The Lesson For Malaysia
Malaysia's ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday said debates over Islam's role in the nation had become divisive and "worrying", in statements marking his full-time return to politics here.
The comments from Anwar, who also said he will contest the next elections, come amidst growing tensions between Malaysia's majority Muslim Malays and minority Chinese and Indians.
"The worrying thing is the Muslims feel their position and their power, including the religious courts, are being eroded," Anwar told reporters on the sidelines of a forum of Muslim scholars and activists.
"The non-Muslims feel that they are being marginalised and discriminated against," he said.
Malaysia is seen as a moderate Muslim-majority nation, but race relations have been strained by a series of controversial court cases involving the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims, and questions over which group takes precedence.
The government has banned activists from discussing religious rights and called on the media to stop highlighting race-related issues.
"We have come to the stage where it is considered to be unhealthy," Anwar said, asked about debates on the perceived Islamisation of Malaysia.
"The position by the prime minister and the government to deny the rights of non-Muslims ... or deny an open public discourse on the subjects ... have exacerbated the entire problem," he said.
Anwar, 59, has criss-crossed between Malaysia and overseas destinations since his release from prison in 2004 on sodomy and corruption charges, including the United States, where he was a professor with Georgetown University.
But Anwar, who returned permanently to Malaysia earlier this month, said he had finished his tenure and announced his full-time return to politics here.
Asked if he will contest elections to be a member of parliament in late 2008, he replied: "Of course. It's my right, which they used the courts to deny."
"The recent spat between former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is farcical to say the least. Dr. Mahathir has been whining like a wounded lion as he sees some of his policies reversed. But the irony is that Mr. Abdullah’s actions have so far been too weak and indecisive to constitute any serious challenge to his predecessor’s legacy......" read : Opinion: Malaysian Mudslinging - Anwar Ibrahim
The Amazing "Race" - Revisiting the 2006 UMNO General Assembly
(Shamsul Amri Baharuddin)
It was in mid-2006 when Mahathir fired his first salvo against Abdullah Badawi and his government, gaining front-page prominence in the widely circulating Malaysian daily, the New Straits Times. Since the paper is UMNO-controlled, Abdullah Badawi must have been aware of these criticisms and perhaps even gave the green-light for them to be published, in line with his "open-government" philosophy.
What shocked many within and without UMNO were not Mahathir's criticisms per se, but the vitriol and vehemence that accompanied them. Many ministers and the Barisan Nasional leaders responded by rallying around Abdullah.
Mahathir's unhappiness stemmed from the abandonment of the crooked bridge project, the future fate of the national car company that he inspired, Proton, of corruption in high places among UMNO members, but especially within Abdullah's family and over the general nature of affairs in Malaysia, which he described as a "police state".
With the UMNO General Assembly approaching and no indication that the Mahathir-Abdullah crisis would be resolved, Malaysia was bracing itself for open confrontation during the Assembly after Mahathir announced that he was attending too. Only a mild heart attack prevented him from doing so. Pleas from close friends and family to consider his national legacy against a concerted anti-Abdullah campaign also seem to have borne fruit, despite the ex-premier making it clear that his struggle would go on.
Abdullah dominated the stage at the UMNO General Assembly with his opening and closing speeches. For once, everyone present felt that he sounded authoritative and convincing. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange also shared this new confidence, breaching the 1,000 mark for the first time since Abdullah became Prime Minister.
However, the overall mood and tenor of the debate during the General Assembly was decidedly negative, prompting a largely pessimistic reaction from the non-Malays, who opined the assembly was marked by too much chauvinistic drama epitomised by the image of the Malay dagger, or kris, and threats from some UMNO members to "run amok", if the social contract that has held Malaysia together since 1969 was fundamentally altered.
For the first time in Malaysia's history, the General Assembly was telecast live on ASTRO, the Malaysian cable channel, and UMNO TV on the web. Selected speeches were also telecast live on TV3, RTM1, NTV7, and TV9. It was estimated that around six million viewers watched this UMNO "reality show", including a large number of non-Malays.
Most UMNO representatives did not realise they were being watched by millions. The assembly proceeded as usual, complete with philosophical speeches, pantuns and dirty jokes. Hishammudin, the UMNO Youth leader, yet again, did not forget to bring his kris along and kissed it in public - prompting some commentators to ask when he planned to use it. The assembly was also peppered with chauvinistic comments and gender slurs, while some raised totally petty and irrelevant personal matters, such as the "unIslamic dress" of one minister's wife.
The overall impact of the assembly was not really understood until the final day of the meeting, when Abdullah Badawi, in his summing-up speech, told the UMNO delegates that their speeches and behaviour during the meeting were closely watched and scrutinised by the Malaysian public - both Malay and non-Malay.
It was quite clear when Abdullah spoke that he had received reports that there were negative reactions to some chauvinistic speeches and Hishamuddin's kris-waving histrionics. The Prime Minister then spent about 30 minutes trying to pacify the Malaysian non-Malay public, stressing that UMNO leaders were both leaders of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional and all Malaysians. This effort was only partially successful it seems.
The first reaction emanated from the leaders of the Barisan Nasional constituent parties. They were clearly unhappy with what was said about them during the assembly and responded by publicly charging UMNO leaders of creating unnecessary ethnic tension in the country.
Then came an avalanche of public responses from different community leaders as well from the NGOs. Again, UMNO leaders were brunt of their attacks.
Suddenly, UMNO was under siege. Rather than raise a spirited defence of the party, to the surprise of many within the party, senior UMNO politicians warned some of the delegates who spoke during the general assembly that they could be charged in court under the Sedition Act of 1970 for making chauvinistic and ethnically-sensitive "public" speeches. "Public" simply because the General Assembly was telecast live. Needless to say, the 2006 General Assembly will probably be the first and last as far as live broadcast is concerned.
UMNO General Assemblies in the coming years are likely to take on a similar form if the assemblies of 2005 and 2006 are anything to go by. Abdullah, UMNO and their Barisan Nasional colleagues continue to be boxed in by the New Economic Policy (NEP) discourse, a debate that so far has not addressed a more basic issue that pertains to the Federal Constitution, in particular to Article 8 "on Equality" which "allows for 'special privileges' to the 'minority' (disabled, etc.), principally, as an exception" and Article 153 "on Special Privileges of the Natives".
Article 153 allows for "special privileges" for the majority, based on the historical agreement that it is a pre-condition to equality. This is supposed to help bumiputeras achieve economic parity with non-Malays. However, unlike in the NEP of 1970, no quantitative targets and no timetables were set in the 1957 Constitution.
Unless the Malaysian social contract, and by extension the constitution is "renegotiated" and Article 153 is made much clearer in terms of its objectives, quantitative targets and fixed time schedules, the New Economic Policy will be repackaged again and again, eventually living up to its more popular abbreviation, the Never Ending Policy. Only UMNO has the real power required to effect this renegotiation - until such a time, politics in Malaysia will simply be a rehash of issues previously raised.
Ultimately, UMNO has to rise above it all and consider what is good for Malaysia and UMNO, rather than just UMNO alone.
A B Shamsul is Director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA) and Professor at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi, Malaysia.
The Lesson For Malaysia
M. Bakri Musa
The office of the President of the United States is the most powerful. The power, prestige, and influence wielded by its occupant are unmatched. Yet there was the remarkable event recently of a bipartisan committee of ten distinguished Americans publicly telling their President in no uncertain terms that his policy in Iraq was fatally flawed.
To me, this again demonstrates the beauty and genius of the American system. It is remarkable that rest of the world (except for Iraq, of course) does not appreciate the significance of this singular event. While Malaysian media covered in some details the recent American midterm elections, they hardly had a word on the Iraq Study Group and its Report.
Yet there is an important lesson or two here for Malaysia. One, even the most powerful leader can be subjected to scrutiny by the citizens at any time, not just at elections. Two, such criticisms even during times of war do not in any way undermine the power or prestige of that office. No American, not even the President who is the prime target of the criticism, is accusing the committee of undermining the war efforts in Iraq by their criticisms. Nor Bush did question the loyalty of the committee members or his other critics.
In mark contrast, there was Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in his usual self-righteousness manner accusing those who criticized him as engaging in fitnah. This is an especially sinister exercise as that derogatory term is replete with profound religious implications. It is particularly offensive coming as it was from a self-professed “religious scholar” and “ulama.”
There was another remarkable aspect to the Iraq Study Group. It presented its report directly to President Bush in a face-to-face meeting on December 6, 2006 at 7AM. Rest assured that everyone was wide eyed and awake, especially the President, at that early morning meeting. Please take note of this, Mr. Prime Minister!
Before submitting its unanimous report, the Group had earlier “interviewed” (grilled is the more accurate word) the President and senior members of his team. The Group released its full report to the public on the day it was presented to the President. There was no hiding behind concerns on “national security” or “sensitive issue.”
The Relevant Lessons
Like many, I feel strongly that Malaysia is headed in the wrong direction. Our society is increasingly fragmented along racial, religious, and regional lines while our institutions are losing their integrity and effectiveness through the twin blights of corruption and incompetence.
Malaysians increasingly view themselves as “us” versus “them.” The “us” could be Malays and the “them,” non-Malays. For Malays, the “us” could be those who subscribe to the “pure” form of Islam, and the “them,” the misled. For the Chinese, the “us” could be those who have adapted to the Malaysian reality and proudly display their Tan Sris and Datuks, while the “them” are those who feel that the very survival of the great Chinese culture and language rests on their shoulders. For the Indians, the “us” could be those who have forsaken their “anak lelaki” or “anak perempuan” of their birth certificates for a “bin” or “binte” respectively, acquire an affected Kedah accent, and voila, suddenly become ardent defenders of Malay special privileges! The “them” are the rest.
Our national schools no longer attract a significant portion of our citizens, and our universities have failed to provide the necessary skilled manpower. Thousands of our graduates are unemployed, or more correctly, unemployable.
Economically, Malaysia no longer attracts foreign investments. Investors, local and foreign, perceive the nation as being increasingly corrupt. The recent demands by civil servants for a 40 percent pay hike reflect the increasing cost and declining standard of living.
Instead of being the engine that would propel our progress, the civil service is a major impediment. The only difference between lawbreakers and law enforcers is that the latter is on the government payroll. Otherwise they both extort and terrorize the public. As these public institutions are essentially Malay, they also bring shame and dishonor to our race.
Those are the realities, but we would not know that from the official pronouncements. That is to be expected; those in power do not willingly expose their mistakes and inadequacies.
The Surprising Elegant Silence of Many
What is surprising is the “elegant silence” of others. As I look at the roster of distinguished Malaysians now retired from academia, the professions, and public service, I am humbled by their integrity, intelligence, and contributions. I wonder how they feel seeing their fine legacies now being dismantled, and in many cases defiled.
Their silence is puzzling. If they feel that the nation is headed in the right direction and their legacies in good hands, they should voice their support. That would encourage the leaders to do more of the same. If they disagree, then they owe it to their fellow citizens to voice those concerns.
The only luminary who has spoken out is Tun Mahathir. The way the establishment has been treating him reveals volumes of its rigid “group think” and insular mindset. That Mahathir was defeated as a party delegate from his old constituency was a humiliation not for him but for those party members. If pearls had been cast unto them, they would have paved them onto their driveway of their palatial mansions, unable to discern those pearls from pebbles.
Regardless of the ultimate consequence of his criticisms, Mahathir has already made a seminal contribution. He effectively shattered the Malaysian taboo of criticizing the leaders. That can only be good for the nation. I am on record as being one of Mahathir’s severest critics even at the height of his popularity, but I salute him for this singular contribution. It is even more significant that he made it after he retired. For many, retirement means no longer contributing.
Loyalty means loyalty to the rule of law and to our institutions, not to individuals, no matter how high a position they occupy. Those ten distinguished Americans of the Iraq Study Group epitomize this fine tradition. Its Report is widely discussed and President Bush has already taking steps to respond on those recommendations.
The chief architect of the flawed Iraq policy has already resigned. We may disagree with Secretary Rumsfeld’s policies but there is no denying his personal integrity in resigning and taking responsibility. Contrast that to the behaviors of his Malaysian counterparts. Rafidah Aziz is still holding tight despite the Approved Permits scandal; like wise Sammy Vellu with the Highway Bypass collapse, and Syed Hamid over the imbroglio of the crooked bridge.
I look forward to similar contributions from our own corp of distinguished retired Malaysians along the lines of the Iraq Study Group. I am of course counting on the few who are not consumed with indulging their grandchildren, idling their time on the golf courses, or regaling their fellow mosque attendees.
M Bakri Misa : 'The original version was posted on Malaysia-Today.net on December 17, 2006. I have expanded on that piece'.
Malaysia Abdillah A Badawi Anwar Islam Bangsa Malaysia UMNO
The comments from Anwar, who also said he will contest the next elections, come amidst growing tensions between Malaysia's majority Muslim Malays and minority Chinese and Indians.
"The worrying thing is the Muslims feel their position and their power, including the religious courts, are being eroded," Anwar told reporters on the sidelines of a forum of Muslim scholars and activists.
"The non-Muslims feel that they are being marginalised and discriminated against," he said.
Malaysia is seen as a moderate Muslim-majority nation, but race relations have been strained by a series of controversial court cases involving the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims, and questions over which group takes precedence.
The government has banned activists from discussing religious rights and called on the media to stop highlighting race-related issues.
"We have come to the stage where it is considered to be unhealthy," Anwar said, asked about debates on the perceived Islamisation of Malaysia.
"The position by the prime minister and the government to deny the rights of non-Muslims ... or deny an open public discourse on the subjects ... have exacerbated the entire problem," he said.
Anwar, 59, has criss-crossed between Malaysia and overseas destinations since his release from prison in 2004 on sodomy and corruption charges, including the United States, where he was a professor with Georgetown University.
But Anwar, who returned permanently to Malaysia earlier this month, said he had finished his tenure and announced his full-time return to politics here.
Asked if he will contest elections to be a member of parliament in late 2008, he replied: "Of course. It's my right, which they used the courts to deny."
"The recent spat between former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is farcical to say the least. Dr. Mahathir has been whining like a wounded lion as he sees some of his policies reversed. But the irony is that Mr. Abdullah’s actions have so far been too weak and indecisive to constitute any serious challenge to his predecessor’s legacy......" read : Opinion: Malaysian Mudslinging - Anwar Ibrahim
The Amazing "Race" - Revisiting the 2006 UMNO General Assembly
(Shamsul Amri Baharuddin)
It was in mid-2006 when Mahathir fired his first salvo against Abdullah Badawi and his government, gaining front-page prominence in the widely circulating Malaysian daily, the New Straits Times. Since the paper is UMNO-controlled, Abdullah Badawi must have been aware of these criticisms and perhaps even gave the green-light for them to be published, in line with his "open-government" philosophy.
What shocked many within and without UMNO were not Mahathir's criticisms per se, but the vitriol and vehemence that accompanied them. Many ministers and the Barisan Nasional leaders responded by rallying around Abdullah.
Mahathir's unhappiness stemmed from the abandonment of the crooked bridge project, the future fate of the national car company that he inspired, Proton, of corruption in high places among UMNO members, but especially within Abdullah's family and over the general nature of affairs in Malaysia, which he described as a "police state".
With the UMNO General Assembly approaching and no indication that the Mahathir-Abdullah crisis would be resolved, Malaysia was bracing itself for open confrontation during the Assembly after Mahathir announced that he was attending too. Only a mild heart attack prevented him from doing so. Pleas from close friends and family to consider his national legacy against a concerted anti-Abdullah campaign also seem to have borne fruit, despite the ex-premier making it clear that his struggle would go on.
Abdullah dominated the stage at the UMNO General Assembly with his opening and closing speeches. For once, everyone present felt that he sounded authoritative and convincing. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange also shared this new confidence, breaching the 1,000 mark for the first time since Abdullah became Prime Minister.
However, the overall mood and tenor of the debate during the General Assembly was decidedly negative, prompting a largely pessimistic reaction from the non-Malays, who opined the assembly was marked by too much chauvinistic drama epitomised by the image of the Malay dagger, or kris, and threats from some UMNO members to "run amok", if the social contract that has held Malaysia together since 1969 was fundamentally altered.
For the first time in Malaysia's history, the General Assembly was telecast live on ASTRO, the Malaysian cable channel, and UMNO TV on the web. Selected speeches were also telecast live on TV3, RTM1, NTV7, and TV9. It was estimated that around six million viewers watched this UMNO "reality show", including a large number of non-Malays.
Most UMNO representatives did not realise they were being watched by millions. The assembly proceeded as usual, complete with philosophical speeches, pantuns and dirty jokes. Hishammudin, the UMNO Youth leader, yet again, did not forget to bring his kris along and kissed it in public - prompting some commentators to ask when he planned to use it. The assembly was also peppered with chauvinistic comments and gender slurs, while some raised totally petty and irrelevant personal matters, such as the "unIslamic dress" of one minister's wife.
The overall impact of the assembly was not really understood until the final day of the meeting, when Abdullah Badawi, in his summing-up speech, told the UMNO delegates that their speeches and behaviour during the meeting were closely watched and scrutinised by the Malaysian public - both Malay and non-Malay.
It was quite clear when Abdullah spoke that he had received reports that there were negative reactions to some chauvinistic speeches and Hishamuddin's kris-waving histrionics. The Prime Minister then spent about 30 minutes trying to pacify the Malaysian non-Malay public, stressing that UMNO leaders were both leaders of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional and all Malaysians. This effort was only partially successful it seems.
The first reaction emanated from the leaders of the Barisan Nasional constituent parties. They were clearly unhappy with what was said about them during the assembly and responded by publicly charging UMNO leaders of creating unnecessary ethnic tension in the country.
Then came an avalanche of public responses from different community leaders as well from the NGOs. Again, UMNO leaders were brunt of their attacks.
Suddenly, UMNO was under siege. Rather than raise a spirited defence of the party, to the surprise of many within the party, senior UMNO politicians warned some of the delegates who spoke during the general assembly that they could be charged in court under the Sedition Act of 1970 for making chauvinistic and ethnically-sensitive "public" speeches. "Public" simply because the General Assembly was telecast live. Needless to say, the 2006 General Assembly will probably be the first and last as far as live broadcast is concerned.
UMNO General Assemblies in the coming years are likely to take on a similar form if the assemblies of 2005 and 2006 are anything to go by. Abdullah, UMNO and their Barisan Nasional colleagues continue to be boxed in by the New Economic Policy (NEP) discourse, a debate that so far has not addressed a more basic issue that pertains to the Federal Constitution, in particular to Article 8 "on Equality" which "allows for 'special privileges' to the 'minority' (disabled, etc.), principally, as an exception" and Article 153 "on Special Privileges of the Natives".
Article 153 allows for "special privileges" for the majority, based on the historical agreement that it is a pre-condition to equality. This is supposed to help bumiputeras achieve economic parity with non-Malays. However, unlike in the NEP of 1970, no quantitative targets and no timetables were set in the 1957 Constitution.
Unless the Malaysian social contract, and by extension the constitution is "renegotiated" and Article 153 is made much clearer in terms of its objectives, quantitative targets and fixed time schedules, the New Economic Policy will be repackaged again and again, eventually living up to its more popular abbreviation, the Never Ending Policy. Only UMNO has the real power required to effect this renegotiation - until such a time, politics in Malaysia will simply be a rehash of issues previously raised.
Ultimately, UMNO has to rise above it all and consider what is good for Malaysia and UMNO, rather than just UMNO alone.
A B Shamsul is Director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA) and Professor at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi, Malaysia.
**********
The Lesson For Malaysia
M. Bakri Musa
The office of the President of the United States is the most powerful. The power, prestige, and influence wielded by its occupant are unmatched. Yet there was the remarkable event recently of a bipartisan committee of ten distinguished Americans publicly telling their President in no uncertain terms that his policy in Iraq was fatally flawed.
To me, this again demonstrates the beauty and genius of the American system. It is remarkable that rest of the world (except for Iraq, of course) does not appreciate the significance of this singular event. While Malaysian media covered in some details the recent American midterm elections, they hardly had a word on the Iraq Study Group and its Report.
Yet there is an important lesson or two here for Malaysia. One, even the most powerful leader can be subjected to scrutiny by the citizens at any time, not just at elections. Two, such criticisms even during times of war do not in any way undermine the power or prestige of that office. No American, not even the President who is the prime target of the criticism, is accusing the committee of undermining the war efforts in Iraq by their criticisms. Nor Bush did question the loyalty of the committee members or his other critics.
In mark contrast, there was Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in his usual self-righteousness manner accusing those who criticized him as engaging in fitnah. This is an especially sinister exercise as that derogatory term is replete with profound religious implications. It is particularly offensive coming as it was from a self-professed “religious scholar” and “ulama.”
There was another remarkable aspect to the Iraq Study Group. It presented its report directly to President Bush in a face-to-face meeting on December 6, 2006 at 7AM. Rest assured that everyone was wide eyed and awake, especially the President, at that early morning meeting. Please take note of this, Mr. Prime Minister!
Before submitting its unanimous report, the Group had earlier “interviewed” (grilled is the more accurate word) the President and senior members of his team. The Group released its full report to the public on the day it was presented to the President. There was no hiding behind concerns on “national security” or “sensitive issue.”
The Relevant Lessons
Like many, I feel strongly that Malaysia is headed in the wrong direction. Our society is increasingly fragmented along racial, religious, and regional lines while our institutions are losing their integrity and effectiveness through the twin blights of corruption and incompetence.
Malaysians increasingly view themselves as “us” versus “them.” The “us” could be Malays and the “them,” non-Malays. For Malays, the “us” could be those who subscribe to the “pure” form of Islam, and the “them,” the misled. For the Chinese, the “us” could be those who have adapted to the Malaysian reality and proudly display their Tan Sris and Datuks, while the “them” are those who feel that the very survival of the great Chinese culture and language rests on their shoulders. For the Indians, the “us” could be those who have forsaken their “anak lelaki” or “anak perempuan” of their birth certificates for a “bin” or “binte” respectively, acquire an affected Kedah accent, and voila, suddenly become ardent defenders of Malay special privileges! The “them” are the rest.
Our national schools no longer attract a significant portion of our citizens, and our universities have failed to provide the necessary skilled manpower. Thousands of our graduates are unemployed, or more correctly, unemployable.
Economically, Malaysia no longer attracts foreign investments. Investors, local and foreign, perceive the nation as being increasingly corrupt. The recent demands by civil servants for a 40 percent pay hike reflect the increasing cost and declining standard of living.
Instead of being the engine that would propel our progress, the civil service is a major impediment. The only difference between lawbreakers and law enforcers is that the latter is on the government payroll. Otherwise they both extort and terrorize the public. As these public institutions are essentially Malay, they also bring shame and dishonor to our race.
Those are the realities, but we would not know that from the official pronouncements. That is to be expected; those in power do not willingly expose their mistakes and inadequacies.
The Surprising Elegant Silence of Many
What is surprising is the “elegant silence” of others. As I look at the roster of distinguished Malaysians now retired from academia, the professions, and public service, I am humbled by their integrity, intelligence, and contributions. I wonder how they feel seeing their fine legacies now being dismantled, and in many cases defiled.
Their silence is puzzling. If they feel that the nation is headed in the right direction and their legacies in good hands, they should voice their support. That would encourage the leaders to do more of the same. If they disagree, then they owe it to their fellow citizens to voice those concerns.
The only luminary who has spoken out is Tun Mahathir. The way the establishment has been treating him reveals volumes of its rigid “group think” and insular mindset. That Mahathir was defeated as a party delegate from his old constituency was a humiliation not for him but for those party members. If pearls had been cast unto them, they would have paved them onto their driveway of their palatial mansions, unable to discern those pearls from pebbles.
Regardless of the ultimate consequence of his criticisms, Mahathir has already made a seminal contribution. He effectively shattered the Malaysian taboo of criticizing the leaders. That can only be good for the nation. I am on record as being one of Mahathir’s severest critics even at the height of his popularity, but I salute him for this singular contribution. It is even more significant that he made it after he retired. For many, retirement means no longer contributing.
Loyalty means loyalty to the rule of law and to our institutions, not to individuals, no matter how high a position they occupy. Those ten distinguished Americans of the Iraq Study Group epitomize this fine tradition. Its Report is widely discussed and President Bush has already taking steps to respond on those recommendations.
The chief architect of the flawed Iraq policy has already resigned. We may disagree with Secretary Rumsfeld’s policies but there is no denying his personal integrity in resigning and taking responsibility. Contrast that to the behaviors of his Malaysian counterparts. Rafidah Aziz is still holding tight despite the Approved Permits scandal; like wise Sammy Vellu with the Highway Bypass collapse, and Syed Hamid over the imbroglio of the crooked bridge.
I look forward to similar contributions from our own corp of distinguished retired Malaysians along the lines of the Iraq Study Group. I am of course counting on the few who are not consumed with indulging their grandchildren, idling their time on the golf courses, or regaling their fellow mosque attendees.
M Bakri Misa : 'The original version was posted on Malaysia-Today.net on December 17, 2006. I have expanded on that piece'.
Malaysia Abdillah A Badawi Anwar Islam Bangsa Malaysia UMNO
Labels: Politic. Malaysia
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