Komen Ringkas: (ambil point bernas/mustahak sahaja)

Dua Tahun Setelah 'Reformasi'

Rencana ini menceritakan bagaimana selepas 2 tahun gerakan reformasi muncul di Malaysia, sudah terdapat beberapa tanda bahawa Mahathir sudah pun berada dihari2 penghujngnya.

Salah satu sebab dikatakan begitu ialah bila Pak Lah akan diberikan beberapa tugas PM manakala Mahathir sendiri akan lebih menumpukan kepada parti sahaja.

Mahathir sudah tidak dihormati lagi oleh orang melayu (undi popular merosot 65% ke 56% serta BN Trengganu kecundang).

Sebab2 nya ialah pemecatan dan tuduhan hina terhadap Anwar yang sudah melampau tetapi Anwar ditahan di bawah ISA, bukan atas sebab "moral".

Sudah ada perpecahan dan retak dalam badan Umno. Banyak ahli umno tidak dapat menerima hukuman terhadap Anwar - mereka akhirnya menyokong BA.

Two years after 'reformasi'...
By Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia - Two years after the "reformasi" or reform movement in Malaysia emerged, there are few signs that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is close to actually turning over the reins of power.

This despite the fact that the 74-year-old Mahathir, prime minister since 1981, recently said he was passing some of his duties to his deputy Abdullah Badawi. In fact, analysts say the move will allow Mahathir to spend more time with his political party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), in a bid to check opposition inroads into Malaysian politics in recent years.

''Among the majority of Muslims, he has lost the kind of respect he used to enjoy since the sacking of (former deputy prime minister) Anwar (Ibrahim). I am very sure of that,'' Zaid Kamaruddin, deputy president of Jama'ah Islah Malaysia, a Muslim reform group, said in an interview.

Those inroads were best reflected in the setbacks suffered by Mahathir's coalition in the November 1999 election, including the loss of the east coast state of Terengganu. The ruling coalition's popular vote has fallen from 65 percent in 1995 to 56 percent in 1999.

But the roots of the erosion of the coalition's standing among the ethnic Malay community lie in the disenchantment stemming from the arrest of Anwar on September 20, 1998. The government arrested him on charges of corruption and s###my, but Anwar says they are part of political conspiracy stemming from the rivalry and feud between him and Mahathir.

On that day, Anwar, who had been fired by Mahathir, called for the prime minister's resignation and drew a crowd of more than 50,000 in Independence Square in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Later, Anwar was arrested at his home and detained him under the Internal Security Act. In a police cell, Malaysia's then top police officer assaulted him, triggering widespread outrage.

Two years after those events, Zaid added, Mahathir has lots of work to do to try to rebuild support among the ethnic Malays, who make up most of Malaysia's citizens and on whom his coalition has traditionally counted on for support. ''If they are trying to win back Malay support, they are not getting it,'' Zaid said. ''Generally the people, especially among the Malays, tend not to readily accept the government's version of events.''

''The collective impact of the authoritarianism of the Mahathir regime and the series of scandals with which it has been associated, has created in our society a widespread atmosphere of frustration, unease and ultimately loss of faith in the government,'' added D J Muzaffar Tate, a political writer. ''The effect has been to convert us into a nation of cynics.''

To mark the second anniversary of Anwar's arrest and the rise of the strongest political opposition in decades, anti-government critics and activists plan on September 20 to hold a huge dinner-cum-talk at a restaurant beneath Independence Square in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Organizers shifted to this plan after government authorities scuttled earlier hopes of hiring the National Stadium to draw a 100,000-strong crowd. Their application to use the stadium was turned down within 15 minutes, with no reason given.

Saari Sungib, chairman of the Reformasi Month Committee, in a statement posted on the Internet, said that committee plans to hold a press conference at a hotel on September 20. Then, a delegation will go to the stadium complex management's office to symbolically resubmit the application for the use of the stadium. ''We will request that the management allows us to use the stadium any time in October,'' said Tian Chua, vice president of Anwar's National Justice Party (keADILan).

Critics say Mahathir may also want to devote more time to deal with cracks that have emerged in UMNO as factional infighting surfaces. He is also likely to be concerned about the opposition Barisan Alternatif (Alternatif Front) coalition - especially keADILan and the oppositionist Islamic Party PAS - which has been eating into UMNO's support.

''Mahathir wants to strengthen the influence of UMNO which is now waning, in order to be able to face the next election more effectively,'' said Syed Husin Ali, president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Party), another Barisan Alternatif front member. ''This move is no more than just a tactical ploy by Dr Mahathir to strengthen his own position and his hold on UMNO,'' he added.

Until now, Malaysia's ruling coalition has been hoping that the reformasi movement will fade away with time - and Anwar behind bars. Anwar is to be in prison until 2009 and many had wondered whether his political career has in fact been ended by his recent second conviction, this time for s###my. The first conviction, which came with a six-year prison sentence, was for corruption.

Despite drawing strong support from the ethnic Malays, the reformasi movement faces its biggest test in attracting non-Malay interest. In the November general election, with the ethnic Malays evenly split, the ruling coalition drew from a solid core of non-Malay support to romp home to victory. But recent events, especially the premier's hitting out at a grouping of Chinese Malaysian associations for asking for too many concessions and likening them to the demands made by the communists in the past, have irked the ethnic Chinese, says Tian Chua.

''Generally, a large group of them regret voting for the ruling coalition after the prime minister lashed out at the Chinese associations,'' he said. ''A lot of them are upset.''

(Inter Press Service)