DS Anwar -vs- DS Najib, my perception...

Currently there are high powered dramas going on in our mainstream national politics. There are so many allegations, so many scandals, so many denials, so many police reports and SDs. The truth is not important anymore but the public perception matters. The maxim “innocent until proven guilty” is lost somewhere and no one cares to find it.

I think I don’t need to say much about it as our cyberspace is full of juicy details already. Even some people are fed up and refuse to take part in the debate anymore as there are many other things to talk about than dirty national politics.

However, this is my perception. The dirty war between DS Najib and DS Anwar, whose gonna win eventually. Obviously both their enemies and adversaries will be the winner.

Pak Lah is also the winner and Tun Mahathir could be the loser as deep down in his heart, Tun Mahathir still hopes that DS Najib will replace Pak Lah as PM soonest possible. But because of the current development, the succession plan or the transition power from Pak Lah to DS Najib will be put on hold or maybe KIV for good.

Pak Lah could win politically as both DS Najib and DS Anwar reputation and credibility are gone until legally cleared by the court of law. Pak Lah shall remain the Prime Minister for the next 10 years and Khairy Jamaluddin will take over after that. Maybe its sound silly, but hey! in politics anything could happen. So the real and ultimate winner is Khairy Jamaluddin.

To those readers who still have not heard the details about the DS Najib and DS Anwar Ibrahim, I reproduce herein the facts of them both:-

DS Mohd Najid Tun Razak

Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (born July 23, 1953, in Kuala Lipis, Pahang) is a Malaysian politician, who has been the country's Deputy Prime Minister since January 7, 2004. Najib is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and is currently the Deputy President of the party.

Dato' Sri Mohd Najib is the eldest son of Tun Abdul Razak, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, and a nephew of Tun Hussein Onn, the third PM. He was first elected to the Dewan Rakyat, representing the parliamentary constituency of Pekan, at the age of 23 in an uncontested election after the death of his father. In his career, Najib has held a variety of ministerial portfolios (the first at the age of 32), culminating in the post of Minister of Defence before being chosen as the deputy PM by Abdullah Badawi. Najib holds the title of Orang Kaya Inderapura of Pahang. His wife is Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor with whom he has three sons, Nizar (born 1978), Nazifuddin and Norashman, and two daughters, Puteri Norlisa and Nooryana Narjawa.

Najib had his primary and secondary education at St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur. He also attended Malvern College, Worcestershire, England and subsequently attended the University of Nottingham.

Controversies

He had a close aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, who was involved in a high-profile murder case of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaaribuu. Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal, a private investigator hired by Abdul Razak, testified in a statutory declaration that Abdul Razak had told him that Najib had had a sexual relationship with Altantuya, introduced her to Abdul Razak, and made arrangements to protect Abdul Razak from the murder trial. All mention of Najib's involvement had been removed from Balasubramaniam's testimony under police interrogation and not brought up in the murder trial.

On 30 June, 2008 Najib denied any personal involvement in the alleged political conspiracy against former deputy premier Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, including a police report alleging Anwar committed sodomy against his former aide. He said the picture of his aide Khairil Anas Yusof with the alleged sodomy victim Saiful Bukhari Azlan at his office had been taken three months ago when the latter, in his capacity as a student leader, came to his office to seek a scholarship. However on 1 July 2008, Najib mentioned that he met Saiful at his residence a few days before the Saiful made the police report on Anwar. Najib also said that Saiful wanted to reveal that he had been sodomised by Anwar.

The Malaysian National Service, a brainchild of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been plagued with poor management right from its inception. As of May 2008, there have been 16 deaths in the Malaysian National Service. Najib, on two occasions within a year, has demonstrated nothing but indifference in regards to these deaths. On one occasion, he was quoted as saying that "only" 14 children have died, in an attempt to minimize the bad press being received for these deaths. When recently pressured by more calls to suspend the program due to the 16^th death, Najib responded that it was not feasible to stop the program since "many parties are involved". That last statement only served to fuel more irritation amongst Malaysian parents and the public in general, and reinforced the belief that Najib is more concerned about keeping the gravy train running and awarding contracts to politically connected contractors to run the training camps, than he is about the death of children.

In many of the controversies about him, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi identified Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Razak on 6th April, 2008 as his probable successor in line with the ruling party's tradition of political succession. Because of his implied involvement in the controversial Altantuya case, where the court trial has gone through numerous irregularities and delays, this has been seen by many as disastrous to Malaysia if the succession were to materialise.

DS Anwar Ibrahim

Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (born August 10, 1947) is a former deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia. Early in his career, he became a protégé of the former prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad, but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's administration.

In 1999, he was sentenced in a highly controversial trial to six years in prison for corruption, and in 2000, to another nine years for alleged homosexual acts. However, in 2004, Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court reversed the second conviction and he was released.

Anwar is the only Malaysian to ever make it into Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. He is also one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.

Political future

In November 2006, Anwar announced he planned to run for Parliament in 2008, after his disqualification expired. Anwar has been critical of government policies since his release from prison, most notably of the controversial New Economic Policy (NEP), which provides affirmative action for the Malays. The policy sets a number of quotas, such as for units of housing and initial public offerings, that must be met.

He is also the Advisor of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the party of which his wife Dr. Wan Azizah is president. He was in the forefront in organising a November 2007 mass rally, called the 2007 Bersih Rally, which took place in the Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur to demand clean and fair elections. The gathering was organised by BERSIH, a coalition comprising political parties and civil society groups, and drew supporters from all over the country.

The 2008 election date, however, was set for 8 March 2008, sparking criticisms that Barisan Nasional called for early elections in a bid to deny Anwar's plans for a return to Parliament. In response, Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, declared that she would step down should she retain her Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat to force a by-election in which Anwar himself will contest.

When asked about the possibility of Anwar becoming the next Prime Minister, former leader Tun Dr. Mahathir has reacted by saying rather sarcastically, "He would make a good Prime Minister of Israel".

On 14 April 2008, Anwar celebrated his official return to the political stage, as his ban from public office expires a decade after he was sacked as deputy prime minister. One of the main reasons the opposition seized a third of parliamentary seats and five states in the worst ever showing for the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled for half a century, was due to him leading at the helm. A gathering of more than 1,000 supporters greeted Anwar in a rally welcoming back his return to politics. In the midst of the rally, police interrupted Anwar after he had addressed the rally for nearly two hours and called him to stop the gathering since there is no legal permission of the rally.

On April 29, 2008, and after 10 years of absence, Anwar Ibrahim returned to the Parliament, albeit upon invitation as a spouse guest of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, People's Justice Party and the first female opposition leader in Malaysian Parliament's history.

Current developments

At 11.03pm on June 29, 2008, online news portal Malaysiakini reported that an aide of Anwar Ibrahim had lodged a police report claiming that he had been sodomised by Anwar. The news has since been updated with reports that SMS messages are being distributed claiming that the the person who made the report is Anwar's aide, Saiful Bahari, who was arrested earlier today and allegedly forced to make a false confession. The same SMS message also claimed the possibility of Anwar being arrested later today.

Anwar has since denied the allegations claiming that it was a complete fabrication and made in retaliation against him due to his recent acquisition of evidence that implicates the current Inspector General of the Police, Musa Hassan, and the Attorney General, Abdul Gani Patail, in misconduct including fabrication of evidence used against him during the 1998-1999 trials for corruption and sodomy.

On Sunday morning, June 30, Anwar moved into the compound of the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur at the invitation of the Turkish ambassador, however the Turkish Ambassador Barlas Ozener denied this and told Foreign Minister of Malaysia Dr Rais Yatim that Anwar had come on “his own accord for a visit”. Dr Rais added Malaysia was concerned that getting protection or shelter from foreign missions would become a trend for those who violated the country’s law. Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail accused the government of orchestrating the allegations which she condemned as political murder against her husband. She produced a photograph of the aide with a staff member of Deputy Prime Minister and said it proved a link of a government conspiracy. However, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied it and stressed that his government is not behind the latest sodomy allegation against Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Anwar. On the allegation by Anwar's wife where she shown the photograph taken with a staff member of Deputy Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak explained that the picture was taken three months ago when Mohd Saiful went to his office to apply a for government scholarship. It is not surprise that Mohd Saiful has met with other leaders, since he was student leader of UNITEN.

Anwar Ibrahim said on June 30, 2008 stated he would leave by 11 a.m. British time, and he never sought political asylum, but sought refuge there on "humanitarian grounds": "If the government gives me a categorical undertaking for my personal safety I will leave (the embassy) now." To clear his name, Ibrahim filed a lawsuit against his 23- year old male aide who accused him of sodomy, in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Mr Anwar left the embassy after a meeting between Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Rais Yatim, and Turkish ambassador Barlas Ozener. He told the Associated Press he had made the decision to leave after the government had made "all the undertakings to assure his personal safety". He began to raise the stakes in his fight with the government by lodging a police report today against its police chief and top lawyer for faking evidence against him in a similar case a decade ago. Anwar claims he has proof that Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail concocted evidence for his corruption and sodomy trials in 1998 and 1999 which kept him imprisoned until he was freed in 2004.

Anwar on July 1, 2008 vowed before 7,000 people at Shah Alam rally in Malawati Stadium to seize power soon, mobilizing his campaign against the government amid the sodomy charge. His road shows will kick off this Sunday, with Padang Timur, Petaling Jaya as its first stop. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is also under pressure from some of his own party members The National Front to step down. Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar on July 2 classified the crime charged as sodomy, based on a Kuala Lumpur Hospital medical report of anal sex upon the alleged victim, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, an aide. He was a student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. The incident allegedly took place at Desa Damansara condominiums, Damansara Heights. Sodomy, even if consensual, is punishable by 20 years imprisonment in Malaysia.

On July 3, 2008 in fighting the sodomy allegation, Anwar presented proof that alleges Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu case, and called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the matter. He showed a sworn statement by murder accused Abdul Razak Baginda's private investigator P. Balasubramaniam that claimed police suppressed evidence to protect some personalities, including proof that Altantuya knew Najib.

Good day folks. May God help us in this turbulent time. wassalam.