Michael Danby Responds (February 20, 2010): Justice for Anwar Ibrahim
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-mps-protested-over-the-anwar-trial/
by Michael Danby
Last week saw an unusual event in Australian politics: backbench members of Parliament from both sides took a foreign affairs initiative, independent of their party leaderships. Sixty Members and Senators – Labor, Liberal, Green and independent – signed a letter which was presented to the Malaysian High Commissioner protesting against the current trial of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on charges of “sodomy.”
[The author (left) presenting the petition to Malaysian High Commissoner Salman Bin L Ahmad last Thursday.]
The letter was signed by, among others, Laurie Ferguson, Malcolm Turnbull, Greg Hunt, Bob Brown, Nick Xenophon, Duncan Kerr, Deputy Speaker Anna Burke, Jennie George, Gary Gray and Mark Dreyfus QC.
It followed a speech which I gave in the House of Representatives on 3 February, in which I drew the House’s attention to the 2nd Sodomy trial in Kuala Lumpur of Anwar Ibrahim.
I’m very grateful to all the Members and Senators who signed the letter. I can’t recall another backbench initiative like this in recent times.
Why should Australian Members of Parliament?
Why should Australian Members of Parliament stick their noses into the affairs of a country like Malaysia, which is a friend and neighbour? I would say it is precisely because Malaysia is a friend and neighbour that we care what happens there. No-one is surprised at show trials and political persecution in North Korea or Burma. When it happens in a country which is one of our region’s relative success stories, we are shocked and dismayed.
Many Australian’s have spoken for Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democratically elected leader under house arrest by an authoritarian regime. In some sense these legal torments of Anwar are more egregious as they are happening in a developing democracy that says organs of the state such as the courts or police should not be used to persecute a democratic political opponent.
People-to-people contact between Australians and Malaysians has become very close in recent years, through students studying in Australia, steadily growing tourism in both directions and growing business ties. The persecution of Anwar Ibrahim, however, does not put Malaysia in a good light.
The repeated attempts by Malaysia’s ruling party to drive Anwar out of politics by framing him up on obviously false charges is a disgraceful story which has now been running for more than ten years. Anwar was Deputy Prime Minister in 1998 when he fell out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – no friend of Australia. He was arrested, beaten up, tried on faked evidence and coerced testimony, then jailed for four years, before his conviction was finally overturned in 2004. Now the same charges have been laid again.
Recently the Wall Street Journal published a first-hand account of how the Malaysian Special Branch police fabricated the charges that led to Anwar’s first trial. Munawar Anees recalled how he had been starved and beaten into signing a false confession which implicated Anwar. The same things are happening again now. It would be intolerable in any democratic country for an accuser to front at the home of the Prime Minister before he then went to the impartial Malaysian police. This is what happened to Anwar Ibrahim when his accuser was succoured by Rosmah (Mansor) Razak, the Prime Minister’s wife, before he went to charge Anwar at the Police station.
These are the tactics which Anwar’s enemies are willing to resort to, in order to eliminate the threat he poses to those currently in power.
The reason the ruling party UMNO fears Anwar is simply that he is the first Malay politician to challenge successfully its monopoly of the Malay vote, which is the basis of its long-standing hold on power. At the 2008 elections Anwar’s People’s Justice Party and its allies won 60 seats away from UMNO and its allies, creating a viable two-party system for the first time.
UMNO fears that he will win the next election unless he is stopped, and it seems that at least some elements of UMNO and their allies in the police are willing to resort to any means to stop him. Their nightmare scenario is for the urban, educated Malays together with Indian and Chinese minorities together with deputies from the rebellious Sabah and Sarawah provinces, uniting to form a parliamentary majority.
Malaysia , however, is not like North Korea, sealed off from world opinion. The Malaysian people and the Malaysian government care about their reputation in the region and the world. There have been demonstrations by UMNO ‘youth’ outside the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
A leading supporter of the Malaysian Prime Minister sought to deflect Malaysian opinion by responding that ‘Michael Danby, who organized the petition is a homosexual’. Sad and pathetic though such a reaction is, the response on many blogs and new sites, by ordinary Malaysians who are outraged at the trial, repudiate such prejudice and show hope for a civic discourse as Malaysia’s democratic ethos develops.
The Malaysian media reports what is said about Malaysia in other countries. That’s why an intervention such as our bipartisan letter to the High Commissioner, politely but clearly setting out our strong protest against persecution of Anwar Ibrahim, can be effective, and why it is such an important initiative. Hopefully when Anwar is free of these torments the best answer to those who would like to keep Malaysia a one party state, will be the peaceful transition to power al la Japan, Taiwan and Korea of an Opposition Government.
When that happens, Australia’s politicians will have done more to cement genuine friendship with Malaysia than oodles of “diplomacy.”
– Michael Danby is the Member for Melbourne Ports and Chair of the Parliamentary Sub-committee for Foreign Affairs.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
It is great to know that you are now stepping on the offensive against UMNO with your stepped up back to back cutting edge postings. Yes , let the whole cyberspace and all those Malaysians who care be on utmost stby mode to oust UMNO and BN from power at the first opportunity. Let the World powers warn UMNO of what might happen and tell UMNO not to play the fool with Malaysians !
As the honorable Michael has said, Australia cares.We thank him for that
Justice for Anwar is a distant dream, but we must soldier on. It is all politics with Rosmah Mansor interfering in the administration under Najib.
I am amazed that Najib is unable to tell her politely or otherwise to back off. Never in our 52+year history have we witnessed a big busy body as a Prime Minister’s wife. Only voters in the coming GE change this.—Din Merican
Din Merican,
You’re lucky the country does not have anything like a feminist movement found in liberal democracies. They would have torn you to shreds and have you for dinner or would have you swallowed you whole – hook, line and balls (sinker).
The wife of the head of the executive no longer plays the docile role of her predecessors of times past. Today she has a role to play being the wife of a Prime Minister or the First Lady. We saw that in Nancy Reagan. Some say we are seeing that today in Michelle Obama.
However, in the case of Rosmah, looking at her unflattering image you put up here, she is different from all that. Not only is she not a picture of beauty and quiet dignity, if you will, but that of a retiring sumo wrestler.
Thanks to the creative photographer with a wide angle lens!
Just finished watching Rabbit Proof Fence on Astro Channel 521.
” It would be intolerable in any democratic country for an accuser to front at the home of the Prime Minister before he then went to the impartial Malaysian police. This is what happened to Anwar Ibrahim when his accuser was succoured by Rosmah (Mansor) Razak, the Prime Minister’s wife, before he went to charge Anwar at the Police station.”
perhaps the accuser and Rosmah should have communicated thru SMS . “don’t worry saiful, everything under control” in typical RPK fashioned revelation. Instead of reporting in Rosmah’s living room ( after getting clearance from Najib’s officer ).
Btw, Najib was still DPM at that time.
But it was Anwar (& Wan Azizah ) that went to the PM right after that.
I remember, according to RPK, Pak Lah was handed a very important piece of information ( highly damaging to Najib) and was handed over to KJ.
I wonder why KJ did not use his trump card to knock off Najib. Otherwise he wouldn’t be begging for a ministerial post.
How many days does it take to plan all this?
Anwar certainly has given Rosmah a lot of time. 1 & half years !!!
A robust and totally reasonable response from Michael Danby to the pathetic primate posturings of KJ and his Umno brownshirts.
“I wonder why KJ did not use his trump card to knock off Najib.” Carlos.
Simple, c4 works as well on males as well as females.
1 and a half years? That’s the time taken to come to court, not for the accusation to surface. Rabbit proof thinking.
“Justice for Anwar is a distant dream, but we must soldier on” Din Merican
Yes, soldier on we must. In your case, Tok CIk is behind you (with Sharizat in tow in case he has to go early for his R&R) with his fixed bayonet just in case you have second thoughts.
So menyalak-er, How long does it take to plan Sodomy 2?
C4? You really sure Rosmah will witness another explosion? Wonder why she did not C4 Bala as well! And Bala really took his time ( around 1 year ) before disappearing (from who?).
But no! We later found out Rosmah does know where Bala is. Her toyboy is the one hiding Bala!
Is RPK getting all confused with his own story line?
‘Confusion’ is really not the word. The word is ‘imaginative’. Like in all Bollywood movies you cannot really blame RPK for losing touch with the main plot, as the story gets buried in sub-plots, turns and twists typical of what goes behind the political scene in Malaysia. My beef with RPK is that he is a loose cannon, too imaginative and even creative with his stories, to retain credibility with both his adversaries and supporters.
But then half the time RPK is not interested in writing about the truth. He claims to know the truth. So occasionally he would throw in the monkey wrench to see if it stalls the UMNO machinery. At other times he would put out a red herring and waits to see who takes the bait.
As we anxiously await for the next plot to unfold , p.i. Bala lurks nearby in typical hyena fashion waiting for ‘left-overs’ carcass of prey slained by more vicious predators
Australia claiming to be a friend and a neighbour should understand what is happening in Malaysia and if they are really sincere about this, they should have talked to the PM and listen to the govt’s side of the story. But in signing the memorandum, they were trying to challenge the justice.
I do not see AI as a threat to the govt, instead he is a threat to himself. What Saiful has against him is perhaps personal, and he indeed took advantage of Saiful. However, the truth remains what it has been all this while that AI indeed forced himself on another person. That is the absolute truth.
This Danby guy sure knows his facts
Expect the fatass Big Mama 2 send a protest letter 2 Kevin Rudd demanding Michael Danby 2 retract his statement that the 1st Couple r behind Sodomy II or else,she’ll never set foot in the Land Down Under 4 a large shopping spree n contribute 2 Australia’s tourism industry
ANWAR CRIED ” I’M INNOCENT, I’M INNOCENT. IT’S ALL LIES, FITNAH AND I’M DENIED JUSTICE.” YET ANWAR ENGAGE ONE MORE COUNSEL IN HANIPAH MAIDIN AND 3 OVERSEAS DNA EXPERTS.
ON JUSTICE, ANWAR REQUEST FOR POSPONMENT AFTER POSTPONEMENT WAS GRANTED. IS JUSTICE NOT GIVEN TO YOU ANWAR ? WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE TO SAIFUL. HE WAS DENIED JUSTICE WITH ALL THIS POSTPONEMENT.
ANWAR IBRAHIM SAY’S HE IS READY TO FACE SAIFUL IN COURT. BUT, WHEN THE TRIAL PROPER START, ANWAR COUNSEL SEEK THE JUDGE CONSENT FOR THE TRIAL TO BE HEARD IN CAMERA. IS THIS NOT JUSTICE FOR ANWAR ?
AS THE TRIAL GET INTO FULL GEAR, ANWAR IS USING FOREIGNERS TO PROTEST AGAINST HIS SODOMY TRIAL. LIM KIT SIANG ON THE OTHER HAND IS CALLING FOR A SPECIAL PARLIAMENT SITTING TO DROP ALL SODOMY CHARGES AGAINST ANWAR BY SAIFUL.
“I’M INNOCENT, I’M INNOCENT”, YET ANWAR IBRAHIM IS FEARFUL OF SAIFUL AND THE COURT. I WONDER IF THIS HAPPEN TO OTHER MALAYSIANS WOULD THE FOREIGNERS OR ANWAR IBRAHIM, LIM KIT SIANG, NIK NAJIS, HADI AWANG AND ALL PAKATAN MEMBERS WILL PROTEST?
___________
Ilham, no justice will be done because it is commonly knowledge that this trial is very political. You are too blur to even see where this is all leading to. Najib wants to put Anwar back in jail and will stop at nothing to make that happen. Saiful is being used for this purpose. –Din Merican
Whadda all this foreigners this and that? Malaise’ is in extremis, if anyone deigns to notice. It has been hit by a ‘tsunami’ and the politics and economy is in shambles. Isn’t it time for foreign ‘intervention’, like in Aceh or Haiti etc., even though this is due to self inflicted injury. If we don’t want any foreign criticism, then don’t ask for foreign aid and FDIs. None will be forthcoming anyway. I heard the EU is going to make a statement soon too.
Of course, ilham and gang while ‘barking’ against the Taikors of the world, forget that these ‘foreigners’ see the whole sordid sodomee II, as contrived, manufactured and a gambit of political assasination. Who wouldn’t? The first case was expunged, remember? But conventional un-wisdom says that a lie told repeatedly will become the truth… Hitler’s megalomania.
Since the case is pending in court, i for one will say that it should continue until all appeals and counter appeals have been exhausted. Who cares. The longer this charade continues, the more the establishment will lose from it’s already battered image. What most right thinking Malaysians want is a fair trial with justice seen and practiced and not merely for convenience of the judiciary’s political masters.
Anwar understand’s the nature of this, and is going to fight tooth and nail. Why can’t he bring any international expert he so wishes? Why the fear of foreign experts? Because malaise have prevented Malaysians from being real experts – ‘mediocrity’ being our middle name.
Menyalak-er said ; “Why can’t he bring any international expert he so wishes? ”
Who says he can’t? It’s for Anwar’s justice, right? And which malaise is seeking this foreign expertise and undermining the local expert?? 80% murder???
Ilham and gang are just too dumb and deaf!! If jibby sucker saifool is right and the prosecution has got an airtight evidence, why scared of giving all the required documents to the defense team as allowed by the law?
We are actually waiting for Karpal Singh to rip open saifool’s ass!!!
Ilham,
Your wild allegations and defective reasoning are turning off readers and writing in CAPS does not help make your writing any more credible.
Bean,
If those feminists wanna shred Din into pieces, I would be the first one to throw rotten eggs at them. I have nothing against women going into politics. But at what capacity.Margaret Tharacher was the dominant female UK PM. Her nickname was & still is the Iron Lady. Nickname after Falkland War, her relentless act in halting the onslaught of the Unions. It’s the Unions that brought down James Callaghan’s government. Her famous quote was “Lady’s not for turning”……Registering her gungho-ness against the Poll Tax. I don’t really know in detail the Poll Tax only that it’s meant to replace Council Tax. The rest is history.
My point is her husband, Denis Tharacher, pretty reserved fella. He knew his place. He’s not elected. He’s no party member. He has no right to say anything at all.
By the way, I have fond memories there. It was in UK where I exercise my voting rights. Strange, all Commonwealth students including Malaysians are allowed to vote the councillor as well as MP. Mine is Guildford. Then was Tory stronghold. Funny, I didn’t even need to register.
It was pretty delighted that I was wooed by the Liberal Democrats. They are fighting for emancipation of International Student Tuition Fee.
_______
Thanks. If Rosmah wants to be like Baroness Thatcher, then she must run for elected office. If she wins, she can be in the Cabinet, not in the bedroom cabinet as now. Otherwise, she is just a wife of the Prime Minister and btw she is not the First Lady. I am not against women holding high office. In fact, I feel that they make good leaders, given the overall record of men in power.–Din Merican
Bean,
You better go to bed rather than wasting your energy commenting on what an idiot cut and paste here.
BTW, I saw Tok Cik at a car workshop expanding his Cooper S’s back seat to accomodate both fat mama and pillows as your suggestion.
LIM KIT SIANG ON THE OTHER HAND IS CALLING FOR A SPECIAL PARLIMENT SITTING TO DROP ALL SODOMY CHARGES AGAINST ANWAR BY SAIFUL- ILHAM
Saiful is no more the victim , he is AG now!!
Bean,
The temperature in Malaysia is around 36 and can you think how Tok Cik could tolerate the sweat of FM behind his Cooper S.
Yep carlos, he certainly can bring in DNA experts, cause there are differences such as diploid, amplified and aged DNA… the possibility of ‘fake’ antiques is real.
As for Dr. Pornthips assessment about the 80% probability (which btw, is not connected to this case), her opinion did not state the cause of death as strangulation. It was from other observable pre-mortem injuries like neck bruising, anal tear and thigh abrasions. Doubts are cast about these, not the effects of gravity on a human body. The coroner’s report will probably be “misadventure”.
Who thinks he is not wronged cares nothing and does nothing!
But in Bodoh-Land & Boleh-Land you are guilty until proven innocent, so hard luck if you do not have immunity from the Little Gods from UMNO !
Bodek-Land and Badak-Land also, CSI…
Cheers.
KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Feb: Para peguam Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim diminta supaya menyiasat satu blog yang mendakwa mempunyai bukti penipuan orang yang menuduh Datuk Seri Anwar meliwatnya iaitu Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Blog itu, milosuam.blogspot.com memaparkan perbualan antara seorang blogger, Papagomo dengan Saiful Bukhari melalui facebook.
Berikut adalah rakaman perbualan melalui facebook yang disiarkan oleh blog Milosuam itu.
Read more here
http://harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25115:blogger-dedah-perbualan-saiful-dengan-blogger-umno&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50
Bro. Din,
Tolong post “Do the right thing” by Ku Li here.
http://razaleigh.com/
“Bean, if those feminists wanna shred Din into pieces, I would be the first one to throw rotten eggs at them.” looes74
Yes, and I’d be there to catch some in the oft chance some may not be rotten and then have a yellow side up with sausages. Times are difficult these days – with costs of eggs and milk rising in geometric proportions in U.K. since the time I left its shores.
Oh yes, the Poll Tax was introduced when I was there. And I’m not ashamed to admit that while there I voted for the first time in my life albeit in local elections because my vote in Malaysia wouldn’t count i.e. it would not have made a difference and it has always been a protest vote cast silently in my mind and within the privacy and comfort of my living room. It would be different today. Today I’d be the first to cast my vote.
Let’s take a Genesian view of what is happening in Malaysia to find if what happened more than 2,000 years ago has any parallel. Wasn’t it Eve who gave the fruit of the forbidden tree to Adam? Wasn’t it because of Eve that Man has had to suffer the pain of death?
They say behind every successful man is a woman. What they forget to add is that behind every wreck of a man is another woman. That of course is a half truth because you don’t have to be this other woman. All you have to be is a woman.
Now I’m going to be swallowed whole – hook, line and balls (or sinker) just to keep Din Merican company. The truth is Din Merican and me are old school. The difference is Din Merican tries to suppress it, taking a step back when appropriate (otherwise referred to in politics as pragmatism, a survival tool) because otherwise he would have to forgo his dinner. I make my own dinners.
We live in a Malaysian Age when English Literature is frowned upon. But those of us who were brought up on Chaucer, Blake, Shelly, Wordsworth, Thoreau, Byron, etc would well remember Shakespeare too and Lady MacBeth. Well she is back here in Malaysia now. It is up to McDuff’s son to put things right. Is it?
Let us as Malaysians and members of the Commonwealth who share many things in common including our freedoms today due to the sacrifices and death of thousands of Australians on our soils so that we may enjoy that freedom thank the Australians for having taken up the cudgel when fully knowing about our “Five Blind Mice judges” and how laws are twisted and mired up in this country by those in power who are unable to let go of it today under any given circumstances.
T. Ghandi,
I appreciate your concern for Aussie soldiers who died in harness while defending this beautiful country against internal and external aggression. They were here during the Second World War. They came to our aid during the Malayan Emergency and later during Konfrantasi.
Those killed were young men in their teens and barely into their twenties. They died in a foreign land fighting a war which they hardly knew why because politics was not their concern.
Like all good soldiers their job task was not to ask why but to do and die. I have lived by this maxim for 30 long years. I value these soldiers’ contributions and have established lasting ties with their veteran association, viz the RSL (Returned Soldiers’ League) and its off-shot, the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans’ Association.
We have to acknowledge the scarifies the Aussies had made.. For without them we would not be where we are today.
Unfortunately, our leaders in Umno are bent on changing history for reasons best known to themselves. And leading the pack is Maha Firaun. Some of these leaders, especially the younger ones, know little about the hardships we had undergone ‘cos the only thing on their minds is how to perpetuate their party’s sole objective – Ketuanan Melayu.
Many good things were lost in transition. It’s our duty then to bring these lost souls back to the path of righteousness.
Amen.
“Like all good soldiers their job task was not to ask why but to do and die.-Tok Cik
The old days when soldiers gave their ultimate sacrifice to defend the integrity and sovereign interests of the country.
That is assuming that the politicians who call for their sacrifice are not crooks themselves where they instigate an incident for own political interest.Young American kids wasted their lives in Iraq because their commander in chief, George W Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and that Saddam attempted to assassinate his father.
Iraq is no where better today than it was before. It will taken another 50 years for Iraq to recover, by which time another dictator will rule Iraq.
I say that Code of Conduct for soliders should be revised. They should be allowed to ask why and if their lives are to be put on the late for crooks in office, who spent time instigating others to go to war or asked to go to a war that has remote national security interest, they should be allowed to be conscientious objectors.
Why should politicians be the one to decide the lives of others if they are perceived as crooks, and when national interest is not at stake.
Iraq war was fought for George Bush at the urging of the Jewish Neocons and for the benefit of Israel, It has nothing to do with the 9/11 and Iraq did not pose a threat to US.
Soldiers should form a union and they will have representatives to sit with the politicians to decide whether they would agree to let their members to go to war.
oops!!
They should be allowed to ask why if their lives are to be put on the plate for crooks in office,……
Frank,
Are you suggesting Pfc Tean should be allowed to walk up to Brig. Gen. Tok Cik and ask why he is being asked to do a bayonet charge against an enemy whose only purpose in life is to have 72 virgins waiting for him at Heaven’s Gate?? Why that would lead to chaos!!
It would make more sense to ask tean to show his meat to Ms. Maria Ozawa. He would be too happy to lead the charge with or without the bayonet armed only with his joystick.
Frank,
Unfortunately or fortunately (whichever way you deem it), military discipline dictates how a soldier, an airman and a sailor should or should not behave.
We learn this on the drill square. When the drill sergeant shouts “right turn” we turn right and when he shouts “left turn” we turn left. This has been the way since time immemorial where soldering had evolved from a mercenary force into an organised fighting unit.
Without discipline we are no better than KJ’s Umno Youth with Reeza Merican, the ever faithful batman (valet), at his side.
I had during my tenure in Service questioned the roles of our political masters who would constantly remind us that politics should not be left to the generals.
It’s a time honoured thing for us to shun politics. And that has been my motto until I retired from Service. As of now I can no longer stomach what I see and feel. No, not with a corrupt Umno at the helm.
Yeah, Bean when an order is given to charge, your men should obey instinctively. If they don’t or if they put down their arms and flee, you’ve every right to shoot them. Cowardice is a court-martial offence punishable by death.
“iLHAM, Your wild allegations and defective reasoning are turning off readers and writing in CAPS does not help make your writing any more credible.”– Mr. Bean
This is UMNO cybertrooper and a virulent spammer which I have been coming in to pollute. He/she is here to annoy.
This is not about free speech, but about removing an irritating garbage.
Din is still having problems getting rid of him.
Tok Cik
I agree with all you said. As a citizen, I would like to have a highly disciplined soldier to defend the country.
There are definite markers to define when a war is about defending the security of a nation and the wellbeing of its people against enemies.
How could we justify allowing 20-30 year olds, with so much of life ahead of them, to die in Iraq based on a lie that Saddam Hussein had WMD, and that Iraq was to be blamed for the 9/11?
I imagined a family who spent 20 years bringing up their boy or girl to carry on the family’s name, were asked to die in a war that has little to do defending the country? A young life snuffed out for a war forced upon a nation.
If they don’t die, they returned crippled or suffered from mental and emotional disturbance.
When the Japanese invaded Malaya, yes we should fight them for the return of our land. No problem with that.
The favourite excuse by politicians is that we have to go to war to protect our way of life. That is a lie. Invariably it is about sending young boys and girls to die in war to protect the political leaders’ own lifestyle of corruption, nepotism and cronyism.
The question is this: If there is war instigated by this UMNO-led Govt against a friendly neighbour, should we let our young boys and girls in the Army, Air force and Navy to to go to war to defend UMNO leaders’ life style. I say NO,
THis UMNO-led Govt is not a govt of the people, for the people. The Prime Minister is nominated by a small percentage of Malay voters, and all the Non Malays have no say, including that of the Deputy Prime Minister.
This Govt and the bureaucratic machinery only serve the interest of UMNO, not the interest of the citizens of the country. UMNO abuses and misuses the public institutions for its own agenda. UMNO is a power unto itself.
So if you are father of a son who is in the army, would you want him to die for UMNO leaders like what we have now?
And soldiers live by this maxim: We die for king and country.
In local context, it means the solders will defend the survival of the monarchy (read: Malay Rulers) and the Constitution (as representing the country).
No problem about dying to defend the constitution.
What if there is the underlying belief or perception that the monarchy is not in tune with the subjects or seen as having self-interest than anything else?
Would you want to still send your children to die for the monarchy as an institution?
This is a life and death choices one make and they should not be made too lightly.
“…Are you suggesting Pfc Tean should be allowed to walk up to Brig. Gen. Tok Cik and ask why he is being asked to do a bayonet charge against an enemy.”-Mr. Bean
Pfc Tean should not have been in the army in the first place. Buddhists hate violence except when in bed when engaged with the “enemy”.
What I am suggesting is that if there is a war looming and if the soldier feels that war is not a war of necessity, rather a war of choice by the UMNO politicians, the soldier should just discharge himself and give Brig Gen Tok Cik, “You know where to find me” call card.
_________
Frank,
This cybertrooper from UMNO does not operate alone. There could be a few of them working round the clock. They always attack when I am not attending to my blog. But I will delete his postings which sneak in from time to time. Otherwise, my program catches him under spam.–Din Merican
Well said, Frank. I agree totally with you. That’s why my two sons are not in the Service. They pursue their own careers one that has nothing to do with the armed forces. In fact, I forbid them from following in my footsteps. Not someone sentimental, I must say.
I had my share of ups and downs in the army. But all said and done, I’d never regretted bearing arms for King and Country. Although I had spent almost half of my lifespan in the army, I loved every moment of it. Like they say, there was never a dull moment.
In the good old days our lives revolved around the Officers’ Mess. Today it’s a different ball game. Politics and religion have crept into the system making life difficult for commanders.
The top echelon officers (colonels and generals) are nothing more than robots ever eager to serve their political masters at a drop of the hat.
The military, unfortunately, has been buggered by these so-called “puritans” from Umno. And that includes one fat woman who goes by the name of Rosmah Mansor, the nymph from Negri Sembilan.
I rest my case.
“What I am suggesting is that if there is a war looming and if the soldier feels that war is not a war of necessity, rather a war of choice by the UMNO politicians, the soldier should just discharge himself ..” Frank
With tean discharging is never that simple. He needs to have his sight on Ozawa-san.
With Tok Cik, whenever he has Rosmah in his cross-hairs he claims he would be unable to discharge when he wants to and blames it on the firing pin. His pistol will not fire!
I actually needed to show this specific article, “Michael Danby Responds: Justice for Anwar Ibrahim | Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger” together with my good friends on facebook or twitter.
Ionly just sought to disperse ur superb writing!
With thanks, Jarrod