anwar

DS Anwar Ibrahim. I was surprised when I found out that he was/is a visiting fellow/prof here in the states. first at johns hopkins. then in georgetown.

I remember anwar from when I was in primary school. he spoke at the esplanade. this little kid was very impressed. anwar was a very charismatic speaker. known around the world. he was elected president of unesco's general conference in 1991. was a student leader in university. he was from penang. I remember he even spoke a few words in chinese that night. even then, this little brat was very proud of anwar. and I continued to favor him even when he became more radical.

the sacking came in 1998. by that time I was ashamedly very far removed from malaysian politics after having been in the states for a while. still I doubted the charges. but since I wasn't really following the case, I didn't decide either way. besides, I also supported mahathir. I just put it as anwar being too impatient leading to him being sidelined by mahathir.

he was finally freed after the sodomy conviction was overturned. this was followed by his going round the world speaking about islam, democracy, and free press, among other things. earlier this year, he was interviewed on hardtalk. I anticipated the interview but it left me un-impressed. and sometime last month, I had the chance to hear him speak again. I expected a fiery, well-delivered, awe-inspiring speech. after all that is what he has been doing since his release. giving numerous speeches, seminars, and interviews. but his talk was quite fractured. I wasn't swept away. I found myself having to concentrate to keep my mind from wandering. and during the questions session, he didn't answer most of them! he went on at a tangent and left a few of us going huh? on one of his tangents, he told us that he was surprised by how many malaysian students there were in the audience. he said that at other universities, there were people from the malaysian embassy or whatnot that turned away malaysian students and forbade them to attend. I thought to myself, what a load of crap! as if the malaysian government is so childish and ridiculous. but..... what do I see on jeffooi's site? proof of such infantile actions! they actually sent an official letter to the sponsored students!! shame shame!! I could hardly believe it. since I'm not a sponsored student myself, even though I have had meetings and correspondence with the msd, I may have been spared the cocooning. do they really want to isolate our students? sending students overseas is not just about acquiring technical knowledge. malaysia hopes to attract more international investments. the prime students are sent overseas to help make it happen. to understand how the world works. are these students not to be trusted? why send them here if they still see the need to protect them? can't these students learn to judge for themselves? if they are not allowed to hear anwar speak, how are they going to address the questions others have on this issue? um.... I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with anwar because I've been banned from listening to the opposition... don't we want malaysians to have a wider view of the world? how can malaysians be more active globally if we're not allowed to consider the other point of view? what happend to knowing your enemy?

back to the talk. one of them is archived here. you can decide for yourself. anwar drives the point across that real democracy entails free press among other things. freedom of information. ironic since even overseas the sponsored students are not entitled to that. and he also urges the western world to apply pressure for free press and human rights to countries such as malaysia. this probably wouldn't work as the western world can't afford to alienate another muslim nation. however anwar didn't give us any answers. how do you start to change the status quo in malaysia? but at least he is bringing attention to the issue. he stayed on after the speech to meet and discuss with the malaysian students. that is more than what any government official has done.

I left the talk underwhelmed. maybe I was too easily impressed as a kid. not surprising since at that time many senior ministers even had problems speaking in english. someone with anwar's intellect shone easily. I could listen to more of his foreign interviews. but I've somehow lost the motivation. I should't be such a slacker. but change needs persistence, luck and should only come when the time is right. besides I am also lost in my selfish problems.