Throughout history, there have been many moments where political parties or ruling regimes have used desperate measures to stay in power. Obviously, we are seeing it take place right now in Zimbabwe. Burma’s ruling Junta has used every trick in the book to keep Aung San Suu Kyi out of the picture. Kenya has had its fair share of troubles, and Cuba just ignores even the vaguest tickle of opposition to the status quo. So it is not surprising that in Malaysia, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is yet again having to fend off what seems to be trumped up sodomy charges, just as he is trying to re-enter the Malaysian political scene which at the moment is moving away from the ruling party.
Ibrahim’s fall from grace started way back in 1998 when he criticised the then Prime Minister Mahatir.
A few days later Anwar addressed a protest gathering of nearly 100,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, after which a number of his supporters marched to Mahathir’s then official residence demanding reformasi (economic and political reforms) and Mahathir’s resignation. This march, a rare event in Malaysia, caused concern in the government. That night, Anwar’s home was raided by a masked and armed SWAT team from the Royal Malaysian Police. His arrest was announced several hours later, as were those of several of Anwar’s supporters, although most of them were later released.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim
Open your mouth and criticise, and all of a sudden your house gets raided and serious charges of corruption and sodomy get levelled against you. Charges that could lead to hefty jail terms. Anwar was found guilty of both charges, and sentenced to six years for corruption and nine years for sodomy. He was released in 2004, and the sodomy charge was overturned.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed doubts about the fairness of the trials. Amnesty International subsequently designated Anwar as a prisoner of conscience. The trial also provoked international criticism. US vice president Al Gore denounced the sodomy trial of Anwar as a “mockery”, but Mahathir rejected all such international criticism as “foreign interference.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim
Now he finds himself facing more sodomy charges. How convenient. He is free to take part in political events again, and just when he starts to put pressure on the ruling party, trumped up charges appear. Dr Mahatir, and the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi, may disagree on how to run Malaysia, but they seem to have similar tactics when dealing with Ibrahim. Denials are coming thick and fast, but it is all too coincidental, and the world knows it.
The great thing is this time Ibrahim has come out guns blazing and has filed a lawsuit against the 23 year old man who has accused him of sodomy.
Ibrahim, 63, “was left fighting for his political credibility, calling a press conference at 1.20 am to deny allegations that he sodomised his aide,” The Star newspaper said on Sunday.
Wan Ismail (Ibrahim’s wife) told media persons in the afternoon that the police report on sodomy lodged against her husband was an attempt to “assassinate” his political career.
“They could not bring him down through other ways and so made this political attempt, which is just a repeat of what had happened about 10 years ago,” NST Online said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim
Those who know me know I can’t keep my mouth shut when I see something is just plain wrong. With 99.9% of people I meet or work with, I get along fine. But there is that small minute percentage that despise me, and it’s because I have their measure, and they hate it. This small percentage are not nice people, and hate having their many deficiencies pointed out to them. It’s the same in the case of Ibrahim. By all accounts he is highly respected all around the world. But to those he is a thorn in the side to, he is the most hated man on the planet, and the quicker they shut him up the better.
But his reaction this time comes from years of experience, and somehow I can see the actor Peter Finch, as Howard Beale, in the 1976 movie ‘Network’:
Howard Beale: [shouting] You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
[shouting]
Howard Beale: ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
Howard Beale: [screaming at the top of his lungs] “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/quotes
Anwar, you get ‘as mad as hell’. You’re not only standing up for yourself, but political fairness and freedom everywhere.
Enjoy your day.
