Time for Change

If the problem and malaise affecting BN is merely that of public perception, then they are quite delusional and are caught up in their own self serving propaganda. BN as a government is in decline and is performing badly relative to the days in the past. They are losing economic competitiveness, their keen sense of development strategies which are losing lots of public money, revelations of rampant corruption and they have not been able to transform unlike whatever grand pronouncements made in that direction. They cannot even reconcile between national unity and Malay rights. Their media machines gun after each and everyone's racial phobia. Worse is that they have been caught time and again to be lying through their teeth.  So this is beyond public relations and APCO like perception insights or piecemeal "make people fear or make people feel good" solutions. It needs a major revamp and that denial syndrome or that "even if we are not performing we are still the best for you" attitude and condescendence has to go.

Why is it supposed to be a proposed reconciliation only between BN and PAS? Why be so dismissive of Anwar as if he is not significant politically whether in terms of national unity or Malay interests? If it is thought that  Anwar has lost it and cannot garner public support across the races and throughout the country then let us remind ourselves of what the embattled Pak Lah, a former PM said back then. He said Anwar is someone forgotten before setting out to lead one of BN's most disastrous elections ever. It is a fact that Anwar has been in government administration and has so far been able to transcend across diverse political parties and backgrounds. It is still a fledgling political process but now we almost have a viable two party system for vibrant democratic check and balances.

The ones out to cripple Anwar are the same Malay-Muslims with an outrageous destructive agenda turning everything onto weapons to assail and destroy him. It has gone beyond mere character assassination. Some insane drive has them fanatically devoted to vanquish him.  If God forbid, they somehow manage to be able to terminate him, it shall come together with demolishing and bringing down the whole nation's justice system. Does PAS really want to have anything to do with such wayward terminator like politicians?

We have to ponder this Sufi anecdote of the past. One day, Mulla Nasruddin a famous Sufi was seen kneeling on his lawn outside his house looking for something. His trusted pupil saw him and went to him kneeling beside him to help. The pupil asked, "What are you looking for, Mulla?". Mulla answered, "I'm looking for my keys." The pupil then asked, "Where did you lose it, Mulla?". Mulla replied, "In the house." The pupil wondered, "Why don't you look for it in the house, Mulla?". Mulla replied nonchalantly , "It is brighter outside."

Applied to Anwar, crippling attacks and character assassination shall not stop until realpolitik objectives are not achieved no matter what even if it goes against religious, moral, legal universal or human considerations. Applied to BN-PAS reconciliation, they maybe barking up the wrong tree.

Anwar's detractors seem to be overly infatuated to the point of chronic alarm with his aspirations to be the nation's leader. If we were to ask him, Anwar says he wants to be able to conduct islah - reform the nation for the better. So, please brush aside those intolerable hearsay innuendos - just tell him and us what is so wrong with his ideas and politics so that we are free to choose democratically.

It is a mistake to  simply categorise and stereotype people like Tuan Guru Nik Aziz as if PAS is  similar to UMNO's "follow the  leader right or wrong mentality". We have to give PAS their due credit in managing their own political transformation which out surpasses UMNO's illusions of change anytime. PAS is a party with a future and of the future. UMNO is still relishing and languishing in the past.

UMNO's foe is not Anwar, they are greatly mistaken for Anwar is part of their own history for them to judge. UMNO's bane is the party itself which desperately needs major reform and moral resuscitation even before they can think of reconciling with and partnering any other party with a better semblance of moral principles and practice.

It is actually no more about the continuance of Malay Muslim dominance and superiority  (right or wrong!) - we must earn it through integrity and social justice, to build respect and deliver leadership to all Malaysians. We have to shed this presumed Malay thinking of  this inherited superiority as the sole source of strength every time.

Yes, it is time for reconciliation but it  is also a time for change.

( this is written in response to   http://azrilmohdamin.com/2011/08/05/ramadhan-a-time-for-reconciliation/  )

Reclaiming the higher moral ground

Pembela has to come off its high horse, restrategise and leave its perceived xenophobia. Its recent forum which was poorly attended despite huge publicity should sound a warning bell for its continued relevance. Pembela has to reclaim the higher moral ground. It cannot rely and hang on to the shrills and thrills of the bigoted and jingoistic Perkasa's inflammatory bandwagon. Perkasa's modus operandi of blowing up hot air, severe alarmism and extreme hollers achieves nothing for the community. Perkasa's agenda seems only to be scaring Malays and Muslims into becoming a besieged community ever paranoid distrusting everyone except its ever scheming and corrupted leaders. Perkasa makes it its only goal of not wanting Malays to change.

Pembela cannot be associated with lies and deception just because it believes it is fighting for a good cause. Pembela must side with justice and uphold truthfulness. If not, the Muslims it represents, the people's hope and our trust is put in bad light.

Pembela has just cause and genuine concern which Muslims cherish and support. However, it must not betray this faith by being a pliant political accomplice of an ailing and desperate ruling regime. Pembela has to remain upright, honest and true to its noble spirit without fear or favour.

Pembela should not have defended Utusan's inexcusable diatribes and irresponsible racist spins especially the latest mischievous attempt at Christian baiting. Pembela should be above such low journalistic morals and it must spurn gutter politics. Such despicable newspaper reports and followed by upsetting shoddy reactions only afford Christians a higher moral ground, gives them stronger resolve and unfortunately shows up as further evidence of their perceived persecution.

Utusan's persistent lies and slander must come to an end. Pembela should not tie its fate to such misguided purveyors of doom, mischief and disorder.

Obama's Offer of a New Beginning

You have got to admit that President Obama’s speech is impressive. It was so well rehearsed and orchestrated, almost without flaws. He touched base with the middle ground, weaving through the seven issues highlighting his concern and depth in showing his hope in confronting these academically. He preached co-existence and mutual understanding. He even used Islamic terms, concepts and quoted a sprinkling of quranic translations. As if to preempt skeptics, he purposely declared that a speech can never tackle all the complexities but he promises a beginning.

This is new and quite groundbreaking for any US or Western leader to acknowledge and address directly the concerns of the Muslim world in a language of dialogue and in trying to speak as one of their own.

Shall he deliver minding the powerful Israeli lobby, the prejudice in the West and the skepticism of Americans themselves?

His speech was delivered in a typically repressive Muslim country where Arabs hold their leaders and themselves in contempt.

For starters, he should begin by deescalating the war in Pakistan, withdraw from Afghanistan and not see resistance as violent extremism, the new euphemism. His words are worthless to the victims of the Swat tragedy which is ongoing even as he speaks of peace.

We shall remain weary of such promises however eloquent and charismatic his words. Still he sounds far better than Bush!



Points to ponder from his speech:

He acknowledges civilization's debt, cultural and scientific contributions to Islam.

He did not use the word terror or terrorists preferring the more generalized term, extremist and violence.

He urges the world to avert and avoid stereotyping Muslims, in turn perceiving and profiling one another. This spells good news in confronting and getting rid of Islamophobia.

He mentioned and treated with respect the prophets Moses, Jesus and Muhammad by saying the salutations (peace be upon them).

He mentioned Hamas without the usual equating it with terror. Instead he recognizes their popularity but urges them to refrain from armed resistance. (The word resistance was used to Israel’s dismay).

He admits the suffering of the Palestinians in the same breath and line as reminding of the Jewish holocaust (to the consternation of Israel).

He promises to withdraw all US troops from the Muslim countries invaded when they are finished.

He is against torture and still promises to close down Guantanamo.

He mentions publicly his full name as Barack Husein Obama.

He admitted Iraq was a mistake but not in so many words.

He says that he is against all nuclear weapons and is seen to be more receptive towards nuclear energy for Iran.

He admits America’s role in bringing down a democratically elected Iranian government in the 50’s.

He offers dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

He presents a moderate and reasonable view of Muslim women. He does not mock the hijab but almost defends the freedom to don one. He subtly exposes those hostile towards Islam and religion under the pretext of liberalism (Sarkozy’s France may not like this).

He promises engagement and offers sharing in entrepreneurship and economic progress.

He showed unequivocal and categorical support for Israel. He stresses unshaken bonds to Israel and bases it on the Jewish nation’s tragic history. He even urged Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

He insists that war in Afghanistan and Pakistan is justified in pursuit of the violent extremists responsible for 9/11. Again he uses the same al Qaeda threat line except he studiously avoids the word terrorist.

Repression and Obama’s Cairo Speech

Repression and Obama’s Cairo Speech

Obama’s agenda and venture into the Arab and Muslim world brings a lot of promises but so far nothing has really shifted, far from being changed, his catchy election call.

Egyptians are worried that by choosing Cairo as his city for beaming his saintly message, Obama is in fact, endorsing repression. Egyptian political leadership and governing regime thrives upon brutal repression and severe suppression of democracy. For Cairo is not Prague, a vibrant democracy where Obama had previously addressed Eastern Europe.

Obama is expected to announce Mubarak, the Egyptian leader’s central role and shore up his regime as the bulwark against Iranian interests and promote America’s agenda in the Middle East. He is plainly regurgitating stability at the expense of democracy, emphasizing Israel’s security and unfettered expansionism by using his wonderful eloquence and mesmerizing talent. He will cite Pakistan as an example of the bulwark and the fight against terror, purposely being oblivious to the destruction of a peaceful and beautiful region and pathetically ignoring the plight of the 2.4 million sudden refugees because attacking Pakistan was Obama’s idea and election campaign pledge.

Guatanamo is still stuck, Obama could not even release a prisoner held since he was a 12 year old child. His administration is unable to move in closing down this medieval concentration camp and there are many second thoughts, leading Obama to declare that at least a hundred detainees held without trial as lethally dangerous people. He is still echoing Bush era pronouncements made outside the ambit of law and justice. The other black sites such as Bagram, Diego Garcia, Uzbekistan, other Central Asian Republics and clandestine Eastern European places holding countless kidnapped suspected Muslims based on flimsy evidence without recourse to the courts, in a CIA program surreptitiously called rendition.

Obama has backtracked in the release of all the documents, the shocking and devastating photographs of torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib. These photographs were held back and are being contested by the Bush administration and seem to be ratified by Obama’s new administration. The real reason is not the expected Muslim anger worldwide. Muslims are being abused, tortured, kidnapped and killed worldwide already. Such photographs are only documenting what is really happening as the images of loss of life and limb of Muslims are becoming anesthetized and insensitive. Humanity at large is being deadened and unfeeling towards the sufferings and brutality inflicted even upon Muslim women and children. People are being conditioned and dehumanized in a large and unprecedented scale and all that is being remembered or highlighted is the Holocaust of World War II.

The Obama administration has been on the defensive over its refusal to release the pictures, which were gathered as part of U.S. military investigations into prisoner abuse. The real reason for this drastic about turn is the complicity of the entire US administration in condoning and directing the torture and abuse from rendition, physical techniques such as waterboarding, sexual assaults and continued incarceration in extreme conditions. Bush and all of his cohorts bear all these responsibilities and criminal liabilities.

Israel has given Obama the cold shoulder and is facing him down even as the issue is only about removing a few settler outposts, nothing really touched on the illegal towns and forced confistication of Palestinian rights and property. Obama has not the will and ability to confront or moderate the grand Zionist agenda at his own peril.

North Korea has learnt the Iraq disarmament lesson and instead of tuning down its weapons program, it has ratcheted it up to crisis levels, playing for high stakes. Iraq foolishly subjected itself to inspections, embargo and humiliation only to be invaded by a totally false and deceiving resolution. Iran seems to be threading the North Korea path in order to face down a fickle Obama administration.

His decision to surge the military operations in Afghanistan and escalating the war into Pakistan has plunged another large Muslim nation into mayhem and tragedy. Obama has not pursued a political solution but instead he still chooses one of extermination and the zero sum game.

Obama has not stopped the US killing machine, the US torture regime and its longstanding collaboration and promotion of corrupt, brutal and bestial dictatorial regimes in the Muslim world.

In the eyes of the Muslim world, Obama has not changed a thing.