In recent days, Malaysia's ruling party has again brought out its anti-Jew drum in a bid to discredit Anwar Ibrahim, the popular Opposition Leader and his resurgent Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
Among those leading the charge for Prime Minister Najib Razak and former premier Mahathir Mohamad is Chandra Muzzafar, a Brahmin who gave up Hinduism to embrace Islam. Chandra's latest tirade on national television on Saturday night against Anwar on the question of Israel -- and by extension Palestine -- must be the most outrageous lies ever concocted by anyone, politician and non-politicians, alike.
By implying that Anwar is only concerned about the security of Israel -- and by extension not Palestine -- Chandra is making the sinister suggestion albeit subtly that the Opposition Leader is actually supported by World Jewry and/or is on their payroll. Then, he goes on to say, in a non-statement of sorts, in a negative and rather sarcastic tone that "everyone knows" where Anwar stands on the issue of the Arab World, the Muslim World etc etc. He was, by no means, saying anything positive about Anwar. Indeed, he was in fact trying to hint at the very opposite with an eye on the Malay vote banks.
It must be noted here that Chandra Muzzafar was a former deputy president in Anwar's political party PKR. He was persuaded to join Najib's camp and has been used to trigger off an anticipated spate of defections to Umno, the ruling party, but to his utter disgrace and humiliation, no one followed and Pakatan went on to win an unprecedented victory in the 2008 general election. Anwar and team now stand poised to take over the federal government in the next general election which must be held by April 2013.
Frustrated politician, confused academic
Every man has his price, as Umno has been told by the Special Branch police, and Chandra caved in very quickly without too much prompting when they discovered his Achilles heel and dangled some goodies before him. After not having delivered to Umno, this political nobody is still trying to make up for his monumental failure and Israel seems to be his final ticket to justify the expensive transfer.
The level of frustration that Chandra is experiencing these days is only matched by that of Mahathir Mohamad. This is evident in the numerous political statements that both men continue to issue against Anwar, PKR and the Pakatan Rakyat. Just a day ago, Mahathir fired the latest salvo at his No. 1 enemy, saying he was not surprised at Anwar's alleged pro-Israeli stance. The 86-year-old former PM has long accused Anwar of being either a Jewish spy or a US agent or both depending which suits his tirade most.
“He will say anything to take over Putrajaya,” Mahathir, also a former Umno president, told reporters on Monday.
In Japan, failed politicians like Chandra and Mahathir would have committed hara-kiri. No such luck for the people of Malaysia as the duo continued to feign ignorance when it suits them and carry on with their thick-skinned ways. Another thing, who appointed Chandra as spokesman for the Malay-speaking communities in Peninsular Malaysia remains a bit of a mystery! This is becoming the butt of jokes around the country. It seems that Umno, a party that claims to champion the Malays, believes the community is so incapable of taking a stand on anything that they always need a Muslim non-Malay to forever come to their aid or defence.
The real enemies of Palestine
The fact of the matter is that the security of Israel is tied up with the realization of Palestine as an independent, sovereign state. If confused academics like Chandra think that the people of Israel must be driven into the sea before the State of Palestine can be set up, they need to have their heads examined by the nearest shrink.
It's people like Mahathir, Najib & Co who are the real enemies of the Palestinian people. They are not interested in the welfare of Palestine but are only interested in making sure that the people there continue to suffer so that they can wrest maximum political benefits out of the continuing tragedy.
There has never been a Palestinian nation throughout the history of the Middle-East and West Asia. The Palestinians, or more accurately Philistinians, are immigrants from Lebanon -- the Phoenicia of old -- who settled in the Gaza Strip. In the Bible we have the story of David and Goliath the Giant, the latter a Philistinian.
Briefly, no one including the Ottomon Empire recognized the Palestinians as a nation and no one recognized their land claims, if any. It was the late Yasser Arafat who organised the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a political and military movement to raise the banner of nationalism. All nationalisms are defined by what it opposes.
In the case of Palestinian nationalism, it was opposition to continued Jewish buying up of land (Jewish in history) that they had settled on and occupied over the centuries. The tragedy is that such land had never been given titles by any government throughout history including the Ottomon Empire because its occupation was suspect.
Israeli fears of Muslims outnumbering Jews
Like it or not, Israel is a democratic, sovereign state recognized by the United Nations and the international community including Arab nations and even collects and hands over the taxes due to Palestine.
The fact that Malaysia doesn't recognize the state of Israel is beside the point. Israel does not become any less legitimate just because Malaysia has refused to recognize it.
Arabs -- Muslims and Christians -- although forming only 20 per cent of the population of Israel are just as much a part of the country as other citizens who are of the Jewish faith. It's a tragedy that the rest of Palestine -- West Bank and the Gaza Strip -- cannot be one with Israel as a nation-state founded on the rule of laws.
Unfortunately, the Tel Aviv Regime is against creating a fait accompli where the Muslim population in the combined territories would out-number the Jewish population.
Under the circumstances, Palestine has to go its own way separate from Israel but not at the expense of the security of the latter. This is something that Anwar, unlike Mahathir and Najib, understands very well.
Najib desperate to reclaim the world stage after Anwar acquittal
Hence, Anwar's take that one must subscribe to the security of Israel before Palestine can emerge alongside it and live in peace, security and prosperity as a full member of the United Nations. Which actually is exactly in line with Malaysia's recognition of a "two-state solution".
" I support all efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel," said Mr. Anwar, although he stopped short of saying he would open diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, a step which he said remains contingent on Israel respecting the aspirations of Palestinians.
Malaysia has consistently refrained from establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, although limited commercial ties exist between private companies in the two countries.
How a perfectly logical statement has been twisted by Umno's Utusan newspaper to mean Anwar wanted to defend Israel's security at the expense of Palestine's beats imagination. It speaks of the herd and low-grade mentality that Najib and Umno seem to credit the Muslim and Malay communities in Malaysia with having.
"Is this the stand of the the opposition Pakatan coalition, when the government does not even have diplomatic relations with Israel," Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin was reported as saying by the Bernama national news agency.
World watchers have long held the view Palestine will only gain full membership of the UN after being recognized by Israel and proposed as a full member of the United Nations. Again, this seems to have escaped Najib, Mahathir & Co for reasons best known to their racist selves. Their alternative seems to be to keep on dreaming that they can drive the Jews into the sea for the state of Palestine to emerge on all the territories now occupied by Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
This then is the level of the political maturity and class of the current government in Malaysia. The Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition has ruled the country for 54 years. Is it any wonder Malaysia now stands poised to sink into an apartheid system despite decades of professed multi-racialism and nation building?
A fake and a villain
It is also worth noting that since January 9, 2012, when the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Anwar of sodomy charges trumped by the top Umno leadership, Najib and Mahathir have been gravely concerned at the overwhelming cheer sent around the globe by the top governments of the world.
They desperately need to chop Anwar down a notch or two especially to the Malays who form the predominant electorate in the country. The WSJ comments were a God-sent or so Najib and Mahathir believe. For men who think nothing of hatching sodomy plots to jail and persecute a political rival, false accusations that create further tensions between Muslims and Jews are nothing.
But make no mistake, this is serious. It is a form of terrorism, no less. And until self-serving politicians like these are rejected by their own and the world communities, how can there be global peace and harmony?
For all his grandiose talk on the Global Movement for Moderates platform, Najib is a fake. His countrymen know it and it is time, the world sees him for what he is.
As for Mahathir, the world already knows what a villain this man is.
Malaysia Chronicle
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