Anwar on the issue of his 1987 decision

Updated! I guess it is inevitable that MCA and people who are sore with Anwar (for whatever reasons) will dig up his decision in 1987 to appoint assistant principals to Chinese schools as one reason why he cannot be trusted, even when he has supposedly buried the hatchet with Chinese educationists. Below an excerpt from Malaysiakini, reporting his press conference in PJ this morning:

Anwar ‘will not defend’ 1987 decision
Andrew Ong
Apr 25, 07 4:59pm

Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, a former education minister, has answered critics over his contentious move in 1987 to appoint assistant principals to Chinese-medium schools when they did not speak Mandarin.

Anwar, who held the cabinet portfolio from 1986 to 1990, said the decision was meant to bridge the communication gap between Chinese-medium schools with the ministry because many school administrators were weak in the national language, Bahasa Melayu.

“My purpose was to smoothen the process of administration, but there were problems in execution (of the move). I accept that,” admitted Anwar.



However, he also said he would not defend his decision.

He has been the focus of attacks by MCA and which have intensified in the Chinese press with the progress of campaigning for the Ijok by-election on Saturday...

(for the rest of the article, click here)

My take on this issue?

I am perhaps too young to recall the 1987 incident, but that decision was a precursor to Operasi Lalang when more than 100 people, mostly seen as anti-establishment (political parties, religious groups, social movements, etc.), were detained under the notorious ISA. The MCA and Gerakan were up in arms with the Chinese educationists objecting to this decision and had a demonstration showing their displeasure. This was followed by an even bigger rally headed by Najib who was the Umno Youth leader then, threatening to bathe their keris with Chinese blood for daring to challenge a decision made by the Umno government. The rest, as they say, is history. The police swept in, throwing people who in some cases weren't even remotely linked to the hot issue into detention. The Star, Sin Chew, and one other paper were banned, and were never the same again.

I would say Anwar's position as Education Minister then would be the most accountable for such a decision. But is that, and perhaps many other questionable decisions he has made while in power, good enough a reason to dismiss him entirely, regardless of the fact that the issues he is raising are patently valid and descriptive of the rot we're seeing, and the vision of his vehicle the PKR is at least a more viable plan compared to the current unworkable one by BN in terms of bringing our nation to the next level? You may remember him for the questionable decisions, but I also remember him for tabling a much more punitive and wide ranging Anti Corruption Act in Parliament, stopping the controversial Bakun Dam which is proving to be an environmental disaster, as well as voicing out his concern for Guan Eng's incarceration in one of his talks with students in the UK. Just as people can dismiss Dr M as a hypocrite for articulating issues which clearly he could have prevented when he was PM, does that mean we also dismiss the valid issues he's bringing to the table? Let us not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Somebody told me this...as much as Anwar is perhaps using us to fulfill his plans, we and the opposition is also using him to fulfill what they have not been able to all this while: a united opposition front with credible leadership and coherent policies. I am a pragmatic man, and if realpolitik dictates that Anwar is the best possible option now for us to break the hegemony which is umno, then so be it. As someone else have said, "You need a guai* to fight a guai!". There is really no point in continuing to look back into history, digging up this and that to find plenty of excuses to back up your personal dislike of a person, yet offering no real viable alternative. I, for one, really could not see anyone else who would have the means, will and energy to bring together DAP, PKR, and PAS to fight the umno juggernaut. If he is unacceptable due to whatever personal reasons, then really there is only one choice: continue with the umno hegemony. Forget about DAP winning the Malay votes, forget about PAS winning the non-Malay votes. And PKR be damned because they're supposedly all about Anwar only.

As much as I would have some reservations about Anwar, I really do not see much options. I cannot see how the current BN government (which is for all intent and purpose run by Umno) can guarantee my beloved nation will not become a basket case considering the level of mismanagement that is going and the lack of will to solve the really critical issues that is dividing Malaysians more and more along racial and religious lines. The policies and ideologies being firmed up by DAP and PKR are the ones I believe will resolve most of the problems we're facing. My choice is obvious and clear. I would rather see Anwar as PM than Pak Lah, Najib, or any of the existing Umno leaders.

Of course, like in anything in life, all decisions have risks. There will be a risk that the opposition would be equally bad or worse. But the current Umno government is already bad enough, and getting worse, and any choice which gives me a 50% chance that it will turn out better would be be a no-brainer.

Uncle Kit during his ceramah in Ijok on the night of Apr 26 has come out in defence of Anwar. There will be some who will accuse him of being opportunistic for doing this, but enough of the past, let's move on! Excerpts of a Malaysiakini report on this:

Ex-ISA detainee backs Anwar over policy
Beh Lih Yi
Apr 27, 07 1:17pm

Ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim has received support from an ‘unusual source’ in the wake of criticisms over a contentious education policy he mooted while in government which subsequently led to the infamous Operasi Lalang in 1987.

Speaking at a ceramah in Selangor’s Ijok last night, veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang openly backed Anwar, arguing that the former education minister should be credited for showing regret for what he had done.

Lim was one of the 119 politicians, social activists, unionists, Chinese educationists and religious missionaries rounded up under the massive crackdown. He was detained for one-and-a-half year without trial under the Internal Security Act.

The crackdown took place after tensions ran high in the country over the government’s decision to send non-Mandarin speaking senior officers to Chinese primary schools in 1987. Anwar was then the education minister.

The BN has harped on the issue in their election campaign in Ijok - about 50km northwest of Kuala Lumpur - where the Chinese voters are accounted for about 20 percent out of the 12,272 voters.

‘Bathe keris with Chinese blood’

At the ceramah held outside a Chinese restaurant last night, Lim said there are only a few people who are qualified to comment on the matter.

“I believe I am one of them because it resulted me to ‘eat curry rice’ (detained) for the second time. Do you think (BN Chinese-based parties) MCA or Gerakan are qualified? They are all accomplices in that!” said Lim in his trademark fiery oratorical style.

“Anwar has regretted for what he had done then. Shouldn’t he be given credit for it?” he asked the 400-odd crowd in Mandarin, who responded him with a loud ‘yes’.

“Has Umno, MCA or Gerakan regretted for what they did then? Who was the main culprit then? It was the Umno Youth chief then Najib Abdul Razak - the man who is leading the by-election campaign in Ijok now,” the DAP supremo added.

“He (Najib) had made the most extreme statement where he wanted to bathe the keris (Malay dagger) with Chinese blood. Why nobody asks him to apologise? Where is MCA and Gerakan? Do you think they dare to ask Najib to apologise?” thundered Lim...

(for the rest of the article, click here)

Below also is the reproduction of Uncle Kit's letter on the matter:

27/04: 1987 Ops Lalang and Chinese primary school crisis

Will Cabinet own up to historic wrongs?

Lim Kit Siang

Veteran Chinese educationist Sim Mow Yu has said that Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser and former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should apologise for what he had done over the 1987 Ops Lalang mass arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the controversy over dispatching of staff unversed in Mandarin to hold senior posts in Chinese primary schools.

As one of the Ops Lalang ISA detainees served with a formal two-year detention order and incarcerated at Kamunting Detention Centre, Sim is most qualified to speak up on these subjects.

The Ops Lalang detention was my second ISA detention, which lasted 18 months as compared to 17 months in my first ISA detention in 1969-1970.

DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng and I were the last two of the Ops Lalang ISA detainees incarcerated in Kamunting Detention Centre to be released in April 1989 – serving the longest Ops Lalang ISA detention after all the other 49 Ops Lalang detainees had been earlier released from Kamunting in various batches.

Anwar has admitted that he was wrong in 1987 in the dispatch of staff unversed in Mandarin to become principals and senior assistants of Chinese primary schools which resulted in the subsequent Ops Lalang mass arrests.

Anwar has now taken a stand on mother-tongue education which is in accord with justice and fair play for mother-tongue education in plural Malaysia as well as the higher national interests of enhancing Malaysia’s international competitiveness, which should be commended and supported.

However, are all the current Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders who had been collectively responsible for the 1987 Ops Lalang mass arrests and controversy over dispatch of staff unversed in Mandarin to senior posts in Chinese primary schools prepared to follow the example of Anwar and admit that what they had done twenty years ago were wrong?

Such Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders would include the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Gerakan chief and Minister for Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, the MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and the Minister for International
Trade and Industry Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz.

Najib was in 1987 the Umno Youth leader and what he did in 1987 was even more infamous than the keris-wielding incidents involving the current Umno Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in the context of extremist and communal demands in utter disregard of the rights and sensitivities of all races in a plural nation.

What did Najib do in 1987? A Government White Paper entitled “Towards Preserving National Security” tabled in Parliament on 23rd March 1988 recorded that in an Umno Youth rally led by Najib on 17th October 1987, banners bearing strong words were displayed, including one which said: “SOAK IT (KRIS) WITH CHINESE BLOOD”.

Are MCA and Gerakan leaders prepared to ask all Umno and Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders to emulate Anwar’s example and admit that they had acted wrongly in the crisis of 1987?

Is the next Cabinet meeting prepared to end the historic wrongs in 1987 by adopting a formal Cabinet decision to openly and publicly admit that what the various Barisan Nasional component parties led by Umno had done in that year in these two episodes had been wrong?

Are the other Barisan Nasional component parties and leaders prepared to demand that both Najib and Hishammudin admit that they were wrong – the former for the “SOAK IT (KRIS) WITH CHINESE BLOOD” slogan at the Umno Youth rally in 1987 and latter for the keris-wielding at Umno Youth general assemblies in circumstances threatening the multi-racial fabric of our nation?

*guai, cantonese for ghost, or hantu