Anwar Ibrahim

Selasa, 22 November 2011

Anwar Ibrahim

Peaceful Assembly Bill is Unconstitutional
Kisah Lembu Menanam Budaya Involusi
Anwar On The Temptation Of Power
Rakaman Ceramah Perdana Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim Di Parlimen Subang 20/11/2011

Peaceful Assembly Bill is Unconstitutional

Posted: 21 Nov 2011 11:36 PM PST

The government tabled the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 in parliament this morning. It is with shock and disbelief that the nation received news of the details of the bill. This bill has made meaningless the rakyat's right to freedom of assembly, in blatant breach of Article 10(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution.

In short, the bill itself is unconstitutional. From the particulars, it is clear that the real intention of Najib and his government is to make it as difficult and burdensome as possible for the rakyat to peacefully assemble. We are now indisputably worse off than we were

under the provisions of the Police Act 1967. Our objections are as follows:

1) The bill outlaws street protests. This is unconstitutional as it is in breach of Article 10 of the Federal Constitution. This is not a "reasonable restriction", but a restriction that renders nugatory the right to peacefully assemble. There is no reason why street protests

should be outlawed; it is the job of the police upon notification to manage traffic and other matters.

In any event, any traffic congestion in recent protests has been caused by the police themselves by putting up unnecessary road-blocks. Street protests are a normal, harmless and integral part of any functioning democracy. There is no such restriction in the laws of other democratic countries such as UK, US, Australia, Canada, Finland or South Africa.

It is completely inconsistent with international norms and practices as well as the UDHR. Surprisingly, the government has been claiming that they would be adopting best practices from some of these other countries. This was clearly another lie.

2) The bill imposes a 30-day advance notice to authorities prior to holding an assembly. This is an onerous and unnecessary requirement intended to make it as difficult as possible for the rakyat to convene any assembly. If the issue is current and of urgency, are we to wait for a month before holding an assembly?

Must we wait a month if we want to gather to hand over a memorandum to the government? In the UK under the Public Order Act 1986 only a six-day notice is required. In Western Australia it is four days, in South Africa seven days and in Finland it is only six hours!

3) Section 8, which allows the IGP to take "such measures as he deems necessary" is widely couched and open to abuse. It grants new untrammelled powers to the police vis-a-vis public assemblies. Any conditions the police may be allowed to impose must be minimal,

limited and clearly spelled out in the bill.

4) Fines of up to RM20,000 for non-compliance are excessive and calculated to frighten and discourage those who wish to assemble. This bill should have been titled the "Restriction of Assembly Bill"! It has rendered worthless the people's right to peacefully assemble. Najib perpetrated a massive confidence trick upon the rakyat when he promised reform of the right to assemble on Malaysia Day this year.

This bill is a joke in absolute bad taste and will make our country the laughing stock of the world. BN and Najib are truly practising "Orwellian" doublespeak. When they said freedom of assembly, they meant the complete opposite. This ridiculous bill, which makes a mockery

of our democratic values, must be immediately withdrawn.

Instead, the Police Act must be amended to remove the permit requirement and replace it with a simple notification, as is the practice in other democratic nations.

Kisah Lembu Menanam Budaya Involusi

Posted: 21 Nov 2011 08:18 PM PST

Merdeka Review
Oleh Ooi Heng

“Tubuhnya berketul-ketul. Engguhnya tinggi, besar dan berdenyut-denyut apabila sesekali ia mengangkat kepalanya kerana mengangkat rumput. Sendi kaki hadapannya kelihatan pagan dan teguh. Kuku kakinya yang empat itu putih kehitaman mencengkam tanah.”

Begitu lakaran Sastarewan Negara Syed Othman Kelantan dalam karyanya berjudul “Juara” berkenaan dengan bentuk seekor lembu yang mempunyai potensi untuk memasuki gelanggang pertarungan. Lembu kalah perlu dijual dan disembelih.

Kini lembu tinggal dalam kondo mencorakkan kehidupan kota dan desa. Pada mulanya selesa, kemudian dramatik dan sehingga hari ini masih tidak perlu letak jawatan. Perasaan kekitaan cukup kuat sesama warga Malaysia. Kita ditunjuk ajar dengan fahaman parti pemerintah yang sama, bahawa penyelewengan wang rakyat bukan masalah besar. Maka kita hidup sekampung sekota berkongsi pengajaran yang sama dengan anak cucu kita.

Ini pengajaran yang sah. Segala-gala yang dipertahankan oleh pemerintah adalah sah. Perbualan selepas 111111 ialah salah guna wang rakyat itu namanya SAH! Asalkan terus memerintah, segala-galanya sah.

Tidak seperti perasaan kekitaan sesama rakyat semasa perhimpunan BERSIH 2.0 di mana anak Melayu melindungi anak Cina daripada gas pemedih mata. Kisah anak Melayu tolong anak Cina juga dramatik dan hangat diperkatakan selepas 090711. Mesej yang wajar dilakarkan kepada lembu yang tinggal dalam kondo berkenaan 090711 ialah, peluru berpandu Patriot gagal memusnahkan peluru berpandu SCUD. Maka 090711 adalah untuk memperingati kemenangan SCUD. Ini yang membentuk perasaan kekitaan sesama rakyat terbanyak. Tapi ia haram, kata pemerintah yang sahkan akvititi salah guna wang rakyat. Seperti mana kuasa besar sahkan penaklukan Iraq dengan peluru berpandu.

Sementara itu, 111111 adalah untuk memperingati kemenangan mereka yang salah guna wang rakyat. Ia memalukan meskipun diSAHkan oleh mereka yang bersekongkol dengan kuasa dan ketamakan. Rakyat beri undi, yang melembukan rakyat dapat kondo.

Kini aktiviti salah guna wang rakyat mencorakkan budaya pembangunan dan tadbir urus negara. Pada mulanya sedikit, kemudian jutaan ringgit dan sehingga hari ini berbilion-bilion sama ada yang dilaporkan atau tidak dilaporkan dalam Laporan Ketua Audit Negara disalahgunakan.

Kini psikologi kumpulan manusia bernama pengarang dan wartawan banyak dicorakkan oleh nilai projek yang didakwa melibatkan salah guna wang rakyat. Pada mulanya skandal ikan bili dilaporkan, kemudian pendedahan skandal ikan lembu terpaksa dilaporkan, seterusnya hanya skandal ikan jerung dianggap penting tapi jarang-jarang sekali dapat didedahkan.

Apakah kita diikatkan dengan kontrak sosial yang mengatakan bahawa menjadi tanggungjawab warga Malaysia supaya terus dilembukan oleh segolongan elit kerana mereka mewakili parti dan bahawa parti itu pemerintah dan pemerintah itu negara?

Apakah kita disusukan oleh lembu yang tinggal dalam kondo sehingga kita diikat bersama dan terus mempercayai mereka yang melembukan rakyat akan membela hak rakyat?

Tahun 1963, apabila Semenanjung Malaysia bergabung dengan Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura membentuk Malaysia, si tokoh antropologi bernama Clifford Geertz menerbitkan kajiannya berjudul “Involusi Pertanian: Proses Perubahan Ekologi di Indonesia” (Agricultural Involution: The Process of Ecological Change in Indonesia).

Involusi uterus merujuk kepada pengecutan uterus kepada saiz normal selepas bersalin. Ini pengalaman seorang ibu selepas bersalin. Clifford Geertz meminjam konsep involusi dan menggunakannya dalam tesis involusi pertanian sebagai percubaan memahami keadaan petani semasa era penjajahan. Kemudian, konsep involusi dipopularkan dan digunakan untuk menjelaskan pelbagai senario dalam bidang berlainan selain bidang pertanian.

Apabila digunakan untuk menjelaskan pertumbuhan negara, involusi merujuk kepada keadaan di mana pembangunan yang ditonjolkan tidak melibatkan perubahan secara mendalam. Meskipun terdapat pembangunan, tetapi pembangunan itu tidak memberikan pertumbuhan bermakna dalam jangka masa panjang dan memanfaatkan rakyat dan masyarakat secara keseluruhan. Apa yang ditonjolkan sekadar perubahan cetek dan sekadar menyentuh permukaan dasar sedia ada tanpa mendalaminya.

Di Malaysia, budaya involusi meresap ke dalam pelbagai lapisan jentera pemerintahan negara yang berperanan membangunkan negara. Pemerintah yang berbicara mengenai transformasi dan perubahan sering kali membiarkan begitu sahaja skandal-skandal salah guna wang rakyat yang impaknya kelihatan dari segi kerencatan produktiviti negara. Ukuran transformasi sekadar permainan angka tanpa kemajuan bermakna. Perubahan secara mendalam dan secara dasar tidak dilakukan.

Sesungguhnya, soal anjakan paradigma yang dapat membawa pertumbuhan negara ke satu tahap baharu senantiasa direncatkan oleh budaya involusi. Semenjak era krisis kewangan 1997/98, pertumbuhan Malaysia kelihatan lemah. Pertumbuhan sebelum itu yang pernah disifatkan sebagai sebahagian daripada mitos Asia telah menemui kebekuan. Angka pertumbuhan setiap musim atau tahun sekadar memaparkan pembangunan jangka masa pendek tanpa dirujuk atau diutamakan kepentingan perubahan dan pembaharuan secara dasar dan secara menyeluruh.

Era Pak Lah pernah memberikan identifikasi masalah yang tepat, antaranya pembangunan modal insan yang lemah merencatkan pembangunan Malaysia secara keseluruhan, tetapi gagal dari segi pelaksanaan. Sementara itu, Era Najib yang berbelanja jutaan ringgit hanya mampu melahirkan laporan satu per satu dan memperkaya sekumpulan kecil manusia, tetapi membiarkan lembu menduduki kondo.

Semenjak era krisis kewangan 1997/98, kesemua peristiwa dan pendedahan skandal menjuruskan kita kepada satu rumusan penting, bahawa Malaysia kini bukan sahaja terperangkap dalam middle-income trap tetapi juga terperangkap dalam budaya involusi. Budaya involusi merencatkan peningkatan produktiviti dan inovasi, mengekalkan kemiskinan tegar dan mendorong kemiskinan baharu, dan yang paling kritikal dalam konteks Malaysia, membiarkan lembu menduduki kondo melalui politik naungan dan aktiviti rent-seeking.

Maka soal penting hari ini tidak berkaitan dengan program transformasi yang dilakarkan sedemikian rupa seolah-olah pemerintah telah insaf dan sedang melakukan perubahan. Hal ini kerana perubahan yang menggunakan nama transformasi itu cetek, tidak mendalam dan tidak menyentuh soal dasar.

Skandal lembu tinggal dalam kondo ialah satu contoh klasik bagaimana program transformasi bakal gagal dari segi mengeluarkan Malaysia daripada perangkap budaya involusi.

Apabila lembu mula diberikan peranan untuk menanam budaya involusi dalam proses pembangunan Malaysia, bagaimana produktiviti negara dapat ditingkatkan secara berimpak? Bagaimana pula pendapatan isi rumah dapat ditingkatkan dengan kadar yang besar sehingga lonjatan kepada tahap negara berpendapatan tinggi dapat direalisasikan? Ataupun, bagaimana pendapatan boleh guna dapat ditingkatkan dan kos kehidupan yang tinggi dikurangkan?

Tidak! Ini bukan budaya kita. Undi kita bukan untuk melembukan diri kita. Undi kita bukan untuk membiarkan lembu menanam budaya involusi dan merencatkan pembangunan negara secara bermakna.

Tolak lembu yang cuba menduduki kondo. Ini titik permulaan kepada harapan baharu. Malaysia tidak perlukan peranan negara peragut! Malaysia juga tidak perlukan budaya involusi! Masih ada masa untuk kita SAY NO!

Biar lembu bertarung. Jangan kita dilembukan. Begini penutup kepada kisah lembu cuba menduduki kondo dan menanam budaya involusi. Terima kasih.

Anwar On The Temptation Of Power

Posted: 21 Nov 2011 05:35 PM PST

Malaysiakini

Anwar Ibrahim's ease at finding parallels between seemingly contending beliefs and his comfort in paradox was in evidence at a forum in Kolkata over the weekend.

Invited to an Indian Muslim NGO's silver jubilee conference themed 'Good Governance in a Globalising World', Anwar held forth on 'Governance and Ethics' in one segment of the three-day affair organised by the Institute of Objective Studies, a highly regarded research organisation with links to the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

The thrust of Anwar's presentation revolved around the temptation of power to think that it is always twinned with virtue.

He cited the admonitory wisdom of Caliph Umar Abdul Aziz, one of Prophet Muhammad's political successors, who appointed monitors to watch over his conduct.

Anwar quoted Umar's rationale to his monitors: "Rulers usually appoint people to watch over their subjects. I appoint you to watch over me and my conduct."

This oft-cited quotation from Umar helps the Malaysian opposition leader to dilate on another favorite oracular pronouncement: "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary" – this one from the Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

As long ago as his 1996 Budget speech to Parliament as finance minister, Anwar cited this cautionary wisdom as a check on the temptations of power to vanity, complacency and hypocrisy.

Anwar told the audience during his segment of the conference that a critique of hubris was necessary to keep the apparatus of even democratic states from the temptations of extrajudicial procedures that result in injustice and the muzzling of dissent and opposition.

Yet again, he held up as a guide for the restraint of power the maqasid shariah, the 12th century formulation of the Islamic jurist Al Shatibi, which posited the protection of life, property and the preservation of peace as the higher goals of syariah.

Anwar said a holistic conception of the maqasid shariah was the guarantee against the rigid interpretation and application of syariah.

Tagore's poetry

Anwar said he was conscious that the venue of the conference, Jesuit St Xavier's College, was where Nobel literary laureate Rabindranath Tagore studied as a boy.

"In this year of the 150th anniversary of his birth, I am reminded of Sir Rabindranath Tagore's gesture of returning his knighthood in protest against the Amritsar massacre of 1919," said Anwar who has cited Tagore (right) as one of the progenitors of the 'Asian Renaissance' espoused by the Malaysian leader since the mid-1990s.

"Not only must power resist the temptation to think that it is always twinned with virtue, but fame must always be accompanied by solicitude for those who suffer from man's inhumanity to man," said Anwar in praise of Tagore who was born in Kolkata in 1841, received the Nobel for literature in 1913, and was knighted in 1915.

Anwar said that in Tagore's poetry and short stories there was always the emphasis on freedom and reason and because he conveyed these ideas in mystic terms, he encountered much misunderstanding in the West.

In expatiating on the philosophic identity of noble minds, Anwar quoted the following lines from Tagore's poetry:

"Where the mind is without fear and
the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been
broken up into fragments by
narrow domestic walls."

He said that the lines conveyed the same sentiment embodied in Philippine national hero Jose Rizal's declaration in his book El Filibusterismo: "Within a few centuries, when humanity has become redeemed and enlightened, when there are no races, when all peoples are free, when they are neither tyrants nor slaves, colonies nor mother countries, when justice rules and man is a citizen of the world…"

"These two men born in the same year in different countries on the same continent, articulators and strugglers for the liberation of not only their peoples but also of their continents, are the precursors of the Asian Renaissance through their lofty vision of the human pageant and of where it should eventuate.

"Their dream was not only for human emancipation but also for man's ethical governance without which all struggle is futile and all striving meaningless," concluded Anwar.

Rakaman Ceramah Perdana Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim Di Parlimen Subang 20/11/2011

Posted: 21 Nov 2011 05:25 PM PST