Thursday, June 2, 2011

Anwar Gets SNAPPED: The Failure of an Opposition Leader Comes Home to Roost

By Leon H. Wolf

In a development that should be viewed as welcome by supporters of one of the relatively few functional Muslim-majority democracies in the world, signs are continuing to mount that Anwar Ibrahim’s opposition coalition may be beginning to crumble. Earlier this month, Anwar was sharply criticized by Sarawakians for only offering the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) three seats, which many Sarawakians considered to be an insultingly lowball number. Anwar attempted to deflect criticism for this move by claiming that he had an agreement signed in writing with the President of SNAP in which SNAP agreed to only contest three seats. SNAP’s response, essentially, was to call Anwar a liar:

Sarawak Nasional Party (SNAP) has strongly rebutted PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s claims that it had signed an agreement with the party, to contest only in three seats a few months before the recent Sarawak election.

SNAP Youth chief Dayrell Enterie said Anwar’s statement was “totally incorrect”.

This statement of his (Anwar) is totally incorrect as neither SNAP nor its president (who was erroneously named Stanley Jugol in the Malaysiakini article) had entered into any written agreement whatsoever on seat allocations with PKR.

Fortunately (or, one suspects, unfortunately) for Anwar, his claim was not that he had a formal understanding or a verbal agreement with SNAP regarding the allocation of seats, but that he had an agreement in writing. Therefore, this whole matter ought to be easy to clear up for Anwar – all he has to do is produce the written agreement and all will be well. Given SNAP’s flat denial of its existence, and given Anwar’s failure to produce the written agreement when he first claimed it existed, it is not difficult to guess whether or not Anwar is lying about this agreement.

More ominous than SNAP’s flat rebuttal of Anwar’s specific claim, though is the clear signal from SNAP that it is willing to walk away from Anwar and PKR, if necessary:

“SNAP wishes to reiterate that it is not a push-over party for any West Malaysian entity nor is SNAP a Pakatan stooge,” he said in a statement mailed to FMT.

These political troubles are anything but welcome for Anwar, who is trying together a bizarre coalition with disparate interests – almost none of which are any sort of good news for Western interests or for the ultimate fate of Democracy in Malaysia, especially given that Anwar has been apparently caught on a DNA test doing what the kids today refer to as “pulling a Dominique Strauss Kahn.”

It is hopeful that the political fissures now beginning to show will signal the beginning of the end for a man who mysteriously remains a cause célèbre among some of America’s hopelessly naïve elites. Anwar Ibrahim is lionized amongst the usual suspects in the United States because he was previously jailed on a sodomy charge, which was overturned in 2004. Lost in the wake of the celebration over Anwar’s release amongst these same people is the fact that Anwar was simultaneously convicted of corruption on a scale that would make William Jefferson, Duke Cunningham, and Edwin Edwards blush. This conviction was not overturned and in fact was upheld on appeal.Read more.

8 comments:

SM said...

Bro HL,

Hahaha! You have been singing the same tune since the last GE in 2008 when you predicted that the PR opposition pact will crumble.
You have failed to see that the BN has already crumbled (disregarding East Malaysia's BN component parties)!
There's only UMNO left in BN in Peninsular Malaysia! The MIC, MCA, PPP & Gerakan are complete waste of time Eunuchs! That's why UMNO has been constantly trying to lure PAS to join them (in the guise of uniting the Malays!).

gram.kong said...

SM,

My predictions over the years are becoming visible, you can see it happening, the desperations in PKR, Anwar clutching at straws and the lies and broken promises.The party is definitely crumbling.

The BN has not crumbled, only MCA and Gerakan are crumbling which I have mentioned in many of my previous posts.DAP would be a dominant Chinese based party after the 13th GE.

BN would still win highly likely without the two-thirds majority.

Anonymous said...

I do agree that UMNO and DAP will win big. PKR, PAS, MIC will be struggling and the rest of the BN/ non aligned chinese parties (Gerakan, MCA, SUPP, SAPP, LDP, PPP etc) will get flushed down the toilet.

Anonymous said...

this is politics. everybody is playing 'tai chi politics'. but we tend to believe the other side as it seems that anwar is trying UMNO-style politics. it seems that the more anwar play games, the more PKR will lose. i sense a lot of people are fed up already. funny thing is that DAP is more consistent and has better direction than PKR. so wont be surprise if PR power will shift to DAP during GE13. if they can get more bread and butter issues to the rakyat, malay, chinese, indian, kadazan,etc, etc.

Anonymous said...

3 seats are too many already for SNAP.

Dot said...

even if pkr tries to cling to dap upon coming GE13th, the party will be out-of-form since their leader, most probably; wont be there anymore!

if he were still around, he would be facing more court cases...all his summons & the latest might be related to the video claimed to be him 'at work'!!

there's yet a long series of the unknown!

but one thing for sure, dap will take it all in pr!!!!

sang said...

It's ok for anyone to defend their own race but you've to look at the bigger picture and beyond racism. Look at the Arab Spring and some other corrupted nations,all are crumbling down one by one, BN no exception only a matter of time. Spreading your predictions won't change the crumbling down of BN. You fear the changes, you fear because you so fear the changes gonna make you loose all your wealth. But do you realise there are millions of poor M'sian struggling hard just to get ends meet where BN and their cronies keep blundering tax payers monies, YOURS too precisely. You've forgotten what you've been figthing for. Unless you're benefited from BN, and born corrupted soul, die hard BN supporter. But no man is born evil (you too), while you can do something good and help make a change for a better future with you writing. Your children will proud of you not because the wealth you left for them but your character,dignity and a better M'sia you helped shape for them.

SM said...

Bro HL,

I think you mean UMNO, DAP & PAS will win big in the next GE?
MIC is still 50-50 due to the "lallang" nature of the Malaysian Indians.
MCA, PPP & Gerakan will be completely wiped out...if I were Najib, I would just tell tell PPP & Gerakan to close shop & re-join either MIC or MCA. MCA on the other hand will have to really contest in UMNO strong-holds (strange isn't it? Either they contest in UMNO held areas & win or get completely washed down the toilet when they contest in Chinese areas!).
Just watch PAS...I bet you they do better than what they did in the last GE. Many Non-Bumis now support them & they still have their Malay / Muslim support base too who will never vote for UMNO.