News on Malaysia : Policy About Fac

[hag2@xxxxxxxxxxx]

>Sept 23
>
>POLICY ABOUT FACE
>          
>?Dr. Mahathir is becoming a virtual dictator who is in the process of
>killing democracy and destroying human rights in this country.
>
>SYED HUSIN ALI
>Malaysian opposition leader          
>
>Paradoxically, just last year, Mahathir was on a global road show for
>his Multimedia Super Corridor ? preaching the removal of barriers for
>foreign investors and more transparency. He never publicly embraced
>western ideas of democracy. Indeed, he is a primary proponent of
>?Asian? interpretations of such concepts of democracy and market
>economics ? a tendency his critics view as more Machiavellian than
>principled. 
>
>       But when the currency and stock market came under attack
>earlier this year, Mahathir?s ?economic openness? was quickly
>abandoned in favor of a virtual wall erected around Malaysia with
>strict currency and stock market controls. That move has scared away
>even the most intrepid foreign investors and fund managers.
>
>       But Mahatir seems unbowed. Most analysts agree Mahathir has
>abandoned any efforts to please the outside world and may turn to even
>more severe measures to quell dissidents and strengthen his already
>tight grip on power. ?Dr. Mahathir is becoming a virtual dictator who
>is in the process of killing democracy and destroying human rights in
>this country,? said opposition politician Syed Husin Ali.
>
>
>By Michael Bociurkiw:
>       
>WIFE ACCUSED
>
>
>
>       Police are justifying their harsh treatment of protestors by
>claiming that their demonstrations had threatened public order and
>national security. Even Anwar?s intelligent and charming wife, Wan
>Azizah Wan Ismail, has been accused of inciting unrest and, like her
>husband, may face arrest.
>
>       The ISA was a British institution created in the ?40s and ?50s
>when Communist insurgents in both Malaysia and Singapore were threats
>to the governments. As political freedoms were expanded and as the
>economy improved, the leadership felt more comfortable keeping the ISA
>on the books as a fall-back when the going gets tough. 
>
>       After the threat of communism was eliminated, the government
>changed its rationale for the ISA, saying it was needed to detain
>chauvinists who threaten the country?s delicate racial balance. The
>mid-?80s saw yet a new rationale for the ISA ? a tool to control
>troublemakers such as environmentalists and opposition members.
>
>       Most recently, the use of the ISA has changed once more, said
>Bruce Gale, a Singapore-based analyst of the Political Economic Risk
>Consultancy. ?Now the ISA is being used to arrest senior members of
>the ruling party. This has not happened before. It is the first time
>in recent memory they are doing this,? he said.
>
>       ?There is a trend towards greater authoritarian use of the
>legislation to maintain the status of the (ruling) political party.?
>
>       The last time the ISA was used in a widespread way was 1987,
>when 106 people were arrested for allegedly instigating race riots
>involving the large Chinese minority. A parliamentary report in 1993
>revealed that 9,542 people had been held under the act since 1960.
>
>       Critics have accused Mahathir of turning to the ISA to detain
>Anwar and his supporters, rather than go through the much more
>difficult process of trying in an open court him for sodomy, sexual
>misconduct, treason, corruption and the other misdeeds he?s been
>accused of. Even senior UMNO council members are said to have voiced
>doubt over this strategy.
>       
>BLAME THE BRITS?
>
>       However, many Malaysians ? in recent times better educated,
>more exposed to the ways of the west and bolstered by higher spending
>power ? now view the ISA as an outdated vestige of British colonialism
>and one that suggests a paternalistic, father-knows-best attitude in
>government. 
>
>       In contrast, Thailand and the Philippines have made significant
>progress towards representative government and political transparency.
>Malaysia may follow this route too, once Mahathir either steps down or
>? as is seen as more of a possibility - is removed from office. Even
>if his successor is plucked from the ruling United Malays National
>Organization (UMNO), analysts agree it will be difficult for a new
>leader to resist calls for more reform or retain the kinds of power
>Mahathir has relied on to silence dissent during his 17-year rule.
>
>       The course of future political events in Malaysia ? and indeed
>elsewhere in Southeast Asia ? depends on whether people can be
>shielded from much of the economic pain that has plagued Thailand and
>Indonesia. Singaporean authorities have been nervously watching
>unfolding events in neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, fearing that a
>further collapse in the standard of living may spark some discontent.
>
>       But with Malaysia in its worst recession in 13 years,
>unemployment rising and the stock market down by almost 50 percent, it
>is hard to imagine a return to the good times soon. That may signal
>further troubles for the already battered government of Mahathir.
>       
>       Michael Bociurkiw, who just returned to the U.S. from Malaysia,
>writes on Southeast Asia for Forbes magazine. This is his first piece
>for MSNBC. 
>       http://www.msnbc.com/news/198922.asp
>
>
>