WASHINGTON: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "will have to go," a top US lawmaker said Monday after a closed-doors Senate meeting on weeklong, deadly protests calling for the authoritarian leader's ouster.
Mubarak "cannot afford to clamp down again, as he initially tried to do by deploying his security forces and shutting down access to the Internet," Senator Bill Nelson wrote in an opinion article after a closed doors meeting of the Select Committee on Intelligence on recent events in Egypt and Tunisia.
"Instead, Mr Mubarak will have to go," Nelson added, though cautioning against the Egyptian government falling and "leaving the door open for extremists," such as the powerful Muslim Brotherhood opposition group.
The creation of a harmonious, just, democratic and competitive nation, which is a model to the world as an united, tolerant and successful multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious society, remains the greatest challenge of Malaysians.
Nation-building should not be a zero-sum game but must be a win-win formula for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.
Malaysia has strayed from this formula, with a world diaspora of a million-strong Malaysians – testimony that Malaysians are helping to create the greatness of other nations instead of their own country.
Although there is belated official recognition that human capital is even more valuable than natural resources as national assets in the era of globalisation, there is still no political will to introduce nation-building policies that will develop and retain Malaysian talent as well as attract foreign talent.
Slogans like “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” will not create a harmonious, just, democratic and competitive nation until and unless Malaysia could be seen by its people and others as a land of equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure, happy life for each individual and family.
Wishing all Malaysian Chinese a happy and purposeful Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.
Lim Kit Siang is the DAP MP for Ipoh Timur
His statement came amid the seventh straight day of nationwide protests against Mubarak's three-decade rule that have shaken Egypt, and left at least 125 people dead as the veteran leader clings to power.
US President Barack Obama's administration has so far reacted cautiously to the uprising in one of its most crucial allies in the Middle East, seemingly seeking to show solidarity with protesters demanding democracy but stopping short of calling for Mubarak to step down.
Egypt is also only one of two Arab countries -- the other being Jordan -- to have recognized major US ally Israel. Egypt and Israel are the two biggest recipients of US foreign aid.
Nelson also noted, however, that there could be a "short-term solution" to quell the unrest with Mubarak holding onto power while guaranteeing "free and fair" elections.
But if Mubarak stays, he should to "immediately submit to this core principle of democracy," the Florida Democrat said in the article.
Meanwhile Kay Granger, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, warned of the risks of suspending US support for Egypt.
"While there are calls for eliminating Egypt's economic and military aid, I urge caution when deciding what the US response will be," the Texas Republican said in a statement.
"It is critical that we are deliberate about the actions we take. Egypt has been a moderate influence in the Middle East and has a peace agreement with Israel. I am continuing to monitor the events on the ground very closely."
The Senate panel's meeting also discussed the situation in Tunisia, where protests that led to the ouster of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali inspired Egypt's uprising.
The last time tanks had rolled on to Cairo’s Midan Tahrir, or Tahrir Square, I was nearly shot. It was October 14, 1981 and a tumultuous day for Egyptian political history. Anwar Sadat, the president had been shot as he watched para-troopers drop from the sky at a military parade on the outskirts of Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood was blamed and in the knee-jerk reaction that was seen again in the past week, authorities blacked out TV and radio news on the assassination. The word on the Arab street all day was ``coup’’. Late afternoon, tanks rolled on the streets of Cairo, parked themselves on Tahrir Sq and around the government-controlled radio and TV headquarters. As an impetuous undergraduate looking for excitement and frustrated by Koranic verses and static on the radio set, I had rushed to the huge villa on the bank across the Nile from Tahrir that was the official home of the Indian ambassador. No envoy was posted there, so an IFS probationer was allowed to make it his temporary home. After ringing the outer gate bell for several minutes, I did the next intelligent thing – climb the wall. As I landed with a thud on the grass, I was staring at the barrel of a revolver with its holder screaming in Arabic how he had nearly shot me and didn’t I know there was a national emergency. Well, I was only looking for the IFS guy who had a better short-wave set. Nothing happened to me and it was amazing that nothing happened in Cairo in the days that followed. There was no coup, Hosni Mubarak, who had a reputation of being a fiery Spitfire pilot and adept at the controls of huge Russian transport planes, smoothly took over and cracked down on the Brotherhood. If anything, people seemed to be glad that the scenes that followed the overthrow of the Shah of Iran weren’t being repeated.
Egyptians are not prone to swarming out to protest a despot nor are they typical Arab street. They are very political people but also tolerant and polite. Politically many Egyptians might align themselves to Arab politics but Egyptians hate being called Arabs. It’s almost like a slur for people who have grown up in the cradle of civilization. That these people have suffered the harsh rule of Mubarak for 30 years is a tribute to their patience and a measure of the Mubarak’s sophistication of suppression, something he and Sadat learned from the Soviets. It had grown to the point where even the country’s baksheesh-loving cops are allowing the young protesters to march through without resistance. In the decades, Mubarak has used the secret police to build dossiers on potential threats, destroyed the party system and used the cops and courts to jail opponents. If the fragrance of jasmines sweeps off Mubarak, Egyptians will have to get off the streets and get down to building institutions.
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