A VULTURE, NAMED MAHATHIR
As a student I knew of the horrors of the Holocaust and other human tragedies, but merely as a distant thunder: The violation of human rights and crimes against humanity were only an abstract notion.
That was all fated to change with my arrest under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. My crime? I had known Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia, as a close personal friend for many years. We shared and strove for a vision of life firmly rooted in human dignity. We struggled for building an intellectual and political milieu for free expression. Together, we subscribed to the idea of economic prosperity, gender and racial equality and a civil society.
Alas, the Malaysian dictator, Mahathir, under the growing burden of corruption and cronyism, conspired to halt the march of freedom. In order to build his fraudulent case against Anwar, Mahathir himself ordered my arrest.
My kidnapping and detention by the infamous Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one’s wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused. What it’s like to be threatened, blackmailed, tormented by police lawyers, brutalized to make a totally false confession, hospitalized for a consequent heart ailment, and treated as a psychiatric patient with symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.
Barely surviving on a meager diet of rancid rice and chicken along with 12 medicines a day, I spent nearly four months handcuffed around the clock to my hospital bed, under the watchful eyes of the prison guards.
Thereafter, my ability to speak, read and write took a considerable time to show signs of recovery. Short-term memory lapses were frequent. I existed in a fluid state in which suicidal tendencies, depression and despair were punctuated by fits of rage and indignation.
Weekly visits of less than an hour by my wife, Nadia, with our young children — Aisha and Omran — were my only contact with the outside world and the only inspiration to live on.
In collusion with the lawyer appointed on my behalf by the police, the Malaysian authorities refused the legal assistance of my choice, coercing me not to mount an appeal against the court verdict and threatening me with greater punishment under new charges if I didn’t co-operate.
Simultaneously, Nadia constantly endured police harassment, wiretapping and disruption of our e-mail and bank accounts. Some of our friends were met with the same fate and were compelled to abandon us when we needed them most.
But, in attempting to scare off and alienate my friends, how terribly mistaken were Malaysian autocrats in aping gross Gestapo tactics. How they underestimated the temper of freedom in so many places around the world, above all among friends in the West.
Floodgates of human compassion were opened when the futurist author Alvin Toffler, who Mahathir asked to advise him on a pet high-technology project, sent a message of protest to the Malaysian leader within 72 hours of my capture. In a major interview with the Western press, Mahathir even felt it necessary to make assurances — unfulfilled, of course — about my well being.
With every passing day, the rising tide of concern for my plight seemed to personify the words of Elie Wiesel: “Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor. Never the victim. Never the tormented.”
Friends and strangers alike took a stand and support began to mushroom everywhere. Nadia related to me in the hospital how Amnesty International had declared me a “prisoner of conscience,” and how Pen International adopted me as a “writer in prison.” Against all odds, two prominent Malaysian lawyers, Manjeet Singh Dhillon and Balwant Singh Siddhu, offered their services unconditionally. To top it all, an international coalition — Friends of Dr. Anees — came into existence in defence of my rights. The core group of Naseer Ahmad, Baseer Hai, Safir Rammah, Jamal Mubarak, Anees Ahmad and Naeem Siddiqui mounted a media campaign with phenomenal success.
What touched my heart was that the person, Kamal Mubarak, who set up the Web site had never met me in person. From the depths of my confinement, I could see the magic of human compassion had begun to defeat oppression.
The pinnacle was reached after my release in the warm hug laced with watery eyes of an Amnesty friend in Toronto, Margaret John, who witnessed a pledge of solidarity between me and Devan Nair, the former president of Singapore, for we had come to share a similar fate.
My victimization at the hands of Mahathir’s “Asian values” has transformed me in another way. All my adult life, like so many in the Muslim world, I have suspected under every nook and cranny some conspiracy by the West to keep us down. Yet, in this seminal experience of my life, my friends in the West succeeded in saving me, while Mahathir, a Muslim, did everything to destroy me. And he is trying to do the same to Anwar again through his obliging courts on totally fabricated charges.
Mahathir has demonstrated that, though a proclaimed Muslim, his heart is blind to compassion. Tyranny is the hallmark of his bankrupt concept of “Asian values.”
My tragedy, and that of my friend Anwar, ought to make our fellow Muslims think very hard when they ponder the West and its role in the world. As we set out to shape our collective destiny in the 21st century, will the values of Mahathir or Jefferson serve us best? Mahathir himself made that choice for me. Sic semper tyrannis.
These are words of Dr. Munawar A. Anees!
SUNGAI PETANI, April 6 — Continuing his 11th hour campaign blitz, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked Indians here to appreciate the sacrifices made by the majority races in Barisan Nasional and vote for MIC candidate Datuk S. Ganesan.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad holding court at Bukit Selambau. – Picture by Shannon TeohTaking up his usual refrain when speaking to a 4,000-strong crowd before Bukit Selambau goes to the polls tomorrow, the former prime minister said although Malays made up the majority here in Bukit Selambau, BN had allowed an Indian candidate to run as part of its policy to ensure representation of all races in government.
“Indians are the smallest of the three major races. There is no constituency where they form the majority, Dr Mahathir told the crowd.
“But Chinese and Malays have cooperated and sacrificed to ensure they have a place in government because if you sacrifice in some places, in other places you get rewarded.”
The Kedah native explained that in an election, even a one vote majority would suffice and this was why Indians are important in the Bukit Selambau race.
His speech here, just two days after rejoining Umno, was no doubt aimed at shoring up support among the Indian community here who make up 30 per cent of the electorate.
Less than a fifth of Indians had voted for BN in last year’s general election and recent surveys from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat have found that BN will improve its tally but there is uncertainty over how much.
“When the support is the same for BN and the opposition, it is the minorities who can decide who wins,” he said.
Despite a largely Malay audience in attendance, Dr Mahathir reminded them of past leaders from other communities who helped BN shape an approach of compromise between the various races.
“We see that Malays have not grabbed everything but have given space to other races, so they support a Malay-led government and share power,” he said.
He also accused the opposition of “promising everything to all races” to fish for votes when such policies were not possible.
Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister said that if any race were to be given all that they asked for, it would disappoint other races.
“Can a government give everything to one race without others being unhappy? So our policy is that no race gets everything and this is thanks to the multiracial Barisan Nasional,” said Dr Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years.
Expressing his belief that race relations is a zero-sum game, he reminded the audience that “if you have one race not getting something, then have no doubt, it is because we care for other races.”
Anwar introduces Manikumar to the voters for the last time. – Picture by Shannon TeohSUNGAI PETANI, April 7 – Has Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s involvement in on the final day of campaigning added yet another layer to an already packed agenda for today’s triple by-elections?
By making an eleventh hour blitz through Bukit Gantang and Selambau, the former Prime Minister, whose shadow continues to loom large over local politics and especially Umno, has stolen the thunder once again.
The results from the two polls will now be the clearest indication yet of whether the love-him-or-hate-him statesman, is more loved or hated.
Nearly 100,000 Malaysians were set to decide on what has been hyped up - especially by Pakatan Rakyat - as a multiple referendum.
The overall score is to be a vote of (no) confidence in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s newly-minted premiership, the legitimacy of the Perak coup by Barisan Nasional is to be decided in Bukit Gantang, the relevance of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s MIC to be settled in Bukit Selambau and the question of any inroads made by the opposition in East Malaysia to be answered in Batang Ai.
Bukit Selambau election director Saifuddin Nasution making a last-minute reminder to PKR supporters not to be confused by the record-breaking 15-choice ballot paper.But by taking to the stump to discredit his former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and then telling Indians in Bukit Selambau to vote for BN, Dr Mahathir, Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister ever, has given voters another - albeit, unnecessary - reason to make their voice heard.
Last night, as the clock ticked towards the official end of campaigning at midnight, Opposition Leader Anwar’s reaction to the man who sacked him from government some 11 years ago was conspicuous in its absence.
“It’s okay, don’t disturb him,” he told 3,000 supporters who had braved the rain.
The PKR de facto leader had spent less than a minute preceding that to ridicule Dr Mahathir’s call to support MIC’s Datuk S. Ganesan as Bukit Selambau assemblyman.
Instead, it was PKR vice president Azmin Ali who had made the challenge to Bukit Selambau to reject Dr Mahathir.
“If Malays have really rallied behind Umno’s new leadership, then why do they need to bring out this old newspaper?” he mocked.
“I challenge you to strike him out of Bukit Selambau,” he told the crowd after telling Dr Mahathir to “look yourself in the mirror before talking about democracy” as he accused him of degrading the institution of the courts, Malay rulers and the police force during his 22-year premiership.
Eventually, Dr Mahathir will probably have added votes for BN across all three constituencies after his speeches were broadcast over national television.
But failure to tip the scales over to BN in the Peninsula seats, which were looking too close to call until yesterday, will show that his influence is not as potent as Umno had hoped it to be.
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