Democracy,Kleptocracy Or Hypocrisy ? Take Your Pick.

Hantu Laut

Some people say you can't separate Sharizat from her husband and she paid  a heavy price for what he did. 

Can you separate Marina from her father?

There was no record of her attacking her father's policies when he was prime minister for 22 years under the same political umbrella. 

UMNO political ideology have not changed much until quite recently when current PM Najib tried to repair the damage done under Pak Lah's tenure by reforming some of the archaic and draconian laws.

Najib is fighting an uphill battle not only from the oppositions but from within his own party where old habit diehards see reforms stripping away their political fortunes.

Obviously, she is not a fan of PM Najib Tun Razak and the kleptocratic UMNO, her father's former political bastion.

Marina binti Mahathir is the daughter and eldest child of the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohammad. She is well known as a leader in many non-governmental organizations such as the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and is currently an active socio-political blogger. She also writes a bi-weekly column in The Star.

Marina has called for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Marina has 3 children and is married to an Indonesian professional photographer, Tara Sosrowardoyo.

She graduated from the University of Sussex.

Marina Mahathir, daughter of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has launched a stinging attack on UMNO leaders

May 8: Marina Mahathir, daughter of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has launched a stinging attack on UMNO leaders who accused participants of the Bersih 3.0 rally last month of wanting to topple the government through street protests.

“What is this obsession with us not being Egypt anyway? If we’re not, then why worry? Besides, who needs to worry about the Arab Spring unless they identify themselves with Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gadaffi and Assad?” she wrote in a blog posting, referring to the Arab dictators.

UMNO leaders, including her father, had earlier said that Bersih protesters were imitating the people’s uprising in the Middle East, collectively known as the ‘Arab Spring’, and wanted to replace the current government through street protests and foreign interference.

Marina (pic), who also joined the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28, defended the right to peaceful assembly and said there was nothing wrong when the Egyptian people assembled at Tahrir Square to press for democratic reforms.

“They want a greater say in the policies of the government. They want an end to corruption. They want proper elections with many candidates to choose from, not just those handpicked by the rulers. They want an end to military interference in politics,” she wrote.

“Aren’t these reasonable? But our government will not acknowledge that these demands are quite normal. Well maybe they’re not in an undemocratic country.”

Marina also took to task those who argued that Malaysians need not protest as their country was “not Egypt.

“If Malaysia is not Egypt and our leaders are not Mubarak, then why are Malaysians who went to Bersih treated like Egyptian protestors?” she asked.

“If anyone had gone down to Dataran on the Sunday after Bersih 3.0, apart from the barbed wire, everything was back to normal… Made our point, now let’s go eat. This is why we are not Egypt. In this we agree with our government. We are NOT Egypt. But then why respond in such Mubarak-like fashion?”

On the recent declaration by the National Fatwa Council that demonstrating against the government was forbidden in Islam, Marina reminded of a similar ruling made by Egypt’s Al-Azhar University Fatwa Committee in the days leading to Mubarak’s resignation on February 11, 2011.

“So getting the NFC ( hmmm…dubious initials…) to issue such a fatwa seems very Mubarak-like, doesn’t it?” she quipped. Harakahdaily.