Ambiga Sreenevasan is a colossus of intellect and integrity in the Malaysian legal fraternity. Ask any lawyer and they will tell you. Here is what Wikipedia has to say:
Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan (born 1956) is a Malaysian lawyer who served as the Malaysian Bar chairlady from 2007 to 2009.
In March 2009, she became one of the eight recipients for the 2009 Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage Awards. In the ceremony, the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented, "... Ambiga Sreenevasan, has a remarkable record of accomplishment in Malaysia. She has pursued judicial reform and good governance, she has stood up for religious tolerance, and she has been a resolute advocate of women’s equality and their full political participation. She is someone who is not only working in her own country, but whose influence is felt beyond the borders of Malaysia. And it is a great honor to recognize her and invite her to the podium."
References: "Remarks by Clinton on International Women of Courage Awards". America.gov. United States. 11 March. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS leaders have dismissed opposition towards next month’s Bersih rally and maintained plans to proceed with it.
Umno daily Utusan Malaysia today urged Malaysians to boycott the protest and quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s warning that “it will be chaotic when those for and against the street demonstration clash.”
“Opposition is normal. It is a democratic country,” Ambiga (picture) told The Malaysian Insider today.
“My own reading is that a lot of people are very supportive of the demands we are making. There’s unhappiness...like example in the Sarawak (election), unhappiness about corruption, (and) unhappiness about the independence of our institutions,” added the election watchdog chief.
Ambiga, a former Bar Council president, called the protest a “peaceful citizens’ rally”.
When asked how Bersih 2.0 will face a possible police crackdown on the rally, she said: “Our plan is not final yet...we want to urge the authorities to change the way they see rallies.”
PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu said people will support the Bersih rally as the government has yet to fulfill the NGO’s demands during its first protest in 2007.
“When elections are not run fairly, it will be like what happened in the Middle East. I don’t want what’s happening in the Middle East to happen here,” Mohamad told The Malaysian Insider.
Popular uprisings throughout the Middle East have recently toppled autocratic governments in Egypt and Tunisia that were accused of widespread corruption.
Mohamad pointed out that other countries like Singapore had acceded to people’s demands for fair election practices.
“Change happened in Singapore...they (the opposition) got access to media,” said Mohamad, referring to the recent Singapore election.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties and activists are gearing up to march next month in the second such rally by Bersih, the first being in 2007 where up to 50,000 were reported to have gathered in the capital, with many being dispersed by water cannons and tear gas launched by the police.
Mohamad said PAS will bring hundreds of thousands of protestors this year, ahead of speculation that a general election will be called within a year.
The 2007 rally was said to play a big role in bringing record gains for the opposition electoral pact in Election 2008, where it swept five state governments and won 82 parliamentary seats.
PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa said Utusan’s front-page treatment of the Bersih rally today was “good coverage”, pointing out that more people will now support the protest.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan today urged leaders from both sides of the political divide to attend next month’s rally seeking for free and fair elections“We need them to hear our grievances,” said Ambiga at a ceramah in Brickfields here today.
“It is the Sarawak election that has caused Bersih to call this rally on July 9. We’ve been engaging with the Election Commission (EC), but we’re not going anywhere... there is no real meaningful change,” added the former Bar Council president.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has warned against the rally, saying it will turn chaotic should opposing supporters clash.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties and activists are gearing up to march next month in the second such rally by Bersih, the first being in 2007 where up to 50,000 were reported to have gathered in the capital, with many being dispersed by water cannons and tear gas launched by the police.
The 2007 rally was said to play a big role in bringing record gains for the opposition electoral pact in Election 2008, where it swept five state governments and won 82 parliamentary seats.
Ambiga said election malpractices had marred the recent Sarawak state election, citing vote-buying and abuse of government machinery.
“There was a video on Malaysiakini that showed blatant vote-buying. It showed a longhouse with piles of money,” she said.
“(But) the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) says we can’t investigate because video evidence is not reliable,” added the prominent lawyer.
The winning Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, Joseph Mauh Ikeh, in the Tamin state seat, reportedly said the cash payments were “travel allowances” for voters.
Ambiga also slammed BN for barring her from entering Sarawak prior to the state election last April.
“They’re not afraid of me at all. It’s a show of arrogance of power,” she said.
She added, however, that the EC had assured her that it would persuade government-controlled media to be fair in their coverage of election candidates.
Ambiga listed Bersih 2.0’s demands in its upcoming rally: clean up the electoral roll, reform postal voting, use indelible ink, introduce a minimum 21-day campaign period, allow free access to media, strengthen institutions, and end dirty politics.
“Putrajaya doesn’t belong to anyone else except the rakyat. We will decide who goes there,” she said to rousing applause.
Assessing the regional security implications of events in Syria is as difficult as understanding how its internal dynamics will resolve themselves. The revolutionary wave sweeping the Middle East has torn apart the old political order. Consequently, the strategic plans of the main parties are in disarray. That is certainly true of the United States. Washington is evidently unable to think beyond the reconstitution of some semblance of its pre-reform diplomatic assemblage.
In this intellectual vacuum, it is inescapable that the United States' attitude toward Syria should be inchoate. The administration from President Obama on down are at sea. They have experienced all the change that they can handle -- or, more accurately, mishandle. Syria may not be the last straw, but it is adding to the unbearable overload of Washington's intellectual and diplomatic systems. Every party in the region is on the horns of a dilemma. Continuation of the discredited Assad regime in place is intolerable and probably impossible. Its disintegration, though, promises sectarian repercussions that likely will ripple beyond its borders with unpredictable effects.
It looks like Prime Minister Najib Razak has made his decision. Instead of heeding calls to clean up his act, the scandal-plagued PM is digging in and furiously gathering 'dark' forces within his UMNO party to thwart a massive rally for free and fair elections in the country.
Utusan Malaysia, the UMNO-controlled daily and under his direct charge, has labelled the Bersih 2.0 July 9 rally "dirty". To pundits, this further signalled that Najib would regress in order to cling to political power.
In fact, many of his media advisers and 'spin-masters' have begun a scare-mongering exercise on which they are pinning their hopes to frighten the electorate especially the non-Malays into voting the BN back to power.
But times have changed and even in conservative-minded PAS, fed-up Malays and Muslims want to eject this brand of "nasty culture" as fast they can.
Pre-empting a public call to do away with dirty politics
Be that as it may, desperate for solutions and to avoid a humiliating public statement against his "dirty rule" - which is what a successful Bersih rally would signify - Najib and his minders are scrambling for unsavory solutions, rather than settle for the obvious answers.
"Do things the right way. Accept the people's decision. For example, why must he insist on regaining Selangor at all costs. Why must he insist of defending Putrajaya even if it means crushed bodies and lost lives. Is he saying this country belongs to him and UMNO?" chided PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.
The Gombak MP had a day ago challenged the PM, "I want to ask Najib, what does he mean ‘at all cost’? Kill? C4 (military explosives)? Rob? Snatch? Blow up? Bribe? This is a statement of an uncivilised prime minister who doesn’t believe in democracy."
Time for the people to confront their fears through open and public discussion
Najib's personal popularity is at an ebb, especially in the wake of the scandal shrouding his recent official visit to Kazakhstan. He and his wife Rosmah Mansor were accused of taking an overly large 200-member entourage on public expense to attend their daughter's engagement party there. Nooryana Najib, 22, is due to marry into a powerful and wealthy Kazakh family.
"It is good to thrash out these issues of scare-mongering in the open. I believe Malaysians including the non-Malays are not frightened as before and the more we confront our fears, the easier it is to overcome them. For the Malays, we are inspired by the revolution that has happened in Tunisia, Libya and other parts of the Mulsim world. We too want to get rid of our Gadaffis and Ben Alis or to be precise, the Razaks, the Mahathirs and the Husseins," Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.
"Dynastic politics, crony and corruption politics are symptomatic of each other and it is the people themselves who want to get rid of these. Don't blame the opposition, we are merely the catalysts but the real current is flowing from the people themselves. If Najib doesn't believe it, just let Bersih happen naturally. From the response, he and the rest of the world will know the truth. This is what Utusan and UMNO are actually trying to pre-empt."
Saiful DNA and Datuk T sex video vs Altantuya murder and Ziana Zain PD
“The gathering is masterminded by NGOs who are anti-Islam in their thinking and actions. PAS’s involvement is only as pak turut (yes-men) as the pro-Anwar faction now controls the party," Utusan said in its Awang Selamat editorial on Sunday.
Utusan also tried to kill two birds with one stone, urrging readers to come its rally “with banners of the Opposition Leader’s scandals”. The paper has long waged a vindictive smear campaign against the 64-year old Anwar Ibrahim, who has accused Najib and wife Rosmah of hatching sodomy and sex video conspiracies to destroy his political career.
"That's fine with us. For PKR supporters, I guess we have to respond with banners bearing Altanutya's and Ziana Zain's faces, the Scorpenes, Razak Baginda, the Eurocopters and Sukhoi. Especially, the faces of the two bodyguards who have to hang for taking orders to kill Altantuya ," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malayisa Chronicle.
He was referring to the Altantuya murder, where two of Najib's and Rosmah's former bodyguards have been sentenced to hang for killing the Mongolian translator, alleged to have been Najib's former mistress. Neither bodyguard had any motive to kill her and one of them has alleged he was paid RM100,000 to do so.
Ibrahim Ali to the fore
Meanwhile, Malay rights rabble-rouser Ibrahim Ali was reported as saying his Perkasa movement would “also hold a gathering on that day and I am ready for any eventuality.”Further blustering from Utusan included a warning by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Najib's cousin, that “it will be chaotic when those for and against the street demonstration clash.” Yet the two men had last year given tacit approval to UMNO-led demonstrations that resulted in many churches being torched and vandalized over the use of the word Allah.
Utusan also reported that 21,000-odd taxi drivers stood to lose RM3.2 million on that day and that 13 police reports have already been lodged against the Bersih rally.
For how long must the Chinese and the non-Malays be afraid
Meanwhile, other Pakatan leaders expressed shock and disappoinment at the UMNO-BN tactics.
"Utusan and UMNO clearly have no respect for the Federal Constitution, which guarantees the right to peaceful gatherings. There is nothing 'dirty' about a people's gathering calling for free and fair elections. Utusan stays silent on BN's massive corruption and misuse of power and oppressive laws, yet attacks the people for exercising their basic rights. This is disgraceful," PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.
"Utusan is desperate after their dirty propaganda campaign failed. From sodomy to sex video and then to the PASmuktamar, where they tried to poke fire with the Erdogan versus the ulama stories, they have only lost further credibility," Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi told Malaysia Chronicle.
"During the Mahathir 'Bolehland' days, white was turned to black and black to white. Now, Bersih which means clean is turned to 'dirty'. It is time for Malaysians of all races and faith to face their fears and never allow the UMNO elite to oppress them in their own country again," Gopeng MP Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.
"From the feedback from the ceramah circuit, I am confident we are ready. We must not back off just because the UMNO elite are threatening violence or a May 13 reprisal. Najib has in the past promise to bathe the keris in Chinese blood. It is about time, we ask him to explain what he means by that. For how long must the Chinese and the other non-Malays be afraid."
Washington's public reactions to the downward spiral of civil strife in Syria are symptomatic of its general disorientation. When in doubt, revert to hackneyed slogans. So now we are being treated to the line that Iran is to blame. Not for fomenting the revolt against its ally, but for encouraging and enabling the crackdown. Does Iran want Assad to hold onto power? Of course. Does it urge truculent resistance to the forces that besiege the government? Of course. Might it provide some material aid if needed? Of course. Sophisticated instruments for monitoring electronic communications? Perhaps. Is material or moral support crucial to what is happening there? Of course not.
Official Washington is trumpeting the claim that Tehran is going so far as to provide "helmets and batons." As if a regime whose leaders literally are fighting for their lives and has forty years experience in cracking heads (and doing far worse) is short of these primitive tools or lacks the willpower to use them. If for some unimaginable reason it were in need of resupply, it could have them delivered faster by buying on E-bay. Statements like that just make Washington look ridiculous. That is not something that the reputation of a wobbly great power can afford.
In a sign that political rivals said underscored UMNO's fast-emptying arsenal, Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali has vowed to stop the Bersih 2.0 rally from happening on July 9.
"It is just like UMNO to bring on an empty vessel to make noise. UMNO is afraid of PAS. Hishamuddin has ordered this latest 'wayang' so that he can have the excuse to ban the entire rally," MP for Bukit Gantang Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.
Nizar was referring to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who has warned the police will not hesitate to crack down on protesters.
The Bersih rally is meant to assemble Malaysians in a show of solidarity ahead of snap general elections widely expected to be held within months. The core aim of the rally is to show the government of the day that the nation wants free and fair elections, no dirty politics and no electoral fraud.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather as Malaysia braces for the polls, where even those who live in the remote areas are worried that Prime Minister Najib Razak's party will resort to massive fraud and even brute force to cling to power.
'Frogs' bat for Najib
Yet to self-styled Malay rights rabble-rouser Ibrahim Ali, it was the Bersih rally that reeked of evil. Ironically, he said 'democracy' was his reason for wanting to stop the Bersih with a counter-rally of his own.“Perkasa will stop this from happening. I will be there myself on that day," Ibrahim.
“Perkasa will launch a counter-demonstration, to show that there are people who do not agree with this rally, I am stopping this on the principle of democracy. I cannot imagine if there is a rally that day and there is a big crowd, anything can happen."
Ibrahim's announcement comes a day after UMNO-owned newspaper, Utusan, called the Bersih rally 'dirty'. He plans to table a motion in Parliament, saying Perkasa will also hold a roundtable discussion with with 70 NGOs on Tuesday night to think of ideas and reasons why the Bersih rally should not be held and why it could affect the country’s tourism sector.
With him at the press conference were the notorious Pakatan defectors, known in the local political circles as 'frogs'.
These included Konsensus Bebas or Independent Caucus members - Zahrain Hashim (MP for Bayan Baru, Zulkifli Noordin (MP for Kulim-Bandar Baharu and Mohsin Samsuri (MP for Bagan Serai).
“This is a pre-emptive decision to make sure there is no chaos,” said Zahrain, a former PKR member who left on bad terms and is believed to be on the UMNO side of the fence now.
Scare-mongering binge begins
At the last lap, before national polls that could well see the end of UMNO's five decade hold on power, pundits expect Najib to resort to scare-mongering and threats.
His advisers and media consultants are daily churning out veiled threats of unrest and physical violence if Malaysians did not continue to vote for UMNO-BN. However, these have failed to make much headway, even amongst the Chinese who have traditionally avoided political involvement.
"As expected, Najib is marshalling all his forces to win the elections by hook or by crook. Why does he want to stop a peaceful rally like Bersih if he is not afraid of free and fair elections," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
"But we are not worried by Ibrahim or his NGOs. The winds of change are blowing very strongly. There is nothing that he or Najib or UMNO can do to stop this. It is a futile exercise and if they have doubts, they can ask Colonel Gadaffi. If possible, we would urge the authorities to issue a permit to Perkasa or whichever group that wants to march that day. Elections come once in 5 years and all Malaysians have right to say their piece."
At the strategic level, the Obama administration's unbounded anti-Iranian campaign is fanning the flames of Sunni-Shiite passions, and aggravating already embittered relations between Iran and the Gulf states. I have yet to see an analysis of how Washington's cavalier attitude toward this mounting antagonism serves American national interests.
So what should Washington be doing? Here are four suggestions. One, cease discrediting yourself by making unjustified or irrelevant accusations. Two, recognize that American ability to influence the path of change is minimal. Not everything is within the power of the United States to inflect. Accept that reality is a prerequisite for avoiding missteps. Three, come down strongly and unequivocally on the side of reform. The United States has damaged its standing enough over the past five months by temporizing and discriminating in affirming the values it claims to exemplify without adding to disillusionment by hedging on a clear-cut case like Syria. Four, engage in serious contingency planning. That should anticipate a range of outcomes with an equally wide range of possible repercussions. If we are politically, intellectually and/or temperamentally incapable of coping with uncertainty in a disciplined fashion, then it is imperative to scale back our commitments, our engagements and our expectations.
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