901 Malaysian Anwar’s life D-day? Rally allowed – only at car park!

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Another twist in Anwar’s life

Comment by BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

The Sodomy II verdict is around the corner and the PKR leader is pushing for a show of support with his party’s call for a mass rally on Monday.

YET another confrontation is brewing between PKR and its leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the authorities as his long-drawn Sodomy II trial climaxes with a verdict by Justice Mohamad Abidin Diah on Monday.

Anwar, who is charged with committing sodomy against his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan on June 26, 2008, is mobilising 100,000 people outside the courthouse on the day in an effort to presumably influence the verdict.

In the spotlight: Anwar and his wife Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail leaving the Kuala Lumpur courthouse in this file picture.>>

 

That number of people in a small court compound is also a sign of desperation on Anwar’s part, irrespective of whether that actual number of people turn up or not.

It is also an attempt to shake the political establishment, grip the nation’s attention, revive the flagging fortunes of his PKR and try to avert the inevitable.

Anwar has had a long and unrelenting political career that saw him rise to become the second most powerful man as Deputy Prime Minister but then fall from grace ending up as a prisoner only to rise again on his release in 2004, as leader of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

He came within touch of the country’s highest post, his lifelong dream, winning 82 seats in parliament in the 2008 general election.

The problem is that the political establishment saw Anwar as an outsider who first used the Islamic reform movement Abim to pressure for change and then when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad opened the doors, Anwar abandoned friends and principles and entered Umno.



He made short shrift of his opponents as he climbed up the Umno ladder and was helped along by Mahathir until 1999 when he was to have challenged his own benefactor for the Umno presidency and take the Prime Minister’s post that goes with it.

But he fell foul of powerful political interest groups and was expelled and jailed on corruption and sodomy charges in 1998.

He served his corruption sentence and was acquitted of sodomy and released in 2004 only to put together a loose knit grouping of three parties, including his own PKR, PAS and DAP, to win handsomely against then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the 2008 general election.

He managed to combine his grievances, especially the black eye incident, with the grouses of the people and romp home against an ineffective prime minister, winning big but not big enough with just 49% of the popular votes.

After that an eager and impatient Anwar, instead of accepting the people’s verdict and playing his role as Opposition Leader, styled himself as the Prime Minister-in-waiting and launched his Sept 16 gambit that failed miserably when Barisan MPs refused to defect.

His credibility plunged with nearly everyone – the international media, his own supporters and the Malaysian public at large.

In the meantime, Umno saw fit to change horses, urgently retiring Abdullah and putting Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the captain’s seat. Anwar fought very hard to prevent Najib taking over but he failed.

Najib began his political and economic transformation of the nation and three years on is poised to call a general election on the strength of the changes he has introduced principally the repeal of the ISA and other outdated laws, a Peaceful Assembly Bill that allows demonstrations and repeal of Sec 29 of the Police Act that requires police permits.

He is also reforming the election laws and procedures, and has been criss-crossing the country meeting all kinds of people and offering aid and promising that the government is for all the people, not just a few.

Najib is now preparing to introduce a Race Relation law in the March sitting of Parliament that would further undercut the opposition chances at the polls by promising a fair and egalitarian society without discrimination based on race, colour or ethnicity.

Anwar on the other hand has been, as his one-time ally Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) claims, a frequent traveller overseas giving speeches at numerous conferences while his sodomy trial here dragged on with numerous postponements.

Surprisingly, at the trial, Anwar preferred not to testify under oath but gave a speech from the dock decrying government oppression and persecution likening himself to Nelson Mandela.

He also gave up his chance to rebut Saiful thoroughly.

Further sensitive parts of Saiful’s testimony were held in camera, at Anwar’s request. Anwar also promised to call a long list of alibi witnesses but did not do so, weakening his case.

As many, including RPK, have said, Anwar received a fair trial this time compared with 1999.

Whatever the verdict, for Anwar it is just another day and event in a tumultuous career that could have easily floored a lesser man but not this incorrigible optimist.

Rally allowed – only at car park

By RASHITHA A. HAMID rashitha@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have allowed the much talked-about Free Anwar 901 gathering to go on as long as it is held at the car park of the Jalan Duta Court Complex here.

The court complex has parking bays for 1,000 vehicles.

City police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the decision was made after a discussion with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali yesterday.

“After the discussion, they (the organisers) promised to have a peaceful gathering at the car park,” he said during a press conference.

Approved site: The car park outside the Duta Court Complex where the rally is allowed take place.

 

The meeting between DCP Mohmad and Azmin lasted for one and half hours at the city police headquarters.

Meanwhile, Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Zakaria Pagan said they had imposed 10 conditions on the organisers and supporters.

They have banned the use of “Free Anwar 901” tagline and the organisers were allowed to use only two loud hailers for crowd control purposes.

“The use of Free Anwar 901 tagline and amplifiers is strictly forbidden,” he said.

Stressing that no speeches were allowed, Zakaria said the organisers must ensure that participants did not cause any nuisance.

He said they were only allowed to assemble at the public car park on the left side of the main road.

“Participants should not step outside the boundary,” he said, adding that “excess” crowds would not be allowed.

He also said the participants must not carry any form of weapons, cooperate during spot checks and that the crowd should disperse within an hour after the verdict was delivered.

The rally is planned to coincide with the court decision in the high-profile sodomy case of Opposition Leader and PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, 64, is charged with sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a condominium in Bukit Damansara between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

On Thursday, Inspector-Gene-ral of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the organisers had been asked to meet the city police chief to discuss whether the gathering should be held at another location instead of in front of the court complex.

Anwar told a ceramah last night that the court's decision was secondary and the most important thing was for Pakatan Rakyat to win the general election.

In PUTRAJAYA, the Alliance of Non-governmental Organisations Malaysia and several individuals have lodged police reports against the rally.

Its secretary Mohd Jurit Ramli urged the authorities to take action against the organisers on grounds that the gathering would be an insult to the country's judiciary.

The group, comprising some 50 NGO leaders, lodged 45 reports against the gathering.

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Bersih_PR - UMNO_BN Cyberbattle to own the ‘truth’

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Cyberbattle to own the ‘truth’

ANALYSIS  By BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

The ‘truth’ is still out there in cyberspace where the Bersih 2.0 rally is concerned.

THE Bersih 2.0 rally might be over but the battle to own its truth is still being fought over social media which had become a fierce battleground.

People from both sides of the political divide have weighed in with their experiences of July 9 on Face­­book, Twitter, blogs and so forth.

Some of the things uploaded now include a video clip of a man who had supposedly died, a hospital that was blasted with water cannons and a PKR activist who died of a heart problem during the rally but his death was blamed on the police.

Discerning true from false: Many accounts of the Bersih 2.0 rally, both true and untrue, have been posted online for Netizens to read and judge for themselves.

 

The person who faked his death on video has been traced and identified as an Al-Arqam member from Selangor. He is said to have run off when the police sent him to hospital.

Then a supposedly “Chinese man” was seen holding a loud hailer for the man (said to fake his death) as he prayed. Eventually, the “Chinese man” had been exposed as a Selangor PKR man who is a Malay. A blogger posted his picture for viewers to judge for themselves.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, was seen grimacing in hospital after the rally but his detractors scoffed at the images.

It’s a war zone out there in cyberspace. The Pakatan Rakyat appears to be winning at times; at other times, the Barisan Nasional.



Pakatan had always enjoyed a well-oiled social media network. It was first seen in action during Anwar’s black eye incident and later in the first sodomy trial and subsequently the purported arsenic poisoning.

One of the prominent websites at that time was the Free Anwar website managed by Raja Petra Kama­ruddin. It did Anwar a great favour and is also credited with helping to free him in 2004.

Pakatan was always a step ahead of Barisan in exploiting the developments in social media.

During the years since the Free Anwar website, Anwar himself led in the fight to exploit social media for its powerful ability to connect disparate people.

Today, social media is working overtime for Pakatan as it seeks to manufacture consent for his political themes.

Tech-savvy youths were checking iPads and smartphones during the days leading to the Bersih 2.0 rally and on the day itself.

They sent out tweets, posted comments and images and wrote about their experiences at the rally.

The truth can sometimes be lost in the maze that is social media but some images do not lie, such as the incident which took place at Tung Shin Hospital.

There is overwhelming evidence that tear gas and water cannon were fired into the hospital area after rally participants ran helter skelter into the hospital area. Images and video clips of the incident were recorded and uploaded online by many people.

It is well known that some ministers lack social media skills or have not found time to watch videos online but still make statements that later put them in a spot.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have thus become a contested arena with many pro-Barisan Nasional and pro-Pakatan Rakyat supporters arguing over their version of what the “truth” is.

For Anwar, the important thing is to keep up the political momentum achieved by Bersih 2.0. Their hope is that the next general election is held soon to capitalise on the political momentum created by the rally.

He needs the Bersih 2.0 rally to be talked about everywhere, besides calling on his friends in the Western media to write about it.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, on the other hand, has been spending time explaining things. While on a visit to London, he was interviewed on CNN where he took questions on the rally, on police brutality and on his economic transformation plans for the country.

Najib has to put a distance between himself and the effects of the rally on the people, especially the youths who are upwardly mobile.

The social media is Anwar’s strong suit. The same cannot be said about many government leaders.

But not everybody is connected and those who are connected deeply disagree on what really happened on July 9.

The silent majority is out there and when they speak, it will be a roar.