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Anwar
Ibrahim, “Prisoner of Conscience” Anwar Ibrahim is the former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia. Since 1999, he has been serving a 15-year jail sentence on charges of abuse of power and sodomy -- charges he says were fabricated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to foil a political challenge to the leadership. The two trials where Anwar Ibrahim was convicted have been condemned as "fundamentally flawed" by international legal organizations, human rights groups and countries from Africa to Asia, from Western Europe to the Islamic world. The United Nations has expressed concern, as has the European Union. Amnesty International has adopted him as a "prisoner of conscience;" the United States State Department called him a political prisoner. Anwar Ibrahim currently languishes in a Malaysian jail, his health deteriorating as a result of an injury suffered when -- blindfolded and handcuffed -- he was brutally assaulted by Malaysia's then national police chief. The government has rejected international calls for him to be allowed to seek medical treatment overseas. The arrest, assault, and conviction of Anwar Ibrahim sparked a movement for reform -- or "reformasi" -- among traditionally complacent Malaysians. Internationally, his courageous and firm refusal to surrender his principles and ideals in the face of the unprecedented attacks on his political and personal life have enhanced his standing in the West, while his message of tolerance and reform resonate within the Islamic world. Both
the European Union and the United States have made it clear to the Malaysian
government that they seek his release from prison. The Malaysian courts continue to delay the
appeal process over his sentences. There
is a paucity of credible, principled, and progressive Muslim leaders who can
bridge the gulf between the Islamic world and the West. The
world profoundly needs Anwar Ibrahim on the global stage. Anwar
wrote this essay in jail and passed it to his lawyer, who managed to
deliver it for publication. --
Dr. Max Stamper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Muslims
Must Reform -- Or Be Left Behind By
Anwar Ibrahim Affirmations
of brotherhood and lamentations over the elusiveness of a long-sought
fraternity are two perennial themes of modern Muslim rhetoric. It
seems that no summit would be worthy of the name unless such sentiments
were somehow woven into the agenda. The
10th summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference to be held outside
Kuala Lumpur later this week will probably be no different. Few
will be surprised if the opulence of the conference venue is matched by an
appalling poverty of ideas on how to cure the Muslim malady – poor
governance, economic deprivation, political restiveness among citizens,
and, of course, the bad press the community has been receiving. Sure,
the delegates will be vociferous in condemning terrorism. They
will also express disgust with the U.S. for its imperialistic designs. And
they will launch diatribes against the WTO, the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund for their failure to address concerns of
developing countries. No
doubt, these groups are all culpable in some way, but ranting about insidious
neo-colonialism and issuing pious platitudes about the superiority of the
Islamic approach are no substitute for a workable plan to address the
depressing state of the Muslim community. And
their Muslim audiences are not likely to miss the irony of living under
virtual one-party systems. The
Palestinian question will continue to be the dominant issue at the conference.
Israeli
state terrorism must be condemned before there can be any effective
check against the desperate and retaliatory acts of terror that the
dispossessed Palestinians resort to. Many
Muslims see the U.S. stance in this conflict as diabolical, and the
outrage has been aggravated by the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. But
concerned Muslims are asking where this Muslim outrage was when the
Taliban insulted the Islamic tradition of respect for other religions in
their destruction of the statues of Buddha at Bamiyan? And
why was there silence for decades in the face of Saddam Hussein's
atrocities against Kurds, Marsh Arabs and Shiites; and what about his war
against Iran and conquest of Kuwait? When
the bodies are tallied, Muslims will find that more of their brothers and
sisters have been butchered by their own leaders than by
non-Muslims. Even
now, Muslim governments have expended little effort in the quest for a
just resolution to the conflicts in Chechnya, Kashmir and Acheh. Thus
one can appreciate the widespread cynicism among ordinary Muslims about
the OIC. They
see it as a body too frail to champion Muslim causes and a loose ensemble
operating on ideas out of tune with the times. One
testimony to their ineffectuality is the Islamic News Agency. Formed
in the early days of the conference, it was, on its face, a noble idea. Its
role was to correct an imbalance in international news coverage due to the
perceived biases of Western news agencies. But
it was doomed at its very inception because it was not to be an agency
selling uncensored news, vigorous reporting, and critical commentary. Its
creators meant, instead, for it to be a recorder of official views and a
peddler of reports on national development and successes. In
short, it was to be an internationalized propaganda agent. It
is not surprising, then, that al-Jazeera, hailed as a new voice of
independent journalism in the Middle East, is viewed with
apprehension by many Arab governments, even as it irks the U.S. Paradoxically,
the controlled national media have been parroting the most naïve
utterances, perpetuating stereotypes of Islam and Muslims. Thus
the ruthless and secular Saddam Hussein has been styled an "Islamic
dictator”, the perverse policies of the Taliban equated with the
Shariah, terrorism ascribed to Wahhabi teachings and the Shiite community
characterized as people with a propensity to violence. And
then, it is a simple matter of sticking the label Taliban, Wahhabi or
Shiite on dissenters before eventually arresting them under draconian laws
allowing detention without trial. Many
developing countries welcome the wind of democratic change sweeping across
the globe, embracing reform to ensure the entrenchment of fundamental
liberties and the promotion of economic growth. But
a large section of the Muslim belt remains stuck in political systems that
are anathema to freedom. And
as a cultural group, Muslims appear to be the most resistant to democracy.
Their
economies, straining under dirigisme systems, are slumping the fastest. The
few Muslim majority countries that can claim some measure of economic
success have done so because of secularism and democracy, as in Turkey, or
the presence of industrious Chinese, as in Malaysia and to some extent
Indonesia. Yet
we still hear the sermon of self-serving Muslim autocrats that their subjects
are incapable of democracy. Who
in his or her right mind does not want to be free to exercise choice? Could
there be morality without freedom? These
are questions that should be hurled at the enemies of democracy. They
have to be reminded that the notion of choice is embedded in Islamic
theology. It
is a moral imperative for Muslims to make the leap to responsible
government, departing from oppressive and corrupt policies. Having
been embittered by the CIA and Mossad, as they claim, Muslim leaders should
know better than to use intelligence agencies such as Saddam's Mukhabarat
or the Special Branch in Malaysia to harass or terrorize citizens. Instead
of denigrating the Shariah and demonizing Ulama, the Islamic council
of wise men, Muslim leaders should ponder the reasons why an increasing
number of Muslims, including young professionals, see the Shariah as a
viable alternative to the current systems in their countries, where the
rule of man has supplanted the rule of law and the institutions of justice
have been all but physically destroyed. Representative
government, with adequate constitutional safeguards, is the best insurance
of peace and economic progress. To
be relevant to our times, those claiming to represent Muslims cannot afford
to gloss over these issues. Most
of all, they must accept the inevitability of a predominantly democratic
and pluralistic world. The
Muslim world must navigate its way toward freedom and justice, which,
after all, were integral components of the Prophet Muhammad's mission. -- 30 – “Commentary,”
The Asian Wall Street Journal, 14 October 2003 Please
visit, The International Free Anwar Campaign (www.freeanwar.com)
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Photo by T. Jordan Eaves
Max Stamper, Ph.D., London School of Economics, is eager to explore your international public affairs and communication needs, and to discuss our services. DrMaxStamper@att.net phone (+) 1 (201) 848-6162
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