TV PAKATAN RAKYAT

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim called his former boss Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a hypocrite today for accusing him of being a Jewish sympathiser when it was the former prime minister who had met his Israeli counterpart. The opposition leader told reporters today, “I myself have never met the Israeli prime minister, or the foreign minister or the finance minister.” “I would like to know why he met the Israeli prime minister. Why the hypocrisy?” Anwar said, likely referring to reports that Dr Mahathir had met with Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Paris on July 6, 1994. Dr Mahathir had on Monday labelled his former deputy as a Jewish sympathiser and a leader who disregarded the plight of the Palestinians after Anwar’s recent interview with the Wall Street Journal where he was quoted as saying he supported “all efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel.”

But the international business daily said Anwar stopped short of saying he would open diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, a step the former deputy prime minister said remains contingent on Israel respecting the aspirations of Palestinians. Anwar came under heavy fire from Umno and its media after his statement was published by the Wall Street Journal last Thursday. The PKR de facto leader was forced to defend himself by stressing that his remarks in the newspaper meant that he supported a two-state solution, which he said was mentioned by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman when the latter addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September last year.

His party also claimed yesterday Dr Mahathir paid Jack Abramoff, a Zionist lobbyist, US$1.2 million (RM3.7 million) to arrange a meeting with former US President George W. Bush shortly after Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998. Today, Anwar repeated the accusation he first made in 2010, that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had paid APCO Worldwide to burnish his administration’s image. The Permatang Pauh MP and three Pakatan Rakyat (PR) colleagues were suspended from Parliament for six months after accusing the prime minister of paying RM77 million a year to APCO despite the public relations firm being an Israeli-based company “with ties to Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet.”

“They go to America, and APCO distributes leaflets accusing me of being anti-Jew. Then they go to the Muslim world and say I am pro-Jew,” he added. Muslim-majority Malaysia is a staunch supporter of Palestine and has no diplomatic ties with Israel. Muslim politicians have long vied for support from Malays by denouncing what they say are inhumane acts of aggression by Israel towards its neighbour. ~themalaysianinsider.com~

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Criticised for voicing liberal views in the West while flirting with orthodox Islam at home, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said there should be no reason for a contradiction between democracy and Islam. “The vast majority of Muslims are under democratic rule... or are opting for democracy, as in Egypt,” the man vying to be prime minister told Financial Times (FT) in an interview published yesterday. The influential international daily noted that the former deputy prime minister has drawn scepticism, even from admirers, that he can lead his fractious three-party Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to victory in the next general election or deliver his promises of a reformed government. But the opposition leader told the newspaper he was confident that Muslim-majority Malaysians were inspired by the wave of changes that have swept the Arab world and embracing what he described as a new wave of Muslim democracies.

He said that old leaders such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, ousted Arab despots and by implication Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak are out of touch with that new wave. The 64-year-old said he aspired to be a leader like Turkey’s prime minister of eight years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Anwar said had shared similar hopes for an Islamic democracy. He added that they had discussed the wider opportunity presented by the Arab uprisings. “I talk about the Malaysian Spring, but our route will be elections,” Anwar told FT, adding that it was going to happen “very soon”. The PKR adviser told the newspaper he was focused on improving the country’s economy based on American philosopher John Rawls’ model — based on treating everyone impartially equal — should he win in national polls widely believed will be called this year.

Anwar said that while PR partner PAS would from time to time object to Elton John and sexy Beyonce concerts in Malaysia, all three component members agreed on the need for basic and freedoms. He added that his position as a Muslim acted as a lynchpin for the disparate pact: “If it was some non-Muslim, they’d think that I was a bit wishy-washy and easy, but, no, I’m a Muslim. People ask, ‘Do you believe in the Quran?’ and I can say ‘Yes’.” But Anwar was reluctant to state his stand on enforcing hudud, the controversial Islamic law that advocate corporal punishment and which has persistently been a bone of contention between the secular DAP and the Islamist PAS. Anwar admitted to FT that it was “one of the more difficult issues I have to deal with” but refused to rule out its introduction in multiracial, multireligious Malaysia. “We must reach a consensus, which is not possible in the foreseeable future, but what if you’re given a situation where all Malaysians agree? Who am I to say no?” he told the paper. ~themalaysianinsider.com~

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Anwar Ibrahim was supposed to be in jail right now. The leader of Malaysia’s opposition would be convicted of having sex with a male aide, everyone here expected, and jailed long enough to ensure he posed no threat in the country’s coming elections. But after his surprise acquittal earlier this month, Mr. Anwar suddenly has a very different residence in mind. “The next time we meet,” he says conspiratorially as we sit in his party’s headquarters on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur for his first interview with a Western newspaper since the verdict, “it will be in a different office.” A smile spreads above his greying goatee as he points up and beyond me. He means Putrajaya, the suburb of Kuala Lumpur that’s home to the office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Southeast Asia begins 2012 as a region in upheaval. Myanmar’s generals have begun unexpectedly tearing down their authoritarian system, and neighbouring Thailand’s coup-prone army stood aside last year and let the opposition it had previously confronted in the streets take power via the ballot box. Mr. Anwar is convinced that Malaysia, a nominally democratic nation that has been dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) since the country gained independence from Britain in 1957, will be the next to see sweeping change. “There’s definitely a Southeast Asian Spring taking place. No question about it. … We are between the ancien régime and the rebellion of the masses,” says the man sometimes portrayed as the Nelson Mandela of this Muslim majority state. Mr. Anwar says the opposition would win a fairly held vote – and he warns that Malaysia could see scenes like those in Cairo’s Tahrir Square if it is somehow prevented from taking power.

Tens of thousands of Malaysians have already shown their willingness to demonstrate, marching through the streets of Kuala Lumpur last July to call for reforms to the country’s electoral system, which is seen as having been gerrymandered in the ruling party’s favour. “We want free and fair elections,” Mr. Anwar says. And if not? “Then we will fight. The people will not take it. No civilized country would accept the rape of the nation.” Having managed to maintain and build support through 14 years of sodomy charges and other smears – no small feat in a conservative country that bleeps out words like “bang” from reruns of How I Met Your Mother – there’s suddenly a sense in Malaysia that Mr. Anwar might just end up in Putrajaya before the year is out.

Another jail term would likely have brought an end to the political career of the 64-year-old, who was deputy prime minister and UMNO’s heir apparent until he fell out with the autocratic Mahathir Mohammed in 1998 over the handling of that year’s Asian financial crisis. The relationship between the two men, long described as being similar to father and son, quickly dissolved into acrimony, mud-slinging and violence. Mr. Mahathir called for police to investigate allegations that Mr. Anwar was corrupt and gay. Mr. Anwar was duly arrested, beaten by police and sentenced to 14 years in prison, although that sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004. (Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia, though the colonial-era statute seems to be used almost exclusively against Mr. Anwar, a married father of six. Charges against Mr. Anwar – who has denied that he’s gay – and his associates account for four of seven recent uses of the law.)

The latest sodomy charges initially seemed to follow the old script, forcing Mr. Anwar to spend more time defending his reputation than building opposition to the government. The repeated allegations are scoffed at by many in cosmopolitan Kuala Lumpur but likely have damaged Mr. Anwar’s popularity in more conservative rural areas. In a sign of how dimly gay rights are viewed in Malaysia, Mr. Anwar came under fire this week by the government-controlled press after he called the sodomy law “archaic.” He was forced to repeat a previous statement that he does “not promote homosexuality in public sphere and domain.” Since his acquittal, friends and allies say Mr. Anwar – always a workaholic – is more seized than ever with his Mandela-inspired vision of opening his country’s political system and ending the institutionalized political bias toward ethnic Malays (who are favoured for civil service and military posts ahead of the country’s Chinese and Indian minorities). He crams in as many meetings and campaign rallies as the day can fit, to the point where Some wonder whether his wiry frame, already besieged by arthritis and back pains caused by a 1998 police beating that was followed by six years in jail, is up to the task.

“I can say for a fact – because I’ve seen his medical records – that he suffers from facet joint arthritis, and [his] left sciatic nerve is damaged. He’s limited in his movements. The whole thing was exacerbated by the beatings, but it’s age as well,” said Sankara Nair, a lawyer who represented Mr. Anwar in the 1998 and 2011 trials known here as Sodomy I and Sodomy II. But Mr. Nair says his friend and client will only be slowed, not stopped, by his ailments. “I think Anwar is being looked upon as the saviour of the opposition, the salvation of the country. Is he up to it? Yes he is. … He’s even prepared for further allegations, but it’s full speed ahead to the elections. There’s no stopping this man.” The personal attacks – and the allegations of marital infidelity and homosexuality – have also taken their toll, especially on Mr. Anwar’s family. “It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a long journey, personally,” said his 31-year-old daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar.

But 14 years of watching her father battle persecution also transformed Ms. Nurul Izzah from a self-described “rather apathetic teenager” into a firebrand opposition MP, one who inherited her father’s flashing brown eyes and natural political skills. “This whole journey convinced me that this fight is not about Anwar,” she says. “It’s an attempt to move Malaysia forward.” (One of the main criticisms of Mr. Anwar is that he has turned his People’s Justice Party into something of a family dynasty, with his wife Wan Azizah serving as interim leader while he was in jail and his daughter now emerging as heir apparent.) Mr. Anwar heads an improbable coalition of Islamists, liberals and ethnic parties, an alliance that has already proven itself a threat to UMNO’s dominance, having won control of five of the country’s 13 state parliaments. It’s a coalition very much held together by his own chameleon-like character – the Islamists trust him because of his background as a leader of a Muslim student group, the liberals and middle class because of his successful tenure as the country’s finance minister, while ethnic groups look to his mixed Indian-Malay background and his long record as a defender of human rights.

Whether Malaysia really is changing as fast as the opposition believes arguably depends on why Mr. Anwar was acquitted on Jan. 9. Some believe Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah – who throughout the trial had seemed openly biased toward the prosecution – was making a stand for judicial independence when he curtly delivered his not-guilty verdict. Others believe Judge Diah simply received new orders from the top as the lurid trial became an international embarrassment to the Malaysian government. The former version got a boost Friday when the prosecution announced it would appeal the not-guilty verdict, once more putting Mr. Anwar’s political future in a court’s hands. Behind that question of Judge Diah’s intentions is a wider debate about how serious Prime Minister Najib Razak is when he says he intends to transform Malaysia – a country that has lagged behind neighbouring Indonesia in embracing political change – into what he calls a “mature, progressive democracy.” The government has in recent months announced a series of major changes, trying to seize the mantle of reform as its own.

Last fall, Mr. Najib announced he would repeal the country’s hated Internal Security Act – a colonial-era law that allowed for “preventative detention” – and loosen restrictions on the country’s media, which is currently under tight government supervision. “I think that when Anwar tries to present himself as a reformer, he will find that ground is already occupied by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak,” the government’s Information Minister, Rais Yatim, said in an interview. But government critics see only rhetoric so far. Mr. Najib plans to replace the ISA, which is currently still in place, with another act that will still allow preventative detention, albeit with more judicial oversight. The new law will also ban protest marches, a move seemingly targeted at giving police the power to crack down on any election-related protests. Few other promised reforms have materialized yet: with an election perhaps just months away, pro-government newspapers are still the only ones with permission to print, and promises to review election laws that currently favour the ruling party have gone unfilled. Mr. Anwar scoffs at the idea that Mr. Najib and UMNO are capable of substantive reform. “This government is not changing. It is the people who are going to change Malaysia.” By MARK MACKINNON From Saturday’s Globe and Mail

Anwar Ibrahim was supposed to be in jail right now. The leader of Malaysia’s opposition would be convicted of having sex with a male aide, everyone here expected, and jailed long enough to ensure he posed no threat in the country’s coming elections. But after his surprise acquittal earlier this month, Mr. Anwar suddenly has a very different residence in mind. “The next time we meet,” he says conspiratorially as we sit in his party’s headquarters on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur for his first interview with a Western newspaper since the verdict, “it will be in a different office.” A smile spreads above his greying goatee as he points up and beyond me. He means Putrajaya, the suburb of Kuala Lumpur that’s home to the office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Southeast Asia begins 2012 as a region in upheaval. Myanmar’s generals have begun unexpectedly tearing down their authoritarian system, and neighbouring Thailand’s coup-prone army stood aside last year and let the opposition it had previously confronted in the streets take power via the ballot box. Mr. Anwar is convinced that Malaysia, a nominally democratic nation that has been dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) since the country gained independence from Britain in 1957, will be the next to see sweeping change. “There’s definitely a Southeast Asian Spring taking place. No question about it. … We are between the ancien régime and the rebellion of the masses,” says the man sometimes portrayed as the Nelson Mandela of this Muslim majority state. Mr. Anwar says the opposition would win a fairly held vote – and he warns that Malaysia could see scenes like those in Cairo’s Tahrir Square if it is somehow prevented from taking power.

Tens of thousands of Malaysians have already shown their willingness to demonstrate, marching through the streets of Kuala Lumpur last July to call for reforms to the country’s electoral system, which is seen as having been gerrymandered in the ruling party’s favour. “We want free and fair elections,” Mr. Anwar says. And if not? “Then we will fight. The people will not take it. No civilized country would accept the rape of the nation.” Having managed to maintain and build support through 14 years of sodomy charges and other smears – no small feat in a conservative country that bleeps out words like “bang” from reruns of How I Met Your Mother – there’s suddenly a sense in Malaysia that Mr. Anwar might just end up in Putrajaya before the year is out.

Another jail term would likely have brought an end to the political career of the 64-year-old, who was deputy prime minister and UMNO’s heir apparent until he fell out with the autocratic Mahathir Mohammed in 1998 over the handling of that year’s Asian financial crisis. The relationship between the two men, long described as being similar to father and son, quickly dissolved into acrimony, mud-slinging and violence. Mr. Mahathir called for police to investigate allegations that Mr. Anwar was corrupt and gay. Mr. Anwar was duly arrested, beaten by police and sentenced to 14 years in prison, although that sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004. (Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia, though the colonial-era statute seems to be used almost exclusively against Mr. Anwar, a married father of six. Charges against Mr. Anwar – who has denied that he’s gay – and his associates account for four of seven recent uses of the law.)

The latest sodomy charges initially seemed to follow the old script, forcing Mr. Anwar to spend more time defending his reputation than building opposition to the government. The repeated allegations are scoffed at by many in cosmopolitan Kuala Lumpur but likely have damaged Mr. Anwar’s popularity in more conservative rural areas. In a sign of how dimly gay rights are viewed in Malaysia, Mr. Anwar came under fire this week by the government-controlled press after he called the sodomy law “archaic.” He was forced to repeat a previous statement that he does “not promote homosexuality in public sphere and domain.” Since his acquittal, friends and allies say Mr. Anwar – always a workaholic – is more seized than ever with his Mandela-inspired vision of opening his country’s political system and ending the institutionalized political bias toward ethnic Malays (who are favoured for civil service and military posts ahead of the country’s Chinese and Indian minorities). He crams in as many meetings and campaign rallies as the day can fit, to the point where Some wonder whether his wiry frame, already besieged by arthritis and back pains caused by a 1998 police beating that was followed by six years in jail, is up to the task.

“I can say for a fact – because I’ve seen his medical records – that he suffers from facet joint arthritis, and [his] left sciatic nerve is damaged. He’s limited in his movements. The whole thing was exacerbated by the beatings, but it’s age as well,” said Sankara Nair, a lawyer who represented Mr. Anwar in the 1998 and 2011 trials known here as Sodomy I and Sodomy II. But Mr. Nair says his friend and client will only be slowed, not stopped, by his ailments. “I think Anwar is being looked upon as the saviour of the opposition, the salvation of the country. Is he up to it? Yes he is. … He’s even prepared for further allegations, but it’s full speed ahead to the elections. There’s no stopping this man.” The personal attacks – and the allegations of marital infidelity and homosexuality – have also taken their toll, especially on Mr. Anwar’s family. “It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a long journey, personally,” said his 31-year-old daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar.

But 14 years of watching her father battle persecution also transformed Ms. Nurul Izzah from a self-described “rather apathetic teenager” into a firebrand opposition MP, one who inherited her father’s flashing brown eyes and natural political skills. “This whole journey convinced me that this fight is not about Anwar,” she says. “It’s an attempt to move Malaysia forward.” (One of the main criticisms of Mr. Anwar is that he has turned his People’s Justice Party into something of a family dynasty, with his wife Wan Azizah serving as interim leader while he was in jail and his daughter now emerging as heir apparent.) Mr. Anwar heads an improbable coalition of Islamists, liberals and ethnic parties, an alliance that has already proven itself a threat to UMNO’s dominance, having won control of five of the country’s 13 state parliaments. It’s a coalition very much held together by his own chameleon-like character – the Islamists trust him because of his background as a leader of a Muslim student group, the liberals and middle class because of his successful tenure as the country’s finance minister, while ethnic groups look to his mixed Indian-Malay background and his long record as a defender of human rights.

Whether Malaysia really is changing as fast as the opposition believes arguably depends on why Mr. Anwar was acquitted on Jan. 9. Some believe Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah – who throughout the trial had seemed openly biased toward the prosecution – was making a stand for judicial independence when he curtly delivered his not-guilty verdict. Others believe Judge Diah simply received new orders from the top as the lurid trial became an international embarrassment to the Malaysian government. The former version got a boost Friday when the prosecution announced it would appeal the not-guilty verdict, once more putting Mr. Anwar’s political future in a court’s hands. Behind that question of Judge Diah’s intentions is a wider debate about how serious Prime Minister Najib Razak is when he says he intends to transform Malaysia – a country that has lagged behind neighbouring Indonesia in embracing political change – into what he calls a “mature, progressive democracy.” The government has in recent months announced a series of major changes, trying to seize the mantle of reform as its own.

Last fall, Mr. Najib announced he would repeal the country’s hated Internal Security Act – a colonial-era law that allowed for “preventative detention” – and loosen restrictions on the country’s media, which is currently under tight government supervision. “I think that when Anwar tries to present himself as a reformer, he will find that ground is already occupied by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak,” the government’s Information Minister, Rais Yatim, said in an interview. But government critics see only rhetoric so far. Mr. Najib plans to replace the ISA, which is currently still in place, with another act that will still allow preventative detention, albeit with more judicial oversight. The new law will also ban protest marches, a move seemingly targeted at giving police the power to crack down on any election-related protests. Few other promised reforms have materialized yet: with an election perhaps just months away, pro-government newspapers are still the only ones with permission to print, and promises to review election laws that currently favour the ruling party have gone unfilled. Mr. Anwar scoffs at the idea that Mr. Najib and UMNO are capable of substantive reform. “This government is not changing. It is the people who are going to change Malaysia.” By MARK MACKINNON From Saturday’s Globe and Mail

Al-Jazeera


CNN


The High Court today acquitted Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of a charge of sodomising his former male aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. Judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled that the prosecution had not done enough to prove Anwar had committed sodomy against Saiful. “The court could not rule 100 per cent that the DNA samples were not compromised. Without that, the court is reluctant to convict the accused based on the evidence of SP1. SP1, which stands for prosecution witness one, refers to Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. “Therefore the accused is acquitted,” he ruled to shouts of joy from Anwar’s supporters and family.

Anwar’s family wept with joy as they all rushed to him. The public gallery inside the packed courtroom bursts into shouts of “Allahuakbar!” Anwar, 64, had been similarly indicted of sodomy over a decade ago and was found guilty. He spent six years in jail before being exonerated. The High Court’s decision this time, ahead of the 13th general election, will likely give a boost to Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact’s plans to take over Putrajaya. “Thank God! I was surprised with the verdict,” he told reporters above the noise, saying he is vindicated by the verdict and that justice has been done.

“The only thing now is to focus on the elections,” he said. The PKR adviser later added, “This was not just the freedom of one man... our duty now is to free the people. Our final stand will be in Putrajaya.” However, Anwar said he did not discount that the prosecution might appeal the High Court’s decision. Phil Robertson, an observer with New York-based Human Rights Watch, said: “Anwar was acquitted on charges that never should have been brought in the first place. “Hopefully, this verdict sends a verdict to the government to put this matter to rest.”

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua echoed the observation. “This proves the entire exercise was a political setup. This is the second time they are attempting to stop Anwar from contesting and leading,” he said. “We are grateful for the result and hope the federal government will not choose to appeal the case and let the country move on without being tainted by this entire imbroglio,” he added. Outside the Jalan Duta court complex, the Free Anwar rally demonstrators went wild as word of the opposition leader’s acquittal spread.

They screamed and clapped as PR leaders started to stream out. PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim were among those spotted. Just as quickly, one group detached itself from the throng and started marching to the Federal Territory mosque directly opposite the court complex. The remainder, numbering in the thousands, quickly formed a line outside the gates to the courthouse. Many shouted for Saiful, and called for the youth to be jailed for falsely accusing Anwar of sodomy. Some jeered at him and threatened to beat him up if they saw him outside the courtroom. ~themalaysianinsider.com~

Anwar Ibrahim


Tian Chua


Mat Sabu


Nurul Izzah


Tan Seng Giaw and Husam Musa


Thousands flooded Kampung Baru in the capital city tonight to listen to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's 'final message' before tomorrow's sodomy trial verdict at Duta Court. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim raced across the capital city last night, spending his potential last hours as a free man making his final appeal to supporters to continue fighting for political reform before today’s verdict in his sodomy trial. The de facto PKR leader pledged to a crowd of close to 5,000 at the final stop in Kampung Pandan here that “Umno leaders may cage my body but not my spirit.” It was his biggest crowd in his whirlwind meet with supporters in the capital city.

Leaping about a stage under the eye of dozens of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders such as DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, he called on supporters to “work hard as a team to save Malaysia.” “Save Malaysia from the rot. Save Malaysia from endemic corruption. “We are nearly there. Umno tried to convince PAS to join. Then DAP. No chance. This shows they are scared,” he said in his last public appearance before the Kuala Lumpur High Court decides his fate in the morning. He seemed a grim figure when he turned up a half hour earlier at the Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kampung Baru, the birthplace of Malay nationalism.

Before a crowd of about 2,000 people, Anwar maintained his innocence of the offence, and his swagger. “I am not guilty. I should be freed tomorrow,” he announced shortly after his arrival, drawing cheers and the usual sloganeering cry “Reformasi”. Anwar, 64, is charged with sodomising former male aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a condominium in upscale Damansara Heights here in June 2008, a few months before returning from a decade in the political wilderness and winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.

This is the second time he has been prosecuted for sodomy after being convicted in 1998 soon after then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked him from his post as deputy prime minister. The Federal Court overturned the conviction in 2004, paving the way for him to lead a loose opposition pact to deny Barisan Nasional (BN) its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament and five state governments in the landmark 2008 election. If found guilty, he could spend up to 20 years behind bars and effectively spell the end of his political career and his chance to be prime minister.

Earlier at home where Anwar and his family played host to some 300 supporters, they said: “We’re all optimistic.” His eldest daughter Nurul Izzah, who has followed in her father’s footsteps, said: “It’s not easy. I can give you one thousand and one answers. “But for me, at least we are comforted by the fact that the struggle goes beyond one man; it is about the principles he holds deeply and believes deeply in and it’s about the independence of our judiciary.” Anwar’s PAS ally from Kelantan, Datuk Husam Musa, however, summed up the sentiment of the crowd best at the Dewan Sultan Sulaiman when he told what they knew in their hearts. “The rakyat’s sentiment will be decided in the next polls,” said the Kelantan state executive councillor.~themalaysianinsider.com~

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Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal government would be satisfied with a simple majority in Parliament, citing concerns that a two-thirds majority victory will make the coalition complacent. The PKR de facto leader said that a simple majority would ensure a strong federal government as well as opposition, as well as allow a proper-check-and balance system so that PR does not end up mirroring the current Barisan Nasional government.

“Why do you need to win and have two-thirds majority, for what? Simply majority cukup (is enough). Two-thirds will make (us) complacent... two-thirds if you are too strong, you don’t and won’t have a strong, formidable opposition,”. The opposition leader said he was confident of PR’s chances of taking over Putrajaya and forming a new federal government, and that he wanted “Umno to perform well as an opposition party.” Election 2008 saw PKR become the largest opposition party in Parliament with a total of 31 MPs as BN suffered its worst performance at the polls ever, ceding five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats.

But it failed to defend Hulu Selangor in a by-election and lost a further six MPs who decided to become independent, allowing the DAP to become the biggest opposition party in Parliament with 28 MPs. PAS, despite being the largest PR party in terms of membership, had the smallest representation in Parliament with only 23 MPs after the polls. Asked about PR’s plans for Sabah and Sarawak, Anwar replied by saying that it was focusing on increasing the current number of state and parliamentary seats for the two states. “It will not be worse than 2008. We do not need to win Sabah and Sarawak. We need a substantial number of seats, and we are there,” the Permatang Pauh MP told The Malaysian Insider.

Since the 2008 general election, 57 of the 60 state assembly seats in Sabah are represented by BN, while the remaining three are represented by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) (two seats) and the DAP (one seat.) The Sarawak state election last year saw PR make significant inroads by winning 15 of the 71 state assembly seats. PR previously had seven seats in the state. ~themalaysianinsider~

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Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal government would be satisfied with a simple majority in Parliament, citing concerns that a two-thirds majority victory will make the coalition complacent. The PKR de facto leader said that a simple majority would ensure a strong federal government as well as opposition, as well as allow a proper-check-and balance system so that PR does not end up mirroring the current Barisan Nasional government.

“Why do you need to win and have two-thirds majority, for what? Simply majority cukup (is enough). Two-thirds will make (us) complacent... two-thirds if you are too strong, you don’t and won’t have a strong, formidable opposition,”. The opposition leader said he was confident of PR’s chances of taking over Putrajaya and forming a new federal government, and that he wanted “Umno to perform well as an opposition party.” Election 2008 saw PKR become the largest opposition party in Parliament with a total of 31 MPs as BN suffered its worst performance at the polls ever, ceding five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats.

But it failed to defend Hulu Selangor in a by-election and lost a further six MPs who decided to become independent, allowing the DAP to become the biggest opposition party in Parliament with 28 MPs. PAS, despite being the largest PR party in terms of membership, had the smallest representation in Parliament with only 23 MPs after the polls. Asked about PR’s plans for Sabah and Sarawak, Anwar replied by saying that it was focusing on increasing the current number of state and parliamentary seats for the two states. “It will not be worse than 2008. We do not need to win Sabah and Sarawak. We need a substantial number of seats, and we are there,” the Permatang Pauh MP told The Malaysian Insider.

Since the 2008 general election, 57 of the 60 state assembly seats in Sabah are represented by BN, while the remaining three are represented by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) (two seats) and the DAP (one seat.) The Sarawak state election last year saw PR make significant inroads by winning 15 of the 71 state assembly seats. PR previously had seven seats in the state. ~themalaysianinsider~