My wife's former student who is a medical houseman rang up on Friday afternoon. He sounded so excited. He called from Kampong Baru mosque in Kuala Lumpur after Friday prayers. He said Anwar Ibrahim is in the middle of a rousing speech. Anwar's spirited speech almost swept him away. He said that thousands are joining the protests.
Anwar Ibrahim has once again taken to the streets. This time it is for the cause of the Palestinians. He led the crowd to protest the recent Israeli piracy and brutal murder of humanitarian aid activists of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. For a person who is about to be thrown out of Parliament and worse still on the verge of being imprisoned once again over malicious and humiliating charges, he shows no restrain.
The opposition party Pakatan Rakyat and other NGO's organised and led 10,000 protestors to take to the US embassy. Anwar was allowed in with other leaders to deliver the protest memorandum. This was obviously omitted and blacked out by mainstream TV and media. Instead, much was mentioned of a smaller protest at the national mosque led by UMNO Youth, Perkasa, 4B and PPIM which could only pull 200 protestors.
Anwar Ibrahim was persistently accused by UMNO of being a Zionist agent until he turned the tables on them by revealing the depth and extent of the Israeli connected APCO role in BN's government. This even caused ripples in the American Jewish organisations who labelled him anti-Semitic, their usual ploy. When asked, Anwar said that he was not being racist, he firmly believes in engagement with all sides but he could never compromise on issues of sovereignty and national security.
Malaysia has to get this one right. In trying to appease the US, Malaysia should not compromise its independence and principles in its policies either in terms of the situation in Iran, Afghanistan or Palestine.
