Monday, September 01, 2008

Anwar: from irrelevance to irreverence?

I read the following in Lim Kit Siang's blog just a few days ago

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/08/28/how-petty-can-you-be-shabery/

All the newspapers reported on the front pages that Anwar Ibrahim would be sworn in as MP for Permatang Pauh today and that the swearing-in will be telecast live over RTM, which airs the first 30 minutes of the daily parliamentary sittings from 10 am.

It will be no exaggeration to say that since the introduction of the 30-minute parliamentary live telecast by RTM since April, there has never been such greater national interest in the RTM live telecast as this morning to witness the historic return of Anwar to Parliament after a decade-long enforced absence because of political persecution and victimisation.

I did not realise that there was no RTM live telecast of Anwar’s taking his oath as MP until I was asked about it by the press when I came out of the Chamber about an hour later and I received angry reactions by Malaysians who felt “cheated” of the live RTM telecast.

How petty can you be, Information Minister, Datuk Shabry Cheek that you should indulge in such puerile tactics as to veto RTM from proceeding with its live telecast of Anwar’s swearing-in?


I watched part of the live telecast of the Budget proposals a day after. During the 20 minutes when I watched, I could see glimpses of a munching Mustafa Mohammed and a drooling Shabery sitting behind the PM. Occasionally, the camera showed only the BN side of Parliament. Anwar? Was he there as Opposition leader? Not if you watched our ministry of information’s live telecast.

I cannot help agreeing with LKS on Shabery or whoever gave him the instructions. If not his own decision, then it could only come from either the DPM with the tacit approval of the PM, or the PM himself. My impression was that of pettiness and insecurity.

2 comments:

  1. The UMNO leaders just don't get it. For every move they make against DSAI in a seemingly unfair manner, they lose more support and gain more distaste even from those who had previously supported them.

    BN and UMNO are quickly becoming "dirty" words that we don't utter in a positive way or we will get funny looks from the crowd!

    The UMNO leaders are so far removed from the rakyat that what they are concerned about is their own survival! And ironically, what they are doing for their own survival are the very moves that will hasten their downfall.

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  2. Thanks Bayi. I agree with you on that. There are certain leaders who are liabilities to BN and they still did not get it.

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