I can understand ANWAR'S LAMENTATIONS contained in his Open Letter: I blogged about it on .....See towards the end of this Post**** OPENING PARAS below; lazy BUMmers, please go dare to the Original post thyself, I don't serve Pampers, only tehtari'. --YL, Desi
Malaysia: For Citizens’ Declaration and Why
May 28, 2016 Desi
Malaysia: For Citizens’ Declaration and Why
by P Gunasegaram
“All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice
must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will
exert upon events in the political field”–Albert Einstein.
QUESTION TIME | The Citizens’ Declaration
is a document that was drawn up by citizens concerned over Prime
Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s role as leader of the country. It
originates more from Bersih and other civil groups than former Prime
Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The key question is whether Najib should
continue to be Prime minister given the current situation, especially
with respect to rogue strategic development company 1Malaysia
Development Bhd or 1MDB and RM4.2 billion in donations that went into
Najib’s bank accounts.
When I first read the Citizens’
Declaration, which basically urges the removal of the current Prime
Minister through legal means, I found that I did not agree with
everything it said, especially with respect to the imposition of the
Goods and Services Tax or GST. But how could a document, which was
drafted by a few, can acquire universal acceptance?
There were two things that mattered to be
me more. Was I in basic agreement with the tone, tenor and key points
of the declarations? I was.
Second, as a journalist and writer, does
signing it compromise my independence? Perhaps but not much if I take
extra care about being fair and balanced nevertheless. We are citizens
too and we should exercise our rights, like voting and signing the
declaration if we substantially agree with it.
The declaration neither legitimises
Mahathir nor does it mean that he becomes the leader of the movement.
But if Mahathir wants to support that document and if former finance
minister and close Mahathir associate Daim Zainuddin wants to, let them.
They have their rights as citizens.
Jailed former opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim’s characterisation of the document as Mahathir’s and his
warnings to fellow opposition leaders to be careful about working with
Mahathir and Daim in a letter
over this is terribly unfortunate. It undermines the efforts of
concerned citizens to try and remove what they consider to be an
unsuitable Prime Minister from his position. Many will now not sign
because of Anwar’s position.
Says Anwar: “Essentially it remains Tun
M’s document, defective and incoherent when viewed in the context of
reform. Its only focus is the removal of Najib as PM due to the 1MDB
fiasco. This is obviously a departure from the raison d’etre of our
struggle: for freedom and justice, rule of law, combating abuse of power
and corruption, and distributive justice!”
Institutional reforms
The irony is that the declaration covers some similar ground. What is it that the Citizens’ Declaration says?
One may or may not agree with all parts of the preamble, have issues
with how accurate and correct they are and whether there is room for
disagreement over some of the issues such as GST.
But the key part and what it urges are contained in clauses 36 and 37. Clause 36 reads:
For all these reasons, we, the undersigned citizens of Malaysia agree and support:
a) The removal of Najib as PM of Malaysia through non-violent and legally permissible means.
b) The removal of all those who have acted in concert with him.
c) A repeal of all recent laws and
agreements that violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Federal
Constitution and undermine policy choices.
d) A restoration of the integrity of the
institutions that have been undermined, such as the Police, the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara and the Public
Accounts Committee (PAC).
Clause 37 reads: We call upon all
Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political affiliation, creed
or parties, young and old to join us in saving Malaysia from the
government headed by Najib, to pave the way for much-needed democratic
and institutional reforms, and to restore the important principle of the
separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary
which will ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and
integrity of our national institutions.
It is because of these two clauses and
that I agree with them that I signed the declaration. I honestly believe
that they are legitimate demands. Although I don’t believe that they of
themselves will directly result in the Prime Minister stepping down,
over one million people stepping up to put their names for the document
is a telling message that cannot be totally ignored.
To not support, withdraw support or
become less associated with it because Mahathir is involved or appears
to be taking credit for it or is closely associated with it is wrong. If
you believe what the declaration calls for, sign it. Nothing else is of
real consequence.
This is not the first time that citizen’s
efforts are being politicised. It happened during the Bersih-driven
demonstrations for electoral reforms when opposition figures pushed
themselves to the forefront ahead of the key organisers. In this latest
case, those with their own political axes to grind – Mahathir, Anwar,
the ruling party and the opposition – have their own take on things.
They are entitled to them.
But what does PKR and Pakatan Harapan
hope to gain by distancing themselves from a citizen’s initiative that
is calling for the legal removal of the prime minister, the same thing
that PKR and Harapan partners have been calling for? Is it not rather
short-sighted and strategically inconsistent to not sign the declaration
or support it or distance yourself from it just because Mahathir and
Daim Zainuddin support it?
Removing a Corrupt Prime Minister
While Mahathir may have his own political
motives for supporting the declaration, he does not allude to them in
public or make his strategic thoughts publicly known. All he wants – or
seems to want – is to remove a corrupt Prime Minister.
Yes, if he had not removed the checks and
balances on the executive and introduced draconian measures to
consolidate his own power and showed how it can be done, all this would
not have happened now. Indeed he was responsible too for the current
state we are in.
When UMNO was declared illegal in 1987,
Mahathir formed a new party, UMNO Baru, and kept all his opponents out.
He emasculated the judiciary and made it impotent as a check and balance
against executive abuse. He repeatedly used the two-thirds majority in
the legislature to make many constitutional changes, removing safeguards
for abuses. The legislature did not balance the executive but instead
served as a rubber stamp for Mahathir’s measures.
He cultivated patronage and corruption
and privatised large chunks of profitable government businesses, in some
cases under iron-clad guarantees and purchase agreements, to cronies.
He allowed corruption to grow and flourish and did little about it
because it suited his own purposes. He was an example to Najib, of what
Najib could get away with if he had the levers of power and exercised
them accordingly.
Yes, Mahathir has ulterior motives in
wanting Najib out. With Najib in power, the opposition has better
chances of victory. And if the opposition comes to power, there are lots
that will come into the open, and Mahathir has a lot to hide. It is in
Mahathir’s interest to knock Najib off the Umno president’s post –
before the next general elections.
But all that is beside the point – it’s
not as if Malaysians don’t know. They do but they recognise that
Mahathir’s voice, for better or worse, is a strong one which still
resonates with many Malaysians.
Mahathir was a bad prime minister because
of all this and much more but Najib is worse. Getting as much as RM4.2
billion into his bank accounts must be a “no!” for any leader anywhere.
It has not even been established that it is a donation as Najib claims.
And there are links between that donation and 1MDB, the most mismanaged
Malaysian government company of all time.
Why would any opposition party want to
distance itself from a primarily citizen’s initiative calling for the
legal ouster of the prime minister under whose watch all these happened
just because Mahathir supports it? What kind of a strategy is that?
This must rank, together with Anwar’s
infamous announcement post the 2008 elections that the opposition will
gain power through crossovers from BN, as one of the low points in
Anwar’s announced strategies. It’s also why the public has trouble
trusting politicians because power is the ultimate aim no matter the lip
service towards justice, goodness and truth.
Perhaps it is just as well – such a move
by the opposition to distance itself from the Citizens’ Declaration may
paradoxically give it more credibility, Mahathir notwithstanding given
that he is a political opportunist par excellence who has taken his
chances far better than Anwar has.
***********************************************************
As promised, here's a few OPENING PARAS from my post :~~~~~
The translation into English was done by malaysiakini.com, but
Desi is not a subscriber, so I must thank an ALERT by a buddy of just
3/4months in PeytonPlacesque Furong whom I'm nicking as
Sdr Lam', meek&mild in blogspeak. He told Desi two hours
ago about DS Anwar Ibrahim's Rumination -- SteadyAku and Desi have both
urged Malaysians "TO KEEP THE RAGE" as far as ANWAR IBRAHIM's PLIGHT IS CONCERNED. Malaysians
should appreciate his long term struggles for freedom, justice and
REFORM, as many Malaysians pray for his health under detention (solitary
confinement mostly). WE continue to fight for JUSTICE and REFORM for a
BETTER MALAYSIA and don't allow UMNO&runningdogs run our beloved
country to the ground while DS Anwar Ibrahim gallantly fights on, now
unjustly languishing in jail on trumped up Sodomy
charges by a most cruelest&corrupt UMNO REGIME...
***********************************************************
As promised, here's a few OPENING PARAS from my post :~~~~~
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
IMPORTANT TRANSLATION of DS ANWAR IBRAHIM'S OPEN LETTER on CITIZENS' DECLARATION & NEED FOR TRUE REFORM
Dear ER, please do justice to yourself by surfing to steadyaku-steadyaku-husseinhamid.blogspot.com where there is also an Mkini's video clip on this IMPORTANT SUBJECT in relation to political developmenst eg CITIZENS'DECLARATION initiated by Dr Mahathir Mohamad/Zaid Ibrahim; the following is FOODforPONDER; do come back for more of DEsi's elaboration and some background to PKR leaders under attack by so-called SUPPORTERS -- remember RPK hydeing out in WOEmanchester, UK and his cohorts? -- who have been exposed as TROJAN HORSES planted by the cruel&corruptUMNOregime.
Meanwhile, here's DS Anwar's (English translation) OPEN LETTER courtesy of malaysiakini.com via STEADYAKU47:~~~
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Saudara Anwar Ibrahim : In my loneliness and depression....memang selalu demikian saudaraku.
******** Friends, president, deputy president and fellow beloved leaders –''Assalamualaikum warahmatullah hiwabarakatuh and salam sejahtera''********
The
issue that I am bringing up here must be reviewed calmly. The contents
of it does not stray from the core of our struggle and is consistent
with what was sketched out before. But my concern is that you will only
listen to me out of respect but not take it to heart.
Throughout
our struggle, we have gone through challenging episodes which required
thought and enlightenment. Our latest issue is with the Citizens’
Declaration which has dragged our leaders and apparatuses to be in
cahoots with Tun M and Daim.
My
view might be in contradiction with the stand of the majority of
leaders. I am apprehensive, assuming that this strategy is a little
overboard and threatens our struggl..................
