WoW, a three-pager on DSAI in the people's paper!

Sunday woke Desi (yesterdie) up feeling fine
well there was this tghing about the media environ on my mind
yesterday I scoured the mainland Chinoserie TV lanscape
and cheekily comapored with Amber Chia's Playboy Indon escape

WoW! The Sunday Star surprised with a three-page spread
on former DPM Anwar Ibrahim -- what a coup
But frankly, what do you think is happening?
Is it that The People's Paper knows somethin' we don't?
Or it's just that GE is coming, let's have some cosmetic dressing

Desi told himself not to be a cynic -- like one of my regular ER, Anak Merdeka, reading somethin' sinister into the stage where there is no iblis.
After all, there has been a change of the paper's GEIC for some three months now -- let's give the new editorial head some benefit of the doubt, eh?

So I read the article twice -- nothing really new coming from PKR adviser -- except it's all collated for convenient reading for lazy Sundae bummbers who don't want to surf the alternative media for Anwar's New Agenda for Malaysia he has been espoucing for the new year (2007 -- when he is full time back in NegaraKu after some years of academic wanderings abroad...Shakespearean sojourns included:).

Andrew Sia -- who shares a common love of teh tarik with Desi, or is there a More? -- does add value to the writing by intervbiewing some political analysts. (He should have contacted Desi -- I could have provided hiom some inn-sights! This Aside is April 1-induced, OK! Don't be so serious -- politics by itself is killing us in rising percentage already.)

I hope you guys read the peice in full -- buy-lah, the second-hand copy from thy neighbour for RM0.60 24 later!

I'm only gifting thee one quote and its related comments because I think that's the key, crucial point Malaysians who are looking for an ALTERNATIVE have to consider. Important for a decison in the coming General Elections, more important still for your generations after you.

___________________________ EXTRACT_______________________

He (Anwar Ibrahim) believes that multi-racial political parties, such as PKR, are the way forward towards “national maturity.

“It takes a lot of effort. But we cannot continue with segments of the population, the non-Malays or even some Malays, feeling that they are second class citizens,” he says.

On Al-Jazeera last week, when a caller claimed that the NEP has marginalised the Indians, for instance, Anwar replied:

“You are right.... That is why the NEP should be dismantled and we all come together as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazans. This country has enough resources to benefit all.”

More forcefully, at a ceramah in Kuala Berang, Terengganu, last month, he said, “The keris is for true Malay warriors to defend justice and fight oppression, not for people to enrich themselves and defend corruption. We reject that kind of keris.”

But can the Malays accept his rather radical message?

He candidly told Aliran: “Many of my friends, Malay professionals, had advised me, ‘Look Anwar, you are venturing into a very dangerous sort of battle and many Malays cannot take it.’

“I told them, ‘Look in the civil service, the congestion in hospitals (like the one) in Seberang Jaya (Penang). Who suffers most? The poor Malays, Chinese and Indians.’

“I have addressed predominantly Malay crowds and I said I am not going to sacrifice the Malay position or interests. I am a Malay and I am also responsible. But I am also a Malaysian and I believe a Malaysian economic agenda will ensure the success of the Malays, Chinese and other communities.”

Azmin Ali, his long-time political secretary and current vice-president of PKR, thinks the Malays are seeing the bigger picture.

“Initially, it was difficult to convince the Malays as the NEP has been indoctrinated in their mindset. But they are now more aware that the NEP has been hijacked. Some of them receive RM50 or some batik cloth to work as supporters. Yet, just compare their humble homes with, say, (Selangor state councillor) Datuk Zakaria’s palace (in Klang),” he says.

Or as another political activist comments:

“If the DAP says it, the Malays will reject it. But if Anwar says it, the Malays will listen because he can quote Quranic verses to support it. Racism is not part of Islam.”

__________________ Ends Extract______________________

DESIDERATA continues:

The portions highlighted (THUS BOLDED) in the EXTRACT are Desi's.

When I first intimated to my EsteemedReaders that the Parti Kedailan Rakyat is about the only VIASBLE ALTERNATIVE available on the Malaysian political landscape for those Malaysians who wish to SEE A SXEA_CHANGE IN THE GOVERNMENT WE HAVE BEEN ENCUMBERED WITH FOR %) LONG YEARS, some Readers demanded of Desi: What has Anwar and PKR to offer?

I guesss that's a fair question.
I guess it's better you hear it from the Horse's Mouth.
I have at various occasions picked up the Press Statements issued by Anwar's office over the past few months, and his central message is that THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY HAS BEEN ABUSED AND IT'S TIME TO ABOLISH IT.

How many leaders dare even to whisper this wish in the kedai kopi, what more issue as a new policy shift. The much cliched phrase -- A PARADIGM SHIFT THAT'S LONG OVERDUE IN MALAYSIA!

Yes, the past two decades have seen the entrenchment of Corruption, "endemic" in some famous son's words, cropping up from below to above the table; Cronyism as in the cozy Political-Business Nexus, where WHO-YOU-KNOW counts more than What-You-Know in landing mega-projects; and Nepotism, though this dieases is not only prevalent in the incumbent BN government benches, but also among Opposition beds. If I elaborate on the last Conundrum, I may get hostile looks that kill from some of the personages I have had no choice but bump into in my political journey. Unless I migrate to Perth and can stay in that (another 4-1/2-storey?) beautiful "small" mansion by the swanee River.

Anwar has seen it all; yes, even been part of it. He did taste sweet victory and its attendant fruits, no doubt. The only differencve is he paid a heavy price for it. The Fall from Grace. Humiliated through the courts, spent some six years of the best in his prime life -- okay, deputy prime! -- in a prison cell. These harsh tests and environs must surely have changed the man in some "epiphanic" ways, I believe.

We can't rely on the DAP to carry the Opposition torch. Neither PAS unless it ditches its Islam agenda as its raison d'etre.
Just this quote will attest to my inference:

"“If the DAP says it, the Malays will reject it. But if Anwar says it, the Malays will listen because he can quote Quranic verses to support it. Racism is not part of Islam.”