Permatang Pauh 2: Seduction at its best, death becomes meaningless

The air is boiling in Permatang Pauh, hot due to the current hotspell, and hot because issues there are hot and juicy. How juicy can it be when sodomy is used by both sides (3?) for their own advantage. But politics are all about sentiments. Issues are spiced up to make it even hotter.

And today, the government tabled Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Identification Bill 2008 at the Dewan Rakyat for its first reading. Syed Hamid Albar said the bill has nothing to do with the ongoing court case involving the candidate of PKR for Permatang Pauh by election to be held 26th August 2008. According to him, the government has been working on the bill since year 2001.

Arif Shah is determined to infiltrate into enemy's battlefield, and while others are talking about other issues, he chooses to focus on local issues. He was seen paddling the knee high flood to talk to local folks.

On a more international level, Gus Dur was reported saying Anwar is the fighter for democracy not only in South East Asia but also in the islamic world. He also said that Saiful's swearing on Quran as "unislamic". Observers note that Anwar may just qualify to be very islamic because of his association with ABIM before being taken in UMNO during Mahathir's premiership. For Gus Dur short tenure as President, he was best remembered by critics as "sleeping" president.

Going back to that famous photo of Anwar with two Americans, lets look at the aftermath of Korean War(1950-1953) in which America took part and tomorrow lets see Vietnam as the greatest bloodshed ever. These are asian countries not too far from Permatang Pauh, where the battle now is hot with Premiership as the trophy.

and again when,

Seduction is at its best,
death becomes meaningless
with Korean War
as the backdrop.

Refer to:

The Korean War

The Ruses for War: American Intervention Since World War II ...

South Korea Says U.S. Killed Hundreds of Civilians

Is Anwar riding on Olympic fever?

New banners have Olympic-themed slogan and interlocking rings
August 14, 2008

HOPING to win the vote of the Chinese business community in Penang, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim seems to have modelled his campaign on the Beijing Olympics.

Red banners with his face on them feature a slogan in Mandarin that says: 'One country, one hope, let Anwar enter congress,' reported Guang Ming Daily.

His Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) party seems to have got its inspiration from the Olympic tagline of 'One World, one dream'.

The poster also has five linked rings - which look much like the five rings of the Olympics.

The 50 banners will be hung up on Saturday in areas with high concentrations of Chinese residents.

They are targeted at winning over Chinese voters, who are most likely to identify strongly with the games held in Beijing.

However, it is unclear if the move would be an infringement of intellectual copyright.

The trademark rings may be deleted in the final version of the posters to prevent possible copyright disputes, said the report.

While Mr Anwar woos the Chinese community back home, support for his cause has also come from international figures such as former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as Gus Dur.

He heads the country's largest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, and flew to Kuala Lumpur last Sunday to support to Mr Anwar on his 61stbirthday, reported Malaysiakini.

Mr Abdurrahman announced his candidacy for the second time for next year's presidential contest.

Though both men have known each other for 15 years, it was only between 1999 and 2001 - when MrAbdurrahman was president - that they strengthened their ties.

GUS DUR'S SUPPORT

Said Mr Abdurrahman, 68: 'I didn't believe those charges when they were levelled against him the first time.'

He had asked then-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed no fewer than three times, in person and in letters, for Mr Anwar's release from jail on humanitarian grounds.

Mr Anwar was jailed for six years from 1998 for corruption and sodomy, but was exonerated in 2004 on the sodomy charge.

The Malaysiakini report said Mr Anwar had hurried off on Sunday after campaigning in Permatang Pauh to host the elder statesman to a small celebration.

A week ago, Mr Abdurrahman signed a letter with retired US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor affirming Mr Anwar's role in Malaysia's democratic movement.

He said: 'I had no hesitation in signing the letter for I believe in (Mr)Anwar's innocence and importance to the needs of current history.'

Islamist parties try to be less Islamist

Ariel Heryanto, Victoria, Australia

Fear has prevailed in the lives of Indonesians for much too long. The reign of fear has affected both the state and ordinary people. Cognizant of its credential deficit in both Islamic politics and democracy, successive governments have felt compelled to demonstrate sympathetic gesture to the Muslim communities, sometimes stronger than actually believed.

To appreciate better the argument presented above, it is worth comparing the behaviors of the past and present governments with those of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. With abundant Islam credentials in hand, never at any time did Wahid need to prove that he was pro-Islam. So much so that he could afford to demonstrate the opposite. Instead of calling for jihad against the enemies of Islam, Wahid did almost the extreme opposite.

Flamboyantly he displayed some of the best possible favors a Muslim leader could do for minority groups in a Muslim-majority nation. Not only did he restore the ethnic Chinese's civil right to celebrate the Chinese New Year, he even went as far as claiming to have some distant Chinese ancestry.

In contradiction to the repressive rules and regulations from the old regime, Wahid supported inter-religious marriage. He offered a public apology to the victims of the 1965 killings and their families, as well as to the people of East Timor for violence the previous government had committed.
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