Clamour for change not dictated by Washington or London: Anwar

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11: Saying the Egyptian people should dictate their future and not Western governments, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim warned against what he termed 'politics of ambivalence' by those who talked about democracy "while tolerating repression by corrupt and authoritarian leaders".

"The clamour for change is not dictated by Washington, London or Paris but by the people themselves," Anwar stressed in a recent interview with CNN on the situation in Egypt.

Saying the people of Egypt had waited "far too long and suffered immensely", he called on the international community to respect their sentiments.

"We need to negotiate with the people of Egypt, not with tyrants and authoritarian leaders.

"They have waited far too long and suffered immensely. It's time the international community looked at them and respect the sentiments of the Egyptian people," he added.

'Why can't it happen in other countries'?

Asked whether the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Egyptian cities would influence other parts of the Muslim world, Anwar said the impact will be "phenomenal" and will be felt by all groups whether they are secularists, liberals or Islamists.

"Why can't it happen in other parts of the Muslim world?" he responded. "Egypt is important. It is the centre of learning in the Muslim world."

He said it was common of authoritarian regimes in the past, including in Malaysia, to always cite 'security' of the nation in order to perpetuate their rule.

"But security under whom? These leaders do not have the legitimacy. Who appointed them in the first place? Who gave them full authority to decide for the people?" he asked.

Anwar also played down fears that the Egyptian revolution would result in chaos, and cited the example of post-Suharto Indonesia in which political reforms by then interim president B.J. Habibie were successfully implemented.

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