Posts
The Jakarta Post newspaper said Malaysians should be “rich and free” while Tengku Adnan said the Bersih rally calling for free and fair elections was just an opposition ruse by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is popular as a Muslim leader in Indonesia.
“Two million tourists visit annually and Indonesian students also come to Malaysia. The riot made me come quickly to Indonesia to explain the issue,” the Vivanews website quoted the former tourism minister as saying at a press conference in central Jakarta.
He told them that the government feared that tourist numbers would fall if the situation was not explained fully, saying that Indonesia played a big role in the Malaysian economy. The Southeast Asian nation of 17,000 islands is a Group of 20 country and is developing quickly as an investment destination, especially from Malaysian oil palm plantation companies.
Some two million Indonesians officially work in Malaysia while officials estimate an equal number work illegally. Putrajaya yesterday suspended a registration scheme for illegal immigrants and workers pending a full evaluation of a faulty biometric system.
Sticking to his party line, Tengku Adnan (picture) blamed Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for the rally and denied there was electoral fraud as claimed by Bersih 2.0, the coalition of 62 groups that had organised the rally.
He noted that most of the Indonesian media supported Anwar, who was deputy prime minister and finance minister under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad until his sacking in 1998, pointing out his Jakarta visit was to straighten out any misconception about the rally which was declared illegal by the government.
“Indonesia is an important country for Malaysia, first in tourism, two in terms of investment. We also hope that Indonesian investors invest more in Malaysia,” he said, telling a press conference at the Financial Club that Kuala Lumpur was back to normal.
“Traders are furious with the demonstrators. Tourists are also angry, because the monorail and LRT were closed. If we did not block, the traders would have clashed with the demonstrators,” he said, referring to police blocks in the capital city.
The Jakarta Post editorial, headline “Malaysia: Rich but not free”, said Malaysian leaders were labouring under the “old paradigm that says you can have development or democracy, but not both”.
“We have news for them: You can be rich and free at the same time. Malaysians deserve both and they deserve it now — not some time in the future,” the newspaper said, adding the security lockdown showed Putrajaya was not ready to let go of controls despite Malaysians pressing for more freedom and justice.
“The police clearly overreacted. They did not need to invoke the Internal Security Act to arrest some of the protest’s leaders before Saturday. They certainly did not need to detain more than 1,600 on the day of the demonstration.
“Aspirations for freedom and democracy are universal. Governments everywhere will, sooner or later, have to make accommodations. You cannot suppress the people and deprive them of their freedom forever. You must give them their due — or else they will get it by force,” the paper said, saying the Arab Spring was a case in point.
It pointed out that given its current economic strength, Malaysia was in an enviable position to allow greater freedom and democracy.
“It can afford to take some risks without necessarily undermining development. A few powerful people may stand to lose their economic privileges, but they should have been phased out by now.
“The Bersih 2.0 rally is the clearest sign that Malaysians want freedom and justice, as well as wealth,” the paper concluded.
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Globe
No comments:
Post a Comment