Anwar Ibrahim’s choice of a University College London lecture hall for his speech this weekend on behalf of the Al Gore Foundation: “The Struggle for Justice and Democracy in Malaysia”, was hardly coincidental.He was appealing to the young and to the future leaders, on a platform of reform and a clean government.
Anwar is an international politician. In fact, he has been often criticised for his ability to forge relationships across religious and racial divides.
At the packed hall on the night of Oct 29, he ably communicated with the varied London crowd.
The audience was impressed at his knowledge and being able to quote from the Classics, the Quran, Thomas Jefferson and De Toqueville.
But the speaker drew a laugh when he self-deprecatingly pointed out that six years in prison “gives you plenty of time for reading”!
I myself was reminded of Winston Churchill, who gained his own intellectual education through reading during four years of interminable evenings, stuck out on military duty in the backwoods of 19th Century India. Tough times can make you or break you.
Angry Anwar
Anwar gave a wide-ranging and non-scripted speech. But his focus came from what he revealed to have been lengthy conversations earlier in the day with the newly-elected leader of Tunisia Hamadi Jebali.
Jebali’s moderate Islamic party, Ennahda, had just won the country’s post-Arab Spring election.
Jebali is clearly a delightful role model for the man who wants to lead Malaysia.
A Muslim who has received the support of the majority of his people by pledging tolerance and equality towards all, whatever their race or religion – all following a largely bloodless revolution.
The passion in Anwar’s speech came from his anger towards the constant accusations by those currently in power in Malaysia that he is betraying the majority, because he also wants to see justice for the minority.
The concept of rule by the majority, but respect and equal opportunities for the minority is, he reminded us, at the heart of justice and democracy, his subject of that evening.
It is clearly also his ambition for a modern Malaysia:
“Yes, we are better than Zimbabwe and yes we are better than Burma”, he conceded “but I hope that in Malaysia we aspire to more than just that!”
It was a statement that might also have been appealing to De Toqueville’s own core analysis of progress in the matter of democracy, which the 18th century French political writer famously termed as “the Revolution of Rising Expectations”.
read more at FreeMalaysiaToday.com
