By Dr. Chen Man Hin
PM ABDULLAH SHOULD NOT ABDICATE FROM HIS DUTIES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE – REVOKE THE SODOMY II CONSPIRACY IMMEDIATELY AND INSTEAD LEAD THE COUNTRY TO UNITY, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY
MARCH 8TH – A DEFINING DAY FOR NEW MALAYSIA, A DAY OF GRIEF AND BLOW FOR BARISAN NASIONAL AND UMNO.
The latest Merdeka Center Research report found that only 28 percent of registered voters polled in July felt encouraged by the country’s direction, a severe fall from 68% in late February.
Briefly, the causes for this rapid loss of confidence in the present Barisan government, are outlined below.
UMNO SHOCK DEFEAT ON MARCH 8TH
The prime minister was deeply upset by the poor performance of Barisan Nasional at the elections, when Barisan lost its two-thirds majority in parliament and only obtained 52% of the popular vote.
It was a body blow for Umno, causing it to be embroiled in self recrimination and loss of morale.
The PM was so upset by the loss and the resulting turmoil in Umno that he forgot his duties as head of government, which was to govern and bring development for the country.
Mired by factional splits, the Umno leadership could not decide on the reforms necessary to rejuvenate Umno – the key problem of whether to adopt a global policy of meritocracy, multiracialism or to revert back to old ways of ketuanan melayu and racial economics with its corruption, cronyism and medieval politics.
Hence, the country is bogged down and unable to improve in political, economic and social development, causing much social tension and frustration.
THE RISE OF ANWAR IBRAHIM
The other factor causing Abdullah’s prevarication and abdication of national responsibilities is the resurrection of ANWAR IBRAHIM, who led a loose coalition of opposition parties – PKR, DAP and PAS to an astounding victory on 08-03-08 by capturing control of five states and 48% of the popular vote.
The three parties quickly formed PAKATAN RAKYAT with a platform based on the winning formula for the general election – democracy, justice, multiracial unity, freedom of religion and transparency.
With 82 seats in parliament, Anwar formulated a plan to take over the government by attracting 30 MPs from Barisan to form a new government.
RATIONALE FOR QUICK TAKEOVER WAS TO CARRY FORWARD THE MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE MANDATED BY THE PEOPLE ON MARCH 8TH
It was necessary to push forward the clock for change, as a wait of four to five years for the next election would mean more grief for the people due to incompetence, corruption and cronyism.
This provoked immediate panic within UMNO, and they reacted without thinking the problem through. instead of accepting Anwar’s challenge with democratic strategies, PM Abdullah took a lesson from former premier Tun Mahathir.
SODOMY 1 CONSPIRACY BY DR MAHATHIR.
In 1998, Tun Mahathir also faced a serious leadership challenge from Anwar and he trumped up a charge of sodomy against ANWAR, who was found guilty and jailed for six years.
SODOMY II CONSPIRACY BY PM ABDULLAH BADAWI
So a conspiracy was concocted – a conspiracy of an accusation of sodomy. the objective was to remove the Anwar threat of taking over the government with his plan to attract at least 30 Barisan MPs to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat.
Unfortunately, the copycat Sodomy II was seen by all to be a conspiracy, and evoked loud protests from the people and from international government leaders.
Famous leaders of the World Bank, IMF and the Canadian prime minister called for the charges against Anwar to be dropped immediately.
So did the Human Rights Watch who commented that the charges of sodomy were trumped up and not true.
So did Washington government leaders like Condoleeza Rice, US Secretary of State.
So did critics from home who said that 90% of the people know that the sodomy charges were false.
So did the reputable Merdeka Research Centre which found that a poll taken from registered voters showed that only 11% felt that the sodomy charges were true while 90% indicated that the accusations were trumped up – not genuine.
It would appear that the whole government machinery – cabinet, judiciary, attorney general chambers, the police, civil administration, medical hospital and the media were used to promote Sodomy II conspiracy in order to ‘fix’ Anwar and put him in jail.
The political wrangling within UMNO and the focus on neutralising Anwar have brought much negative effects.
Political unrest, economic downturn, inflation, slowdown of economy in all sectors and suffering of the common people have occurred because the prime minister and the Barisan have dithered and have no positive policies and strategies to bring about changes for the betterment of the people.
The DAP and PR want the Prime Minister to wake up and stop the wrangling and turmoil within UMNO and concentrate on new strategies and solutions for a sufferring people.
The DAP and PR also demand that the conspiracy to entrap Anwar on sodomy charges to cease immediately, as there is not a shred of evidence to support the charges. The Hospital Puswari medical report stated emphatically that there was no evidence of sodomy – no anal injury, no mention of semen stains.
We the people and PR urge the PM to fulfill his responsibilities to govern well, reform UMNO and cease the sodomy II conspiracy against Anwar immediately.