Despite arrest threats, Anwar unbowed; Pakatan ca go beyond two-thirds!

Written by Wong Choon Mei,

Malaysia Chronicle Amid a spate of increasingly wild rumors including that he may be arrested, Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is confident of scoring a critical success in the key state, landing a major if not knockout blow that can trigger the exits of both controversial Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

“We are very optimistic we are going to go far beyond that, we are pushing to deny BN its monopoly of the state,” he told a press conference in Kuching.

"If the process has been free and fair from the beginning, I have no qualms about (victory). However, we are fighting against the entire government machinery. We are concerned of the development in the next few hours."

Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat coalition needs to win 23 seats in order deny Taib two-thirds of the 71 seats in the Sarawak legislative assembly. Apart from the pyshological factor, two-thirds seats is the margin the government would need in order to hammer through laws without reference to opposition lawmakers.

Sarawakians will go to the ballot boxes on Saturday.

Najib and Taib fight for their political lives

Anwar, the 64-year old de-facto head of PKR, has been working round clock campaigning at both the cities and the interior regions of the state in joint rallies with coalition allies PAS and DAP.

Although the response that has been received is unprecedented, Najib has waged a major fightback.

Sarawak is crucial not only for Taib, but also for the federal leader. If Pakatan denies Taib two-thirds seats, that will be taken as the sign by power-brokers within Najib's own Umno party that Najib has to go.

Not surprisingly, the BN-controlled media has tried to swing public interest in the red-hot Sarawak elections over to national topics in the last 48 hours as Najib tries to marshall all his cards to push back the Pakatan's surge.

Malaysians became suspicious when the police chief in Kuala Lumpur suddenly announced they had identified the man in a pornographic video that Umno members had screened in public, insisting it was Anwar. The man had been filmed having sex with a prostitute and the tape was professionally recorded, most likely in a hotel room in Thailand.

Although Anwar has denied any involvement, it is clear that the perpetrators of the tape will not let him go. The video is believed to be part of a huge conspiracy to discredit him and repulse voters.

Also, coincidentially, controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin appeared on government-controlled TV to criticise Anwar. According to the government media, Raja Petra cleared Najib and his wife Rosmah of being involved in the Altantuya murder and graft case.

Raja Petra, formerly a staunch Anwar supporter, even accused the opposition head of having given him the go-ahead to smear Najib and Rosmah.

Don't underestimate the courage of Sarawakians

But Anwar and his Pakatan team have refused to have their focus deflected. They believe that Malaysians can see through the plots and only worry that Najib will use the excuse to arrest Anwar.

"Obviously the sex video is another conspiracy with Najib's direct sanction and RPK is also part of the plan to discredit Anwar. We are confident Malaysians will not believe in Najib, the tape or RPK. And we have been proven right, the crowds that come to our rallies are unstoppable," PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.

"What we fear is that Najib has reached the state of desperation that hours before the polling, they will try anything to stop us. Yes the the talk is that they may even arrest Anwar or order a crackdown on other Pakatan leaders. This is to scare off voters and leave the field open for the BN to do all the electoral fraud they need to win. But this will only make the people even more angry. In fact, it will be suicidal for Najib and Taib."


Suara Sarawak: If Raja Petra Kamal can be bought by BN, what more the voters in the longhouses? Have you called your relatives back home and told them to take the money and still vote for CHANGE?

DAP refutes Pakatan reneged on promise to Sarawak church leaders

By Debra Chong
April 15, 2011
Pakatan Rakyat leaders meet the press after their meeting with Sarawak church leaders in Kuching yesterday, April 14, 2011. — Picture by Choo Choy May



KUCHING, April 15 — The DAP denied today the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) faction had breached its word to the Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) here by speaking to the media after their closed-door meeting yesterday — a move that could see disastrous results for the opposition bloc so close to polling day.

Politicians on both sides of the divide have been jostling to win favour with the church in Malaysia’s biggest and most Christian state after the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government fumbled in dealing with the religious community over its Malay-language holy book last month.

Yesterday, state-owned Bernama reported the ACS as saying it “regretted” the tripartite PR had breached its promise against holding a press conference on the Alkitab issue after its closed-door breakfast meeting with church leaders.

“Our association received an invitation from Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok of PKR [sic] to have a breakfast meeting with the leaders of these opposition parties and agreed on condition that political issues would not be discussed as we are non-partisan,” the national news agency cited ACS secretary-general Ambrose Linang, as saying.

Linang was also reported to have said he would study the statements from the PR press conference for political elements, and will comment further after that.

“We are open to discussions with any party just like we had with the prime minister yesterday. However, we expect people whom we meet to keep their word,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also BN chief, had scored a meeting with the same 14 church leaders a day ahead of the opposition bloc.

Selangor DAP chief Teresa Kok was the pointman for a dialogue with church leaders, and appeared surprised when she heard the church was unhappy that PR had spoken to reporters after their private meeting.

“We have agreed to have closed-door meeting and not to have press conference with the leaders, but we were never asked not to disclose issues that being discussed to the media,” she told The Malaysian Insider today.

She said PR leaders have been raising the issues on religious discrimination while on the stump for the state polls even before meeting with the Christian clerics, and had reiterated their concern during the breakfast meet yesterday.

“However, we appreciate the meeting with ACS leaders and we understand their situation. I believe they are under tremendous pressures and that’s why they made such statement,” said Kok, who is also Christian.

Asked to clarify where the pressure was coming from, she said: “I don’t want to say they’re under BN’s pressure, but I rather put it in general terms.”

She said it was understood PR would have its press conference after the meeting and had only reiterated its stand on those same issues.

At the press conference, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said PR leaders had expressed the pact’s stand on the Bible row and the government’s policy to prohibit the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

He stressed that PR’s opinions were not influenced by the polls, pointing out that the matter had only surfaced due to the BN’s imbalanced treatment of the different religious communities in Malaysia.

He would not reveal the responses from church leaders on PR’s opinions, telling reporters that they should speak to the group directly.

“I cannot speak on their behalf,” he said.

The church leaders left immediately after the meeting and did not speak with reporters.

The meeting was attended by PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali and PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad.

When contacted today, Linang told The Malaysian Insider he had been misquoted by Bernama.

“It’s a misperception,” he replied when asked to verify the report, saying that he had spoken to the state news agency’s editor about the mistake earlier.

The ACS secretary-general repeatedly said that the meeting was strictly a “breakfast fellowship” and he had not barred PR from making any statements to the media about the Christian dilemma, but that the church just did not want to be dragged into politics.

“We are not politicians. Lim Kit Siang was there, Lim Guan Eng was there. [Datuk Seri Dr] Wan Azizah [Wan Ismail] was there. If PKR after that wants to shout to the world, it’s their business.

“I don’t want to be a superstar,” Linang stressed.

The church has been embroiled in a stand-off with the federal government after two separate shipments of the Alkitab totalling 35,000 copies, worth an estimated RM140,000, were seized, stamped and serialised with the Home Ministry’s seal early last month.

The Cabinet had come up with a 10-point formula to resolve the impasse and other Christian problems.

But the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), an umbrella body that represents over 90 per cent of churches nationwide, has rejected the proposal, describing it as a stop-gap measure. It wants a long-term solution.

One in two Sarawakian voters is Christian.

The state goes to the polls tomorrow.

Oleh: AMBROSE M. MATHW

MERUJUK kepada kenyataan kenyataan saya dimasa lalu berhubung perletakkan jawatan sebagai Pegawai Penerangan SAPP sekaligus keahlian parti bukan sekadar dibuat bertujuan menakut nakutkan pucuk kepimpinan SAPP atau untuk mendapatkan simpati kepimpinan parti itu tetapi sebaliknya ia dibuat secara serius selepas memikirkan pro dan kontranya beberapa bulan berdasarkan tindak tanduk seorang dua pemimpin tertinggi SAPP.

Saya ingin berterus terang bahawa tindakan yang saya lakukan ini kerana merasakan ia sudah tidak ada jalan lain untuk memperbaiki sikap pihak tertentu khususnya Ketua CLC Melalap Sdra Jimmy Jawatah yang tidak pernah membincangkan hal hal yang melibatkan dasar mahu pun pengurusan parti (jika ia melangkaui batas) apabila beliau tidak bersetuju dengan tindakan yang saya lakukan secara bersemuka (rundingan empat mata) sebaliknya beliau lebih suka mengheret masalah itu diluar kuasa CLC.

Apakah ertinya lagi saya terus menerus berada dalam SAPP dan melaksanakan tanggung jawab seperti yang diamanahkan kepada saya selaku Pegawai Penerangan CLC Melalap jika setiap tugas dan peranan itu senantiasa salah dan melanggar dasar parti dan sebagainya.

Sebaliknya jika saya didapati tidak melaksanakan peranan dan tanggung jawab itu tidak berkesan langsung kerana lemah dan terlalu bergantung sangat semata mata kepada arahan dan inisiatif Sdra Jimmy Jawatah, bermakna amanah yang disandarkan oleh parti kepada saya sudah diabaikan. Maka sudah pastilah kepimpinan CLC akan lebih menyalahkan saya dalam soal tugas parti.

Kita juga bersetuju alasan Jimmy dan Datuk Frankie mengatakan bahawa pemimpin baru seperti Roger Stimin perlu ada pertemuan secara rasmi dengan Presiden SAPP Datuk Yong Teck Lee sambil itu juga memohon untuk mendapatkan kepastian atau ‘green light’ dari Presiden pemilihan Roger sebagai bakal calun MP Tenom pada PRU13 kelak itu bukan masalah.

Namun persoalannya, apakah sebelum perjumpaan itu salah sekiranya SAPP CLC Melalap dan Kemabong mengusahakan aktiviti turun padang dan membawa bersama Roger sambil diperkenalkan kepada rakyat disesuatu kawasan walaupun pencalunannya tidak disentuh langsung pada ketika itu supaya kita dapat momentum daripada rakyat disesuatu kawasan/kampong.

Keduanya, kenapa mesti menunggu disaat saat akhir untuk SAPP melakukan tugas itu atau masih menunggu arahan pusat terutamanya Presiden untuk melakukan tugas dan amanah yang diberi kepada CLC Melalap. Sedangkan ia terletak dibawah tanggung jawab CLC untuk menilai dan memperakukan kewibawaan dan pengaruh bakal calun yang diketengahkan.

Sebenarnya, semua itu adalah tugas diperingkat kepimpinan akar umbi dimana selepas itu kita perlu mendapat ‘feed back’ rakyat/pengundi daripada setiap kawasan perkampungan yang telah dilawati. CLC perlu mendapatkan banyak maklumat daripada pengundi sebelum meletakkan seseorang bakal calun itu untuk dipersetujui dan diluluskan oleh pucuk pimpinan.

Bagaimana pun kegawatan kerjasama dan kepercayaan Jimmy dan pemimpin pusat terhadap saya, maka tiada pilihan lain demi menyelamatkan SAPP terheret ke kancah pergolakan diperingkat akar umbi, saya sedia KELUAR PARTI DAN MELEPASKAN JAWATAN PEGAWAI PENERANGAN.

Percayalah! Perjuangan SAPP amat cerah dan mendapat sambutan rakyat jati Sabah kerana halatuju perjuangannya berada diatas landasan yang benar. Namun ia hanya akan dapat direalisasikan jika semua pemimpin bekerja keras, sedia bertolak ansur dan telus dalam perjuangan.

Mentransformasi perjuangan SAPP mengikut peredaran zaman khususnya kesediaan parti itu beralih dizaman alab baru ini merupakan satu satunya asas perjuangan yang tepat dan mampu menggugat lawan.