give an exact number or to name the lawmakers, saying they will be subject to harassment by the government or even detention.
Anwar said the opposition alliance is now seeking a meeting with Abdullah. But an aide to Abdullah said the prime minister is not planning to meet with Anwar. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to news media.
On Monday, Anwar told a massive rally of supporters that he is willing to give Abdullah one or two weeks to accept defeat and resign.
"We are firm that victory is finally at hand. Our vision of rebuilding this country ... is within reach," he said.
If Anwar pulls it off, it would signal a remarkable turnaround for a man once considered a star of Asian politics, only to be toppled in 1998 and imprisoned on a sodomy conviction. The conviction was overturned in 2004 after he had served six years in jail for a related corruption conviction.
Still, he was seen as a political spent force until he stitched together an unlikely coalition of three diverse political parties, including his multiracial People's Justice Party, last year ahead of the March 8 general elections.
Anwar was charged again with sodomy for allegedly raping a young male aide. He has dismissed both sodomy accusations as political conspiracies to thwart his rise. No date has been set for his trial for the latest sodomy charge, which upon conviction is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
Meanwhile, the ruling National Front coalition has been weakened by dissent against Abdullah, who lost much of his clout after presiding over the government's worst-ever election results.
Since then, Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's most stable countries, has been caught in political turmoil that has hit financial markets and business confidence.
On Monday, Abdullah suffered another setback when the law minister resigned in protest against the use of a draconian security law to detain a journalist, an anti-government blogger and an opposition lawmaker on Friday. The journalist was released Saturday.
Websites - http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/09/16/anwar_more_support_than_needed_to_topple_govt/, http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2008/09/17/anwar-more-support-than-needed-to-topple-govt-2/, http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2008/09/16/pakatan-rakyat-sedia-mengambil-alih/#more-3480,
http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/several_possible_scenarios.html, http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/_the_right_thing_to_do_.html, http://www.anwaribrahimclub.com/2008/09/anwar-pakatan-rakyat-ready-to-take-over/,
http://m.themalaysianinsider.com/articles.php?id=9143, http://mahaguru58.blogspot.com/2008/09/anwars-expired-16th-september-promises.html, http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/09/17/zaid’s-resignation-“last-nail-in-the-coffinâ€-of-abdullah’s-repeat-of-reform-pledges-after-march-8-“political-tsunamiâ€/#more-1480,
http://jelas.info/2008/09/16/malaysia-day-anwar-abdullah/, http://www.infernalramblings.com/articles/Malaysian_Politics/774/, http://tonypua.blogspot.com/2008/09/najibs-new-toy.html, http://malaysianunplug.blogspot.com/2008/09/anwar-ibrahims-press-statement-on.html,
http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/daulat-tuanku-daulat-tuanku-daulat-tuanku-3/
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Anwar's expired 16th September promises - All smoke and no fire?
Well, 16th September 2008 has come and gone overnight without Malaysians getting to see a political coup by the Pakatan Rakyat in succeeding to pull the carpet from under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's feet and take over power from the BN at Putrajaya!
That's the danger of overpromising this and that by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim & Company way too soon and too confident in changing the course of this nation by way of initiating crossovers of BN Members of Parliament into the Pakatan Rakyat ranks.
Anwar Ibrahim sort of disappointed the hundred over media personnel who gathered at the PKR Headquarters yesterday expecting to hear earth shattering news from the PKR supremo only to hear the above explanations from him.
It surely speaks of a humongous political letdown as far as the millions of Malaysians who have supported him and the dissipation of the Permatang Pauh constituents dreams in seeing the man get to deliver upon his solemn promise to give Malaysia a brand new federal government by or on the 16th of September which was yesterday!
His detractors had a field day running him down at Utusan Malaysia, RTM TV1 and at Agenda Daily apart from all other media channels devoted to the BN.
'Over promising and under delivering' does not vouch much for the Opposition Chief's grassroots support in the long run for it will eat away at whatever support he has been building up for the Pakatan Rakyat ever since he was freed from incarceration.
Sometimes it is better for someone like Anwar to work up his way upwards steadily like he should instead of always opting to settle for 'quick fix' arrangements to reach the pinnacle of his political career.
The old phrase of 'a man in a hurry' returns to haunt the PKR supremo just as he was termed as such before he was unceremoniously sacked from all his official positions by Mahathir 10 years ago!
He did the same didn't he before when he was Mahathir's golden boy only to be slam dunked by the old maestro of Malaysian politics back to square one in 1998?
Instead of slowly building up his ground base by delivering to his constituents and the general Malaysian people who have come to support the Pakatan Rakyat in all 5 states here in the peninsular, Anwar Ibrahim has once again been in a bit of a rush to go warm the PM's seat at Putrajaya by initiating this ungentlemanly political coup through attempting to get the BN MP's to crossover to his side?
I for one prefer to see the Pakatan Rakyat prove to us that they are capable of running this country better than the BN by going ahead with all kinds of reform and help the citizens of those 5 states under their rule first!
They should work hard and deliver all their promises to the people and wait for the next GE to takeover the Federal Government proper from the BN who obviously are serving their last term in office if the present political mood is to be so till 2012 or 2013?
Trying to pull a fast one like this turnover of the BN MP's just doesn't seem a honorable thing to do given the Pakatan Rakyat's battlecry of championing justice and fair play all these while?
This is my personal point of view, of course. I prefer to see Pakatan Rakyat win over power in a fair gentlemanly manner at the polls! Not see more 'Ibrahim Ali' types in the Pakatan Rakyat!!!
Has Anwar Ibrahim screwed up again just as he did in 1998 and are his detractors correct in assuming that his 16th September 2008 'Change of Government' strategy just a case of 'all smoke and no fire'?
From the feedback that I read and receive from many disappointed Malaysians online, we just can never tell as to what is really brewing here in Bolehland?
Abdullah Badawi says that all these talk of Anwar having more than 31 BN MP's ready to tango with him is all just a dream, a mirage!
For the moment being, it surely comes across exactly as what the BN President states!
Doesn't it?
Is there any truth to Anwar's claims or is it really all just a case of 'biting off more than one can chew?'
Wallahu alam bissawab!
Posted by MAHAGURU58 at 2:19 PM 0 comments
Najib joins the online community with his own website (updated)
Although a tad too late, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak has set up a website of his own or had someone set it up for him?
Being the ultra conservative one in the Malaysian BN Cabinet, Najib, who has been always been a bit reluctant to mingle with the masses and is always shielded by a phalanx of bush jacketed bodyguards, still screws up big with his choice of having a not so people friendly website.
I mean, the man is really not that loved by the general Malaysian public and I witnessed one incident recently at the Masjid Putra at Putrajaya where no one bothered to go greet the man and he just walked in right up to the front saff @ prayer row, prayed his Jumaat together with the jamaah and when he left, no one got up and greeted him as he left, surrounded by his phalanx of bush jacketed bodyguards.
What does that tell us? No connection with the masses. You can only see folks who have vested interests come and greet the man when there is something to be gained like in the recent Permatang Pauh by election when some funds were being distributed to the villagers in order to induce them to vote for the BN candidate.
Ng Yen Yen was more glaring in her distributing of RM200 ang pows to old folks in the 'buy election' yet Anwar Ibrahim in his comeback bid into Malaysian politics was voted into power there with a larger majority than his wife!
So Najib needs to be more open to the people and not try to wing it like he has done here with this attempt to drive his stake in the online community with such a boring website!
http://www.1malaysia.com.my/v1/index.php is not really that welcoming or user friendly compared to blogs and I don't think that Malaysians are gonna be so gungho in supporting his obviously lacklustre attempt to join the Malaysian online community.
If Najib really wants to join us here in blogosphere, he ought to loosen up and remove the barriers so that Malaysians can either come in with their bouquets or brickbats such as what other prominent BN bloggers have done?
Take Tun Dr.Mahathir's http://www.chedet.com/ for example. He's the reigning King of the Malaysian Blogosphere now.
The Grand Old Man of Malaysian politics has broken all Malaysian blogosphere records by having 6 million over hits at his blog within the shortest time possible!
Every article of Che Det gets an average of a couple of hundred comments from his visitors! Now, that's something to be reckoned with!
Not that all who go and comment at his blog love the fella but you've got to hand it to him that he has achieved some sort of a huge following at his blog despite the criticisms of him being a bloody recalcitrant ex-dictator of Malaysian politics over the last 2 decades?
So, I seriously would like to advise Najib Tun Razak to loosen up and turn his website into a proper blog and get rid of the form featured below that he is asking folks to fill up before commenting?
What does he think this blogging thingamajig is?
An online application to secure 'scholarships' as what we all have now heard involving him before?
Najib should use the blog systems the way we bloggers do!
He may moderate the comments coming his way but please lay off all the unnecessary phishing for visitor details!
He just stopped short of asking for our IC numbers...hehehehehehe!
No one would even bother to go and comment if he keeps the present set up. No sirree!
The question is whether the man really, really wants to join us here in Blogosphere and get his website be revamped into a proper blog where visitors are free to come in and comment albeit not anonymously?
Is Najib game? Will he heed this advise from a 'fellow blogger' or shy away as I expect him to?
Posted by MAHAGURU58 at 10:34 AM 8 comments
The People's Parliament
We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers - Emmeline Pankhurst
Yesterday, at around 4pm, your petition to His Majesty the Yang DiPertuan Agong, bearing more than 25,700 signatures, was delivered into the hands of a palace official.
May God continue to bless His Majesty with compassion and wisdom and the strength to rule justly.
Posted by Haris IbrahimFiled in Return the judiciary to the rakyat
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