Reformasi pressures in Ma
Winds of cha
The persecution of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has focused the frustrations of many ordinary Malaysians. As B. Skanthakumar explains below, people no longer accept that economic growth justifies the authoritarian politics of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad "Anwar has awoken something | haven't seen in 20 years. Political consciousness," a worried business leader told the Far Eastern Economic Review. The Mahathir regimewill not hesitate to use repressive legislation inherited from the British to squash opposition protests. On September 20, Anwar addressed the largest opposition rally in three decades. He called for an Indonesian-style reformasi (reform) movement. But as Syed Husin Ali warns (on page 20), the new opposition leader otters little which progressive and socialist Malaysians can be enthusiastic about. The Commonwealth Games which closed in Kuala Lumpur on September 21st were intended to be the highlight of 1998 and another step on Malaysia's road to fully developed country status by 2020, writes B. Skanthakumar. It was an opportunity to show off the city and its environs which have been the site of years of frenetic building activity and major infrastructure projects to participants, tourists and the international media.
This will certainly be a memorable year for many Malaysians but for very different reasons.
1998 was when the financial crisis struck home, when fears of economic recession became reality, when popular disillusion mounted over the privatisation of public utilities, when workers were outraged that their savings in the Employment Provident Fund are being used to bail out cronies of the government and injected into the stock market, when crippling water shortages affected almost two million people, and factional in-fighting
Minster Mahathir
This obnoxious Act provides for pre- • For more information see Internationa ysia nge
Mohamad and his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim broke out within UMNO, the ethnic Malay party which dominates the Barisan Nasional (National Front)
The silver lining in this catalogue of calamities is that for the first time in many years, Malaysians irrespective of party political and ethnic loyalties are engaged in a debate on the political and economic record of the government and the future direction of their country.
But this is a country where opponents can be held incommunicado for indefinite
Not suprisingly, as tensions between the Prime Minister and his deputy erupted into public following Anwar's sacking, many activists began to worry that once again innocent third parties to this intraelite feuding will be the hapless victims of a general clamp-down on opposition to the
A statement by fifteen Non-Governmental Organisations on September 4th warned of this possibility, protesting at the circumstances and manner in which Anwar Ibrahim had been dismissed and appealing to Malaysians to safeguard their freedoms and fundamental liberties from
While Anwar projects himself as a much wronged individual and as a fighter for democratic rights, it is instructive to remember that he displayed scant evidence of such a conscience when he enjoyed the full support and confidence of the Premier and was a senior Cabinet member.
Anwar could have spoken out against ISA arrests and other human rights abuses in 1987 when he was Education Minister. But he chose to remain silent.
Anwar also chose to remain silent a few months ago, when opposition parliamentarian Lim Guan Eng was charged with sedition, imprisoned for 36 months, and lost his seat. His "crime" was to criticise the handling of an investigation
10 91 ін cist politics. Certainly Anwar is neither a racist nor a religious fundamentalist but he has a long way to go before he wins the trust and support of non-Malays.
While the state controlled media reproduces the allegations against Anwar without a right of reply, his supporters have taken to the Internet to put his case, and to rebut the "evidence" against him
During the Commonwealth Games, Anwar took to the road, "meeting the
Under the Police Act any public gathering of more than three persons requires a permit, a regulation which has been used to make mass open meetings a thing of the past even in election campaigns.
This echo of extra-parliamentary politics has generated an excitement of its own as tens of thousands travel for hours to hear Anwar speak and make up their own minds, knowingly in violation of the law. The crowds have been predominantly Malay but with small numbers of Chinese and Indians.
Anwar constantly evoked the upsurge which overthrew Suharto in Indonesia. He is an old friend of that country's new president Habibie. Both men are likeminded Islamic modernists, who spent much of their political career as the closest slogan reformasi! (reformation).
There is a sentiment that the winds of change blowing through Asia in the wake of the financial and economic crisis and sweeping away old regimes and autocratic leaders should not by-pass Malaysia.
As the "feel good' factor from the Commonwealth Games evaporates, Mahathir Mohamad confronts the most serious threat to his authoritarian hold on power in over a decade. * into the statutory rape of a minor by the Long memories, harsh legislation then Chief Minister of Melaka in 1994.
The rapist walked free and rebuilt his political career, while his accuser was behind bars. Amnestv International has recognised Lim Guan Eng as a 'prisoner of conscience'. Anwar did nothing.
other major credibility problem is with the substantial non-Malay and non-Muslim, Chinese and Indian communities who have enjoyed a period of reduced ethnic tensions and rise in living standards under Mahathir Mohamad.
For them Anwar is associated with the radical Muslim youth movement ABIM which he led before he joined UMNO and is seen as an advocate of Malay suprema-
Eleven years ago, Malaysia had a similar cocktail of middle class disenchantment, popular disaffection over "monev politics" (the nexus between big business and ruling politicians), a serious challenge to the leadership of the Prime Minister from within the ranks of UMNO and a prolonged and painful economic recession.
The reaction of the government was to intimidate its critics and opponents by invoking the Internal Security Act (ISA). ventive detention without trial on the vaguest of charges, "acting in a manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia" Detention orders are renewable indefinitely on the Home Minister's recommendation and are without challenge by an independent review body or the Courts.
In arrests beginning on October 27th 1987 119 people, opposition politicians, human rights workers, trade unionists, environmental and Christian activists, were rounded up and imprisoned Viewpoint #132, 21 December 1987.