At the risk of repeating some of the sentiments I expressed back when Anwar Ibrahim was charged with Sodomy II, his latest trial is just one more in an unending series of Umno/BN sodomies on the Malaysian people.
Ever since Tun Razak shafted Tungku Abdul Rahman by allegedly orchestrating the May 13 riots back in 1969, successive Umno/BN regimes have violated every principle of civic virtue and good governance in their insatiable lust for power and plunder.
This species of SodUmny became routine during Mahathir's premiership, a 22-year debauch that saw the ravaging of the judiciary's political independence, the defilement of the media and other civil institutions by a combination of force and corruption, and the rape and pillage of the nation's riches by Umno/BN members, relatives and cronies.
One of Mahathir's dirtiest public deeds, of course, was his vicious assault on his erstwhile deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998. A charge of sodomy that was so clearly and evidently false that the judge in the case, the late, unlamented Augustine Paul, had to give prosecution three goes at getting the time and scene of the 'crime' straight.
As you may recall, the condominium at which the 'offence' was at first alleged to have occurred turned out not to have been built at the time. And on the second occasion on which the sodomy was alleged to have taken place, the defence demonstrated that Anwar had been out of the country on that date.
Then, in the course of the hearing, 'victims' and other procured witnesses recanted the testimony that they had initially given. But despite all this perjury and other irregularities the charade proceeded, and Anwar was convicted and jailed.
But Mahathir hadn't finished with him yet. When Anwar complained of a black eye and other injuries as the result of a beating by the then head of the Royal Malaysian Police, Mahathir brazenly sneered that Anwar had probably inflicted the injuries on himself.
This was a glaring example of possibly the most disgusting sodUmny that Mahathir, his two successors and their entire regime have committed, and continue to commit against the people of Malaysia: utter perversion of the truth.
A pack of pernicious lies
Official government propaganda and public relations are a pack of pernicious lies. Najib Razak's “1Malaysia. People first. Performance now,” is so plainly and patently false as to constitute a sodUmny on the people's intelligence.
Far from truly promoting a united Malaysia, Umno persistently plays on the issues of race and religion to keep-up its pretense of championing the cause of the Malay/Muslim majority at the expense of the rest. Witness the notorious “cow's head” protest against the construction of a Hindu temple. The police stood by and did nothing to stop it, and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein excused the perpetrators on the grounds that they had “no intention” of provoking racial or religious ill-feeling.
Another glaring example of Umno/BN's promotion of racial and religious disunity has been its involvement in the latest episode of the God/Allah controversy, in which it has allowed one of its newspapers, Utusan Malaysia, total license to inflame the sectarian passions of its readers.
But of course Utusan Malaysia is just an extreme example of the fact that Umno/BN commits its ultimate sodomy of the truth by means of a Printing, Presses and Publications Act that requires virtually all of the nation's news media to submit to Umno/BN's rapacious demands for special treatment.
No coverage of news of the few Umno/BN crimes that escape the net of the Official Secrets Act. No criticism of Umno/BN derelictions, lies or idiocies. No positive coverage of opposition politicians or supporters. Nothing, in fact, from the pathetically prostituted 'mainstream' television, radio and press but the Umno party line.
So, despite the heroic efforts of the few independent virtual media and the burgeoning pro-democracy blogosphere, millions of Malaysians still live in blissful ignorance of many of the obscenities of the Umno/BN regime.
And will continue to, if the authorities have anything to do with it. Barry Wain's book 'Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times' is apparently not yet allowed into the country, presumably to spare Malaysians from revelations of putrid dealings like the preposterous public funding of Umno headquarters, Putra World Trade Centre.
And two other books apparently headed for the banned list are '1Funny Malaysia', a collection of cartoons by Zunar lampooning the Umno/BN regime, and 'Where is justice?', an account of countless atrocities committed in police and MACC custody, including the cases of Teoh Beng Hock, A Kugan, Altantuya Shaariibuu and Anwar Ibrahim.
A good account
Now that we're back to Anwar, according to the ongoing Malaysiakini report he's giving a good account of himself on the first day of his Sodomy II trial.
On the grounds that his accuser and alleged victim Mohd Saiful Bukhan Azlan met at least twice with Prime Minister Najib Razak prior to reporting the 'crime', Anwar said that he intends to request the court to subpoena Najib and his wife Rosmah as witnesses.
“If Najib and the government have managed to cover up the Altantuya (murder),” he asked, “what more is this? This is a desperate attempt to implicate me.”
Anwar's lawyers also applied for a review of last week's decision by the Apex Court denying them additional evidence, documents and CCTV footage needed for his defence.
The trial is being attended by foreign diplomats, legal observers and global media, with BBC News already running a report on the first day of proceedings.
So Malaysia's image, already darkened by Dr Mahathir's global notoriety, Najib Razak's dubious reputation and the ruling regime's dismal record of financial, social and human-rights abuses, is bound to be blackened even further by this latest bum rap.
Let's hope there's enough of an international outcry, and sufficient revulsion on the part of sufficient Malaysians, to finally depose the political inverts of Umno/BN, and put an end to their sodUmnies for once and for all.
Ever since Tun Razak shafted Tungku Abdul Rahman by allegedly orchestrating the May 13 riots back in 1969, successive Umno/BN regimes have violated every principle of civic virtue and good governance in their insatiable lust for power and plunder.
This species of SodUmny became routine during Mahathir's premiership, a 22-year debauch that saw the ravaging of the judiciary's political independence, the defilement of the media and other civil institutions by a combination of force and corruption, and the rape and pillage of the nation's riches by Umno/BN members, relatives and cronies.
One of Mahathir's dirtiest public deeds, of course, was his vicious assault on his erstwhile deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998. A charge of sodomy that was so clearly and evidently false that the judge in the case, the late, unlamented Augustine Paul, had to give prosecution three goes at getting the time and scene of the 'crime' straight.
As you may recall, the condominium at which the 'offence' was at first alleged to have occurred turned out not to have been built at the time. And on the second occasion on which the sodomy was alleged to have taken place, the defence demonstrated that Anwar had been out of the country on that date.Then, in the course of the hearing, 'victims' and other procured witnesses recanted the testimony that they had initially given. But despite all this perjury and other irregularities the charade proceeded, and Anwar was convicted and jailed.
But Mahathir hadn't finished with him yet. When Anwar complained of a black eye and other injuries as the result of a beating by the then head of the Royal Malaysian Police, Mahathir brazenly sneered that Anwar had probably inflicted the injuries on himself.
This was a glaring example of possibly the most disgusting sodUmny that Mahathir, his two successors and their entire regime have committed, and continue to commit against the people of Malaysia: utter perversion of the truth.
A pack of pernicious lies
Official government propaganda and public relations are a pack of pernicious lies. Najib Razak's “1Malaysia. People first. Performance now,” is so plainly and patently false as to constitute a sodUmny on the people's intelligence.
Far from truly promoting a united Malaysia, Umno persistently plays on the issues of race and religion to keep-up its pretense of championing the cause of the Malay/Muslim majority at the expense of the rest. Witness the notorious “cow's head” protest against the construction of a Hindu temple. The police stood by and did nothing to stop it, and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein excused the perpetrators on the grounds that they had “no intention” of provoking racial or religious ill-feeling.
Another glaring example of Umno/BN's promotion of racial and religious disunity has been its involvement in the latest episode of the God/Allah controversy, in which it has allowed one of its newspapers, Utusan Malaysia, total license to inflame the sectarian passions of its readers.But of course Utusan Malaysia is just an extreme example of the fact that Umno/BN commits its ultimate sodomy of the truth by means of a Printing, Presses and Publications Act that requires virtually all of the nation's news media to submit to Umno/BN's rapacious demands for special treatment.
No coverage of news of the few Umno/BN crimes that escape the net of the Official Secrets Act. No criticism of Umno/BN derelictions, lies or idiocies. No positive coverage of opposition politicians or supporters. Nothing, in fact, from the pathetically prostituted 'mainstream' television, radio and press but the Umno party line.
So, despite the heroic efforts of the few independent virtual media and the burgeoning pro-democracy blogosphere, millions of Malaysians still live in blissful ignorance of many of the obscenities of the Umno/BN regime.
And will continue to, if the authorities have anything to do with it. Barry Wain's book 'Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times' is apparently not yet allowed into the country, presumably to spare Malaysians from revelations of putrid dealings like the preposterous public funding of Umno headquarters, Putra World Trade Centre.
And two other books apparently headed for the banned list are '1Funny Malaysia', a collection of cartoons by Zunar lampooning the Umno/BN regime, and 'Where is justice?', an account of countless atrocities committed in police and MACC custody, including the cases of Teoh Beng Hock, A Kugan, Altantuya Shaariibuu and Anwar Ibrahim.
A good account
Now that we're back to Anwar, according to the ongoing Malaysiakini report he's giving a good account of himself on the first day of his Sodomy II trial.
On the grounds that his accuser and alleged victim Mohd Saiful Bukhan Azlan met at least twice with Prime Minister Najib Razak prior to reporting the 'crime', Anwar said that he intends to request the court to subpoena Najib and his wife Rosmah as witnesses.
“If Najib and the government have managed to cover up the Altantuya (murder),” he asked, “what more is this? This is a desperate attempt to implicate me.”
Anwar's lawyers also applied for a review of last week's decision by the Apex Court denying them additional evidence, documents and CCTV footage needed for his defence.
The trial is being attended by foreign diplomats, legal observers and global media, with BBC News already running a report on the first day of proceedings.So Malaysia's image, already darkened by Dr Mahathir's global notoriety, Najib Razak's dubious reputation and the ruling regime's dismal record of financial, social and human-rights abuses, is bound to be blackened even further by this latest bum rap.
Let's hope there's enough of an international outcry, and sufficient revulsion on the part of sufficient Malaysians, to finally depose the political inverts of Umno/BN, and put an end to their sodUmnies for once and for all.
DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he mentors creative writing groups. Soon to be published in Kuala Lumpur is a third book of his columns for Malaysiakini, following earlier collections 'Mad about Malaysia' and 'Even Madder about Malaysia'.
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