1. In Australia it is reported that Anwar promised to engineer an Arab Spring in Malaysia.
2. He will duplicate Cairo’s Tahrir Square in Kuala Lumpur and he will organise demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people in order to bring down the Government if he loses the election.
3. He claims that the election victories of the BN in the past were due to cheating, and to dirty tactics. That is why he organised the “Bersih” demonstrations with a quarter of a million people. Bersih means Clean. The people he claims want to ensure Clean Elections. If they don’t get a clean election this time they will force a new election to be held through massive daily demonstration on a scale never seen in Malaysia before. The election would be deemed dirty if Anwar’s Pakatan loses.
4. When Anwar was dismissed from his post as Deputy Prime Minister and then expelled from UMNO, he organised demonstrations every Saturday. Business in Kuala Lumpur came to a standstill as people avoided going into the city the whole of Saturday.
5. If he organises huge demos everyday in Kuala Lumpur the disruption will not only affect businesses but it will deter investors and tourists from coming to Malaysia.
6. Bersih organisers have shown that they are capable of holding simultaneous demos not only in Malaysian towns but in foreign countries as well.
7. Malaysia has developed well because of its stability and peaceful environment. Anwar knows the damage he can cause Malaysia’s economy with his massive demonstrations. Malaysians may be persuaded to vote for his party in order to avoid suffering economically from the demonstrations.
8. It would be a sad day indeed for Malaysia if this kind of threats are made to win elections.
9. Malaysia’s elections have been generally clean. This is evidenced by the fact that in every election the opposition won not only in many constituencies but had actually captured many states. In the 2008 Elections the Opposition actually won in five states one Federal Territory and prevented the BN from getting a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
10. In several instances the BN lost by less than 200 votes. Surely if the BN cheated it could have easily changed the results. But there has never been real evidence of the BN doing so.
11. The claim that the elections in Malaysia are not clean and the holding of Bersih demonstrations are obviously preparation for accusing the BN Government of dirty election should the opposition lose. Demonstrations to condemn the elected Government would then be justified. And with the kind of demonstrations seen in Arab countries the Opposition may be able to force a new election. Even if the BN Government refuses to hold new elections, the opposition can expect condemnation of the BN throughout the world.
12. Anwar’s warning of Arab Spring type of demonstrations in Malaysia must be taken seriously because he has in the past shown himself a master of this form of agitation.
13. What is more dangerous is the disregard for police authority. Real attacks had been mounted against the police, just as we now see in Cairo.
14. The police are now quite helpless. Not only have the ISA and the Public Order and Crime Prevention Ordinance (also known as the Emergency Ordinance) been abolished but police have been told not to use force against the demonstrators. This will be difficult as the demonstrators are capable of attacking and using force against the police. We saw this happen in previous demos.
15. Laws are no good unless enforced. When the police are not allowed to enforce laws, then a lawless society would be the result. The public will lose police protection and the consequences would be loss of security for the people. They may have to arm themselves or organise vigilantes. This will not be good for them or for the country. I speak from experience. During the period between the Japanese surrender and the return of the British, I joined a vigilante group. Fortunately nothing serious happened. I remember being afraid of having to act against law-breakers. I was quite useless.
16. From his utterances it is quite obvious that Anwar would like to have an Arab Spring here in Malaysia. I am not an alarmist but I know Anwar’s capacity for disruptions. The moment I became Minister of Education 1974, he organised a student’s demonstration claiming that starvation had caused the death of a boy in Baling.
17. After he joined the Government there was no serious demonstration for 16 years. Once he was out of the Government there were weekly demonstrations.
18. His obsession with becoming Prime Minister will drive him to create an “Arab Spring” so that his ambition would become a reality. To him, it does not matter if the country is destabilised and regresses economically as long as he gets to be Prime Minister.
