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Anwar's Last Gamble
A case of scratching each other’s back?
The irony of a biased media
It's time Malaysia, Philippines resolved Sabah claim fast

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:19 PM PST

In essence, the Hindraf's six demands in its blueprint are Indian-specific. Therefore, by agreeing to back Hindraf's demands, Anwar has committed himself and unwittingly his Pakatan partners to fight for Indian causes.

Kuala Lumpur Post

Anwar Ibrahim has littered his recent political past with promises he cannot possibly keep. And now he has made the mother of all promises. He has promised to champion the race and religious specific cause of Hindraf. This promise could be his undoing.

Anwar was quoted by the social media yesterday as saying that should Pakatan Rakyat assume federal power, Hindraf's five-year blueprint on resolving the Indian community's problems will be implemented within 100 days.

Anwar knows he has bitten off more than he can chew. Why then did he make that promise? Simple. He was blinded by his all-consuming ambition to move into the Prime Minister's residence in Putrajaya.

When asked at the meeting in Shah Alam on Friday night whether he would support Hindraf's six-point demands, he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Since September last year, PKR had been dragging its feet when Hindraf asked it to endorse its blueprint for the Indian community.

More recently, Hindraf leaders became impatient at PKR's foot-dragging. They warned that Pakatan's "inordinate delay" in endorsing the blueprint may result in the coalition losing Indian support in the coming election.

So, this time around, if he had not made a firm commitment to Hindraf, his goose would have been cooked. He would have permanently lost Hindraf support. Faced with that prospect, he was forced to respond positively.

Now, Anwar has to face the consequences of his hasty reply. And the repercussions are grave for him, for his political party and for the opposition coalition.

In essence, the Hindraf's six demands in its blueprint are Indian-specific. Therefore, by agreeing to back Hindraf's demands, Anwar has committed himself and unwittingly his Pakatan partners to fight for Indian causes.

If he pursues this line, he will be dumped by the Malays and sabotaged by the Chinese, the Dayaks, Ibans and all the other natives of Sabah and Sarawak because he has not made similar promises to them.

He will also have to face the wrath of his coalition partners who have made no similar concession to any other race-based NGO. Even the Buku Jingga, which the three partners cobbled together, is not race-specific.

So how will Anwar try to extricate himself? Just as he has always tried to do. And that is by trying to be too clever by half.

He tried that trick again at the gathering in Shah Alam. He refused to reduce his commitment to Hindraf in writing. He said he would not sign on the dotted line. Now that is his exit strategy. Or so he thinks. Indians are no more the gullible people Anwar takes them to be.

They are wise to Anwar's double talk. They won't rest till they get the PKR Supremo to give them a written undertaking to support their blueprint. They will not settle for anything less.

Anwar's 2013 commitment to Hindraf also means he agrees to their demand to end 'institutionalised racism', a term which is their label for special privileges benefitting only Bumiputeras.

But what has been Anwar's public stand on this issue of Bumiputera special privileges? In 2009, Anwar defended Malays' special privileges and added that these rights should not be questioned by non-Malays. He has since not changed his stand.

So, Anwar stands for Malay special privileges and also supports Hindraf's call to abolish them? Surely Anwar has dug his own grave. He has made a promise to Hindraf that he can't keep. But maybe he always knew this to be the case and was simply playing for time.

Anwar will also be in hot soup with his coalition partners for not seeking their sanction before making his commitment to Hindraf. Their prior consent is necessary, said PKR Vice-President Tian Chua.

Tian Chua was recently quoted as saying that "when it comes to formulating a political programme, we have stressed to Hindraf that PKR will not act unilaterally or without consensus from all 3 "partners" in Pakatan Rakyat.

The blueprint proposed by Hindraf must first be presented to the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council for discussion and approval. This process is yet to take place, therefore it is too early to announce the signing of any agreement."

Observers say this promise was another of Anwar's ploys. He has no intention of keeping his promise, and that's why he is refusing to sign the document. He is simply lying to Indians just to get their votes. He will ditch them afterwards.

What has hitherto been his or his coalition partners' record when it comes to championing Indian causes anyway? The answer; a very disappointing and weak record.

Distrusted by many Malays, viewed with suspicion by many Indians, and treated with caution by many Chinese, is Anwar Ibrahim on a roller coaster ride to political oblivion?

The answer…

A case of scratching each other’s back?

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 02:49 PM PST

In 1985, Tun Mustapha said perhaps the federal government wanted to use Manila's claim on Sabah against its people as a bargaining chip to make them behave.

By Jude Wang, FMT

KOTA KINABALU: With the 13th General Election drawing near, it seems to be a fishy coincidence that the Sultan of Sulu and his family have suddenly decided to revive their claim to Sabah as part of their ancestral right.

In an interview with the Philippines' Daily Inquirer, Crown Prince Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, reportedly said that they will have to pursue the Sabah claim on their own since the Philippines government appeared to have ignored their demand to include their claim to Sabah as an "integral and essential" aspect of the peace agreement involving "any armed group in Mindanao".

Meanwhile, Malacanang maintains a dormant claim to Sabah. But who are these armed groups? Here's a look at the historical facts.

The Crown prince claims the armed group are the "Royal Security Force of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo". Their arrival on Sabah shores is said to have sparked one of the biggest security "scares" in recent years in Sabah.

Though they claim to have come without any violent intentions, their mere presence was enough to cause jitters among Lahad Datu residents, who, in past years, have witnessed several violent exchanges between Filipino armed groups and Malaysian military forces.

Since the ongoing stand-off between the Sulu 'soldiers' and the Malaysian security forces, rumours and text messages have been circulating in the east coast district and as far as Kota Kinabalu.

While some of these test messages warned for people to be vigilant, others talked about a shootout between forces concerned. So what are these 'negotiations' that the Malaysian security forces are talking about?

It's a drama

To understand the situation, I made some inquiries among friends and contacts in the east coast town to gauge the "on the ground" situation. The result was they all knew very little of what was going on.

One long time resident of Lahad Datu who did not want to be named told me that the Malaysian military force landed at the Lahad Datu Airport and headed straight to the landing spot, some 20 kilometers from the township.

While describing the situation as "terkawal" (under control), she also said: "Tapi kami juga berjaga-jaga" (but we are on the alert).

A plantation manager of mixed descent who also preferred anonymity said: "Actually they (the Moros) used to come here unnoticed but this time one of their rivals in one of the many splinter groups informed the Malaysian government.

"Also, when this thing happened, people also started to SMS around and this caused a panic. In fact, nothing much is happening that we can see… its more like a false alarm."

One man who claimed to be a former MNLF personnel and who has started a new life as a supervisor in a plantation, said he was rather surprised when this issue came up "because my own relatives in the Philippines are also unaware of this (incident)".

"The (Malaysian) government kasih makan sama diorang saja ini (the government is only feeding them); ini sandiwara saja… apa hal ini? (its a drama … what is this farce all about?).

From the on-the-ground responses, the question that emerges is why has the current standoff generated so much hype in the first place? Is it because of the 'secrecy' of the on-going negotiations?

MNLF-M'sia connection

The number of armed men seems to have grown from 20 to between 80 and 150 as claimed by the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein while others say the numbers are even more.

Hishammuddin compromised an earlier no-negotiation stance made by the Sabah Chief of Police Hamza Taib, citing as his main reason the need to "handle (the situation) wisely without bloodshed or loss of lives".

It was a dubious move in the first place and now seems to have backfired. Calls here are getting louder for the resignation of both the Home Minister and his counterpart in the Defence Ministry, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, over what the DAP has called their "shameful failure" to defend the country in the face of such blatant acts of lawlessness.

Another opposition party leader also called the stand-off 'a "shameful failure" of the government to defend the country's honour and sovereignty as well as the security and safety of the people of Sabah. But conspiracy theorists are hinting that this is actually a secret arrangement cooked up between politicians and the many rebellious elements in the Southern Philippines.

While it may seem far-fetched, there is historical precedence for such "cooperation". Many point to the tacit connection between the MNLF and the Malaysian government stretching back more than four decades.

In 1968, news broke that Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) trainers had killed at least 28 Muslim military recruits during a mutiny at a secret training camp on the island of Corregidor. The Muslim Filipinos presumably were being trained by the AFP as a secret army to invade Sabah.

In 1969, Malaysian authorities are said to have secretly trained Moro Liberation Front members on Pangkor and Jampiras Island and a dozen more places in Sabah, as part of an covert strategy to prevent President Marcos' attempts to pursue the Philippines claim over Sabah which was started by President Macapagal in 1962.

READ MORE HERE

The irony of a biased media

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:01 AM PST

Politicians lose out on votes, journalists lose out on credibility, and the rakyat loses out on information. In the end, we're all losers in this toxic game.

Anisah Shukry, Free Malaysia Today

Have you ever felt like doing a karate chop on your television when watching Buletin Utama? Or suffered high blood pressure just after glimpsing the front page of Utusan? Or choked on your morning coffee when surfing Malaysia Chronicle?

Last night, my apolitical sister told me she actually felt like puking when watching Buletin Utama. Apparently, they were reporting how a prominent PAS leader likened recipients of the Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) vouchers to animals.

"What rubbish! As if Nik Aziz would be stupid enough to say such a thing!" cried my usually mild sister.

"Obviously a spin," I agreed automatically, rolling my eyes. Typical Buletin Utama, feeding lies to the masses, I thought.

But then my journalistic instincts, on a brief reprieve after failing to get analysts' responses for my article for the day, kicked in.

What if it isn't spin? I mulled. What if this time it's actually true, bona fide news, and I'm dismissing it, before even verifying if the report is true, because I know TV3 is biased?

And therein lies the irony of the biased media. What blatantly biased news agencies don't get is that the more they hit out on the other side, the more sympathy people feel towards the "victims". It's reverse psychology 101.

Take for example BN-controlled media like Utusan, TV3, NST. Every time they give the opposition bad coverage, most of us from the middle ground automatically assume its spin or, at the very least, not telling the whole story. Immediately, the opposition become martyrs in our eyes – the underdogs that we should root for.

And the same applies for pro-opposition news portals like Malaysia Chronicle, and even, to a certain extent, FMT. Honestly, another sister of mine, who is absolutely determined to vote for the opposition in the coming general election, actually shook her head and sighed "poor Najib" when reading the article 'PM missed a beat on drummer ad' on FMT.

As for me, every time Malaysiakini/FMT/Malaysia Chronicle columnists wax lyricals about what a "failure" our prime minister Najib Tun Razak is, I can't help but sympathise with him and feel like reminding the world that 'hey, if it weren't for BN, we'd still be an agricultural society.

Blatantly biased

But then I pick up a copy of NST and feel nauseous at the sight of the bum-kissing headlines plastered above Najib's face, and the cycle of sympathy-hate continues…

It's just really ironic, because these news companies, journalists and columnists are bending over backwards to please their political masters, yet they are inadvertently doing these people a disfavour. Because while these news companies can keep the party's staunch supporters feverishly happy with their one-sided, sugar coated, liberally-censored news, the politicians are definitely not winning any new fans.

It's time Malaysia, Philippines resolved Sabah claim fast

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:32 AM PST

Finding an equitable solution requires uncommon goodwill on both sides

Malaysia would, of course, dearly wish for Manila to drop the Sabah claim entirely. But that is hardly realistic. Even if the Philippine government wanted that thorn in relations with Malaysia removed, it will be constrained by political realities existing within the country to unilaterally drop the claim.

John Teo, NST

THE ailing Sultan of Sulu who reportedly gave the directive to send an armed group of relatives and supporters to Sabah at least had a rather keen sense of timing.

The move comes amid impending national elections in both Malaysia and the Philippines, with campaigning either officially or unofficially under way in both countries.

The Philippines' Sabah claim thus resurfaces at a delicate time for both nations, as the sultan may have intended.

One misstep and either or both nations' leaders are vulnerable to political and other critics.

Already, in Malaysia, the government is under growing pressure to act tough against the band of armed foreign intruders as the stand-off in Lahad Datu continues.

In the Philippines, the government is similarly under pressure to "resolve" the Sabah claim once and for all. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Philippine officials have described the situation as "sensitive", as ours have also done so.

Some in Malaysia wonder if the Philippine group is not doing the bidding of Manila, noting that it provocatively raised the Philippine national flag where it is now camped out in Sabah. It is plausible the Philippine government was caught off-guard by the event as it is claiming.

The administration of President Benigno Aquino III is seeking to speed up concluding a final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. For that it needs the continued goodwill of Malaysia as the third-party facilitator in talks towards that agreement.

And it is precisely the very prospect of that peace agreement that was cited by the Sulu group for launching its action. The action might have been ill-advised to begin with but it was done as much to get Manila's attention as it was to get that of Malaysia's.

The group would have known that the ancient Sulu sultanate is no longer an internationally-recognised sovereign entity in its own right.

To pursue its claim on Sabah, it needed the Philippine government to do it on its behalf. It was moved to take things into its own hands because it sees little prospect of Manila advancing the claim once Manila becomes somewhat beholden to Malaysia for helping to bring peace to Bangsamoro, which will encompass the remaining territory of the sultanate.

The Philippine government has, since the administration of President Fidel Ramos, adopted the stand of putting the Sabah claim on the backburner as it seeks to practically advance long-frosty ties with Malaysia. That stand seems to have suited us and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was happy to play along when he was prime minister at the time.

On hindsight, it may not have been wise to sweep the whole issue under the carpet even as official ties between Kuala Lumpur and Manila improved over the years. But what could have been done, given the circumstances?

The Philippines, on the other hand, may be able to live with the claim being referred by both nations for international arbitration.

If the international precedent set by the decisions to award disputed territories we had in recent years with Indonesia and Singapore to claimant countries that exercise effective control over the territories in dispute is taken as a guide, our case over Sabah should be on solid ground.

Yet it appears extremely unlikely we will submit the Sabah case for legal arbitration. And without consent by both countries to pick the path of international arbitration, it will not happen. Both countries will, therefore, need to creatively find common ground to meet each other half-way.

There have been hints from the Philippine side that the issue may be resolved with a negotiated final cash settlement. The Philippine side has always insisted that Malaysia has continued to make annual nominal payments over Sabah to heirs of the royal house of Sulu, something that Malaysia has not publicly acknowledged doing.

If indeed such payments are made, perhaps it is time we come clean about it and face up to the implications thereof. Sweeping the matter under the carpet serves no one since the matter is not likely to go away. Finding an equitable solution to this festering issue requires uncommon goodwill between Kuala Lumpur and Manila and we are likely to get as good an opening for that now as we ever will.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Sabtu, 23 Februari 2013