The Malaysian Bar

Chandra Muzaffar's Media Statement: Anwar, Aliran - and exposing the truth
Friday, 07 March 2008 12:32PM

I would not have bothered to respond to the malicious comments on blogs and
websites about my criticism of Anwar Ibrahim if Aliran had also not
joined the chorus of attacks on me. The Aliran attack is in a sense the most
painful.

Let me begin by correcting some erroneous phrases in the Aliran

Media Statement.
I had not said that the BN "is a better choice". Neither the STAR nor the
NST which reported my speech at the Forum on the General Election
organized by the STAR on 3 March 2008 used that phrase. What I said was
that "at this juncture in our history, the BN, despite all its flaws,
constitutes the only viable inter-ethnic coalition in the country." I then
explained why the attempt by the Opposition to create an alternative coalition
between 1999 and 2001, in which I was involved, together with others, failed.
"That the BN …is a better choice" is a phrase concocted by Aliran officials who
had signed the Statement.

By the same token, there is no way that my remarks on Anwar could be construed
as an "emotional outburst". The half a minute answer I gave was in response to a
question from a member of the audience. I spelt out briefly the reasons why I
thought Anwar was not fit to lead a multi-ethnic nation. There are many other
factors that disqualify him from performing a leadership role which I shall
reveal at the right time.

Some of my unhappiness with Anwar and Parti KeAdilan Nasional (as it was then
known as) which I quit in December 2001, I chose to share with Aliran President,
P. Ramakrishnan, at a dinner in a Petaling Jaya restaurant in early 2002. From
the notes I have kept of our meeting, I was quite candid with him about money
politics in the party, the lack of financial accountability, and its
manipulation of communal sentiments. It was information that I have over the
years brought to the notice of a handful of other friends. In a couple of
interviews with local magazines I had also alluded to these weaknesses within
the party and its leadership. But I never really exposed the politics of PKR and
Anwar until 3 March 2008.

Aliran leaders, like some others who have made caustic comments about my
criticism of Anwar, ask why I had decided to go public at this time, in the
midst of the 12th General Election campaign. As I have explained, I did not
choose the moment or the occasion. I was merely replying to a question from the
floor.

My answer has prompted a variety of individuals and groups within and without
the political arena to expose the machinations and manipulations of a
Machiavellian politician. For this master of deceit and duplicity was beginning
to hoodwink a gullible segment of Malaysian society into believing that he was
that long awaited 'knight in shining armour' who would deliver the masses into
that glorious paradise of justice and equality. It is partly because 'the
knight' has been unmasked that a lot more Malaysians have become conscious of
what is at stake at this critical moment in their lives when they once again
exercise their right to determine their future.

http://www.malaysianbar.org.my Powered by Joomla! Generated: 12 February, 2010, 21:34

 The Malaysian Bar

The unmasking of their 'knight' has obviously made the Aliran leaders unhappy.
They demand to know why I am "so concerned about the problem of money politics
in PKR" and yet have not "said much of late about the money politics which has
always been associated with the BN." If any of the Aliran leaders was at the 3rd
March Forum he would acknowledge that in my presentation I had highlighted
corruption in the upper echelons of politics and business as one of the three
major challenges confronting the nation. I had also suggested that the widening
gap between the 'have-a-lot' and the 'have-a-little' and the strengthening of
democracy are two other challenges that demand urgent attention from the ruling
elite. Since the main thrust of my presentation was the relationship between the
ethnic situation and the forthcoming election, I also expressed the view that
the ruling elite of the last few decades was largely responsible for allowing
ethnic polarization to worsen. At the end of my talk, I proposed that the BN
should at the grassroots level begin to transform itself into a truly
multi-ethnic rather than an inter-ethnic party in order to enhance national
integration.

It is of course true that these Malaysian concerns have not been the primary
foci of my attention in the last decade and a half. This is because I have been
concentrating upon the global power structure. But I am aware of how that global
impacts upon the local. It is because I know quite a bit about the global–local
interface that I am deeply worried about Anwar Ibrahim's role in Malaysian
politics.

Chandra Muzaffar

Petaling Jaya

7 March 2008.

http://www.malaysianbar.org.my Powered by Joomla! Generated: 12 February, 2010, 21:34