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.
July 1, 2008 at 12:43 am
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT SODOMY (HOMOSEXUALITY)?
Genesis 19:5-8
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Exodus 22:19
19Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 18:22
22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 18:23
23Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Leviticus 20:13
13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 20:15
15And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
Leviticus 20:16
16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Deuteronomy 1
1These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
4After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
5On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
8Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
9And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11(The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
13Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
14And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
15So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
18And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
19And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
22And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
26Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
29Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
34And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
35Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
36Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
37Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
38But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
40But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
41Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
42And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
44And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
46So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
SODOMITES
1. 1 Kings 14:24
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
1 Kings 14:23-25 (in Context) 1 Kings 14 (Whole Chapter)
2. 1 Kings 15:12
And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
1 Kings 15:11-13 (in Context) 1 Kings 15 (Whole Chapter)
3. 1 Kings 22:46
And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.
1 Kings 22:45-47 (in Context) 1 Kings 22 (Whole Chapter)
4. 2 Kings 23:7
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
2 Kings 23:6-8 (in Context) 2 Kings 23 (Whole Chapter)
More from King James Version
1. SODOMITES
2. BLINDNESS » Miraculously inflicted upon the Sodomites (Genesis 19:11)
3. JUDGMENTS » Sodomites (Genesis 19:23-25)
4. SODOMY » See SODOMITES
5. ADULTERY » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:5-8)
6. DEATH » AS A JUDGMENT » Sodomites (Genesis 19:12,13,24,25)
7. LASCIVIOUSNESS » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:5)
8. OBDURACY (HARDNESS) » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:9,14)
9. SIN » INSTANCES OF » The Sodomites (Genesis 18:20)
10. WOMEN » INSTANCES OF » The sodomites of the southern kingdom (Judah) (2 Kings 23:7)
July 1, 2008 at 12:50 am
Ladies and gentlemen, I was about to disapprove this comment, but I must take my hat off to this religious idiot for giving me THE most comprehensive list of anti ’sodomy’ quotes from the Bible. Some people really need to get a hobby! Obviously didn’t read my blog, just saw the word ’sodomy’ and off he or she went!
July 1, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Indeed, one would do anything when one is desperate. Anwar is the one who is desperate; desperate to get into office. Why? If his true intention is to help the Malaysian people, he does not need to hold political office to do so. He can provide assistance in whatever capacity he has. Instead, he insists that he must be in Parliament, and must overthrow the existing government before he will help the people.
And what does he want to do first? Get back at Mahathir. Not bring down the cost of living for the average Joe, which poor little desperate Joe is hoping for, should Anwar get his hands on the PM’s job.
It is obvious that Anwar is in it for himself. He just wants power and all the perks that come with it. He had all the perks when he was DPM, with the silk Armani suits and horse-riding outings. And he has seen how “Mr. Clean” Abdullah Badawi and his family have benefited from being in power, and he wants a piece of the action. Anwar does not care for the Malaysian people.
If he did, why does he not address them through the local media? Instead, he only chooses to speak to CNN and other foreign media. The obvious argument for that is “the media is biased and controlled by the government.” While that may be true, he must realise that the majority of Malaysians will tune in, every night, at 8pm to watch the local news. Not everyone has a PC to read foreign news sites and pro-Anwar websites. And to target them would be to preach to the believers, so he wouldn’t gain any additional local support. Anyway, the current news is a lot more open than when it was in the 90’s, so Anwar could get some of his message through. Instead, he decides to hide from the local press.
This is not new for Anwar. When he was DPM/Finance Minister, he only decided to speak to local journalists when it suited him. As reporters clamored for his comment after public events, he would give a smirk then walk away without entertaining any questions from the reporters. Even his press secretary then had a certain disdain for the local press, especially when they wanted to ask Anwar what the press secretary felt were trivial questions.
But wear a Far East Economic Review, Reuters or Associated Press name tag, and you would have his undivided attention.
So who exactly is Anwar’s audience? Is it the layman on the Malaysian street, or is it the White House or No 10 Downing Street?
I AM “mad as hell”, and I am NOT going to take these useless politicians anymore, especially one particular Anwar Ibrahim…
July 2, 2008 at 1:56 am
Thank you for your comment. As I have always stated, I throw the stones, and may well be wrong. I thank you for giving me the other side of the Anwar Ibrahim story. I am not at all doubting that you are correct in everything you say, but my concern is that they are trumping up charges just to keep him out of potentially holding office. Yours is a balanced view, based on facts. If there is a reason for not liking Ibrahim, then do what you have done and be logical and reasoned in your comments. Baseless lies just don’t cut it with me. Thanks again.
July 15, 2008 at 2:17 pm
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