KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said that the current uprising in the Arab-Muslim would soon reach Southeast Asian nations if governments did not take heed to initiate socio-economic reform and strengthen democracy.
Speaking at a conference held in Phnom Penh on February 26, Anwar said such governments could carry on as long as their state controlled organs such as the police, security forces or the military did the regimes' bidding to suppress dissent.
“The problems that plague the Middle Eastern nations are no different from those affecting other parts of the world under autocratic regimes.
The amassing of wealth by the elite at the expense of the masses, inadequate infrastructure, outdated education systems, deplorable health care and declining incomes in real terms – these are problems that almost all nations under autocratic regimes have in common," he said.
Saying the Middle East uprising was a warning to Southeast Asian leaders to vigorously pursue the reform agenda, Anwar said draconian laws had undermined the independence gained from colonial powers.
Anwar cited Indonesia as the example of a real democracy after going through political upheaval, and urged countries in the region to emulate the country's democratic institutions.
“There are rare exceptions though. Indonesia, having undergone her transformational political upheaval and emerging from the storm a new nation altogether, still remains the shining example of a real democracy. Press freedom is alive and well, and the practice of free and fair elections leaves her neighbours looking like pathetic upstarts in the race for democracy,” said Anwar.
Anwar also said that any empowerment of a particular community at the expense of another would lead to conflict in a plural society.
“It is therefore incumbent on politicians be they in power or those in opposition to conduct themselves responsibly even if it means risking popularity," he added.
Kuan Yew and Najib
Anwar said the current revolution in several Arab countries was proof that Islam and Muslims do not tolerate dictatorship, as claimed by some right wing commentators.
“In any event, the fear of Islam hijacking freedom and democracy has been proven to be without foundation.
Hence, this rising tide of Islam catch phrase is nothing but another new way of beating the Islamic bogeyman, in its various manifestations of Islamophobia,” stressed Anwar.
He added however that 'Islamophobia', or the fear of anything Islamic, was not a disease among Western leaders only.
“We have on record a supposedly retired statesman in Southeast Asia expressing opinions on Muslims which betray an utter lack of sensitivity," he said, in a apparent jibe at Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew over his recent statement criticising Muslims.
Anwar also did not leave out prime minister Najib Razak's latest statement in Turkey, in which he cast suspicion on Egypt's Ikhwan Muslimin over its role in post-Mubarak Egypt.
"We even have Muslim leaders in the region who appear to be suffering from the paranoia about the Muslim Brotherhood to a degree that rivals that of say Mubarak or even the Neo-cons of America,” he said.
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2354:southeast-asian-leaders-warned-of-arab-style-uprising&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56
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