Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak diberi amaran amaran bahawa keputusan 'bersalah' yang dijatuhkan ke atas Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada perbicaraan liwat II akan menjejaskan reputasi Malaysia dari segi demokrasi.
Akhbar The Guardian dari United Kingdom, dalam kolumnya hari ini oleh penolong editor Simon Tidall, berkata orang yang harus dipersalahkan jika keputusan bersalah dijatuhkan adalah Najib.
Menurut Tidall bahawa "tanda-tanda tidak kelihatan baik" untuk Anwar apabila kes itu menghampiri penghujungnya.
Sambil membidas apa yang didakwanya sebagai "kecenderungan kuku besi" Najib dan usahanya "menakut-nakutkan rakyat secara terang-terangan", kolumnis hal ehwal luar negera itu menggesa sekutu barat di Malaysia, untuk "melihat dengan lebih dekat gelagat rakan mereka itu".
"Malaysia adalah rakan dagang yang penting, rakan pengawalan senjata dan juga anggota sekutu gabungan Afghanistan. Tetapi rekod hak asasi manusia kerajaannya dan amalan demokrasi negara itu perlu diberi lebih penelitian ...
"Apabila pengalaman pahit Anwar menghampiri kemuncaknya, nampaknya tidak mungkin bahawa penanda aras ini akan dipenuhi. Persoalan seterusnya ialah: apa yang akan rakyat Malaysia dan rakan-rakan mereka lakukan?”
Menurut Tidall, dakwaan liwat yang dilemparkan selepas Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih lima negeri pada pilihan raya umum 2008, "seolah-olah bukan suatu kebetulan".
"Sebagai pemimpin berkarisma pakatan pembangkang, Anwar merupakan cabaran terbesar bagi Najib untuk terus berkuasa," katanya - Malaysiakini
Akhbar The Guardian dari United Kingdom, dalam kolumnya hari ini oleh penolong editor Simon Tidall, berkata orang yang harus dipersalahkan jika keputusan bersalah dijatuhkan adalah Najib.
Menurut Tidall bahawa "tanda-tanda tidak kelihatan baik" untuk Anwar apabila kes itu menghampiri penghujungnya.
Sambil membidas apa yang didakwanya sebagai "kecenderungan kuku besi" Najib dan usahanya "menakut-nakutkan rakyat secara terang-terangan", kolumnis hal ehwal luar negera itu menggesa sekutu barat di Malaysia, untuk "melihat dengan lebih dekat gelagat rakan mereka itu".
"Malaysia adalah rakan dagang yang penting, rakan pengawalan senjata dan juga anggota sekutu gabungan Afghanistan. Tetapi rekod hak asasi manusia kerajaannya dan amalan demokrasi negara itu perlu diberi lebih penelitian ...
"Apabila pengalaman pahit Anwar menghampiri kemuncaknya, nampaknya tidak mungkin bahawa penanda aras ini akan dipenuhi. Persoalan seterusnya ialah: apa yang akan rakyat Malaysia dan rakan-rakan mereka lakukan?”
Menurut Tidall, dakwaan liwat yang dilemparkan selepas Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih lima negeri pada pilihan raya umum 2008, "seolah-olah bukan suatu kebetulan".
"Sebagai pemimpin berkarisma pakatan pembangkang, Anwar merupakan cabaran terbesar bagi Najib untuk terus berkuasa," katanya - Malaysiakini
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Najib risks Malaysia's reputation in his treatment of Anwar Ibrahim
The portents do not look good for Malaysia's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week. If Anwar is found guilty – and the trial judge seems to have made up his mind already – he will not be the only or even the most important victim of an egregious, politically suspect injustice. Malaysia's democratic reputation will have been critically wounded, and for that outrage, Malaysians will have their prime minister, Najib Razak, to thank.
The plodding Najib's overriding objective is winning the general election expected next year, possibly within a few months. The son of Malaysia's second prime minister, the nephew of its third, president of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno), and a former defence minister, Najib was born to power and is accustomed to wielding it. As the charismatic leader of the opposition coalition, Anwar represents the biggest challenge to his continuing ascendancy.
It hardly seems coincidental that the sodomy charges were levelled at Anwar shortly after the opposition inflicted unprecedented defeats on Umno and its allies in the 2008 elections. Anwar's main campaign plank – combating the official, institutionalised discrimination that favours ethnic Malays over the country's large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities – threatened the post-colonial order that has kept Umno and its National Front coalition on top since 1957.
In a court appearance earlier this year, Anwar, 64, a married father of six, denied accusations he had had sexual relations with a former male aide. Homosexuality is punishable by law in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years in jail. The allegations were "a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination" and a "blatant and vicious lie" spread by his political enemies, he said. "This entire process is nothing but a conspiracy by Najib Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars."
Continue yours reading HERE
The portents do not look good for Malaysia's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week. If Anwar is found guilty – and the trial judge seems to have made up his mind already – he will not be the only or even the most important victim of an egregious, politically suspect injustice. Malaysia's democratic reputation will have been critically wounded, and for that outrage, Malaysians will have their prime minister, Najib Razak, to thank.
The plodding Najib's overriding objective is winning the general election expected next year, possibly within a few months. The son of Malaysia's second prime minister, the nephew of its third, president of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno), and a former defence minister, Najib was born to power and is accustomed to wielding it. As the charismatic leader of the opposition coalition, Anwar represents the biggest challenge to his continuing ascendancy.
It hardly seems coincidental that the sodomy charges were levelled at Anwar shortly after the opposition inflicted unprecedented defeats on Umno and its allies in the 2008 elections. Anwar's main campaign plank – combating the official, institutionalised discrimination that favours ethnic Malays over the country's large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities – threatened the post-colonial order that has kept Umno and its National Front coalition on top since 1957.
In a court appearance earlier this year, Anwar, 64, a married father of six, denied accusations he had had sexual relations with a former male aide. Homosexuality is punishable by law in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years in jail. The allegations were "a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination" and a "blatant and vicious lie" spread by his political enemies, he said. "This entire process is nothing but a conspiracy by Najib Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars."
Continue yours reading HERE
