|
Sunday, 25-Jan-2004 9:52 PM Only a revolution and not evolution can bring about change It is confirmed. The “war” has started. The skirmish between the police and Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters at Pasir Salak late Saturday night just confirmed it. So far, since Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi took over from Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister
of Malaysia at 3.00pm on 31 October 2003, the police and the Anwarists
have only been eyeballing each other. Even when, outraged at the
court’s denial of bail they blocked the prison four-wheel drive
from taking Anwar back to prison, the police were very careful about
manhandling the protestors. But on Saturday night, though it was
a peaceful rally, the police moved in and continued its tradition
of the Mahathir era of beating up Anwar’s supporters. The government is certainly afraid of the regrouping of the Anwarists under the new banner of the Gerakan Anwar Bebas (the Free Anwar Movement), the local version of the International Free Anwar Campaign, that has been organising rallies, convoys and leafleting campaigns all over the country. And it has not even reached its peak yet. For all intents and purposes, the campaign has only begun. We can expect many more showdowns and skirmishes in the weeks and months to come. This is just inevitable. But there is also a bigger issue at stake here other than the fight for Anwar’s freedom, or the very least his “temporary” freedom on bail, and that is the coming general election which should be upon us as soon as the end of March or early April this year. Whatever the Anwarists or Gerakan Anwar Bebas does, it should not jeopardise the opposition’s chances in the coming general election, for the opposition not only has a good chance of retaining the two states presently under its control but also probably adding another state or two if it is up to the mark. The Anwarists must understand that not all who will vote (or voted in the last general election) for the opposition are Anwarists. Some, in fact, do not even like Anwar. But they support (or supported) the opposition for the larger issues involving the end of corruption, more transparency, the end of government excesses and wastage of public funds, the restoration of the independence of the judiciary, the end of police brutality and extrajudicial killings, and for more fundamental liberties such as freedom of assembly, association and speech. The fact the opposition secured 46% or 2.6 million of the votes the last election against the ruling party’s 54% or 3.1 million votes is testimony to this. And this support can still be there or even increase if the newly registered two million voters, who are predominantly anti-establishment, are taken into consideration. But this support must not be dampened by any perceived “violence” on the part of the opposition, in particular the Anwarists. Rest assured the government is going to provoke more such skirmishes in the weeks to come to “demonstrate” how violent the opposition can be in an effort to frighten the more conservative opposition supporters who are only prepared to fight for change through the ballot box and not through street battles. These conservatives want evolutionary change and not revolutionary change. So what do we do then? Do we end the campaign to free Anwar knowing that the government will frustrate every program and try to turn it into a street war? No! What we need to do is to separate the party from the Anwar movement. The party can still propagate the freedom of Anwar as one of its issues. It can always use what happened to Anwar, in particular the denial of bail and all the three judges’ “non-recollection” of certain crucial evidence that has a strong bearing on Anwar’s case, as proof that the government is corrupt. Anwar can still be the icon of the fight for a better Malaysia. But the opposition needs to also propagate all the other bigger and wider issues and not allow the perception that the opposition is only about Anwar to prevail. Those Anwarists such as Tian Chua, Lokman Noor Adam, Ezam Mohd Nor, Ghani Haroon, N. Gobalakrishnan, Zahid Md Arip, Adlan Benan Omar, Ruslan Kassim, and many more, should decide what they want to do. If they want to contest the next election and make politics their fulltime career, then maybe they should slow down on organising or heading any activities that might be perceived as violent and focus on the coming elections. If, however, they do not wish to contest the elections or have been disqualified from contesting due to the many convictions they are facing or about to face, then they should move on and head the campaign to free Anwar on a separate, non-party platform. Six weeks, the expected time of the next general election, is a very short time indeed. In no time at all we will soon be facing the voters. The voters must not be frightened, and frightened they will be if more skirmishes were to erupt over these next six weeks. So the movement to free Anwar must be given a respectable distance from the party. It may be prudent, or even necessary, if people like Lokman and the other “brains” behind the Gerakan Anwar Bebas leave the party. It is their duty to insulate and isolate the party from any backlash resulting from the rallies, convoys and leafleting campaigns planned over the weeks to come. If they are of better use within the party, well and fine, then they should focus on the party, in particular the coming election. But if they are of better use heading the campaign to free Anwar, then they should move on and continue the campaign outside the party. In that way there would be no limit as to what they can do. We know Anwar will never be freed through the legal process. One way to free Anwar would be to form the next government, but this may require a couple more elections and one election may not be enough. Therefore, to hope for change through the evolution process will be too much to expect. Change will have to come through a revolution. Most interpret revolution as violence and bloodshed. This is not necessarily so. Evolution just means slow change while revolution is an abrupt or sudden change. For instance, the Industrial Revolution in Europe was not about militant action but about a paradigm shift. Revolutionary change can still be achieved without taking up arms and killings. But revolutionary change, as opposed to evolutionary change, requires a paradigm shift. Yes, we need a quick change. It has already been five years since they detained Anwar. If we delay any longer it may be another six years before Anwar sees freedom, and that too if he is granted a one-third remission on his sentence -- if not, it will be another nine years. We need people who are prepared to sacrifice their political careers and work “fulltime” for the release of Anwar. We know for a fact that within the ruling party, in particular Umno, there are still many Anwar loyalists. The only thing is they are “closet supporters” who dare not openly pledge support to Anwar. Even Mahathir was not able to correctly gauge the level of support Anwar still has within Umno. As what one Umno “kingpin” said recently, there are many in Umno who still support Anwar. But there is no real Anwar “movement” within Umno because there is no one to organise it. A movement needs a leader, or at least a mastermind. In the absence of this, the supporters would stay hidden. Hmm…should maybe some us should infiltrate Umno and start a Free Anwar Movement from within it? Now that would really rock Umno. Who knows, that could be the faster route to secure Anwar’s release. As the Malays are fond of saying, an enemy in the blanket is the worst enemy of all. Yes, Umno certainly needs a couple of enemies in its blanket to ensure its early demise, and hopefully the release of Anwar.
|
