“The Leader was Ousted out of Office,The Man who became a Fighter, The Fighter who Defied the Government”.
If you have watched the movie ‘The Gladiator’ you will be familiar with the above mentioned quote: “The General Who Became a Slave, The Slave Who Became a Gladiator, The Gladiator Who Defied an Empire”.
What I can relate now with this movie is quite as close to what is happening to the political scenes of Malaysia. With the resent by-elections that was held on 26th August, many around the world had their focus on this one man: Anwar Ibrahim.
He was once the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (1993 to 1998) and is the only Malaysian to have appeared on Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. His career ended there when he was charged for corruption and accused for being a homosexual and a sodomite.
He pleaded innocent for the accusations and charges that were brought against him. The trials went on for years and in 2004, the highest court in Malaysia overturned the sodomy conviction. During this time, he was disqualified from entering into politics for 10 years and in 2006, he announced to return into politics after the end of the disqualification period in 2008.
2008 is a very important year for many. In the United States, the Presidential campaign began. Politicians were all out to campaign and promote their message across the country and they have all been very creative in their campaigns.
Politicians resorted to the internet instead to the main stream media, which was by far the next best thing as it was directly communicated to the end user without any red tape and controls. The internet is a medium which promotes pure democracy, freedom or expression and speech without any government controls and this was the main purpose of it. It was an evident sign that we now no longer focus much on the main stream media and this was the case of the political scene in Malaysia.
Bloggers (the opposition parties) took control of the online media and decided to declare a “war” against the current governing party. Their strategy proved well when they won the March 8, 2008 elections with a landslide victory by winning 5 states in the country overnight. Something that has never taken place before in the past 50 years after independence from the British in 1957.
The story goes with new allegations of sodomy, in which Anwar claims that these new allegations were being manipulated and fabricated by certain quarters of the current government. This has led many international leaders and governments to criticise these new allegations that were made by these quarters.
But let’s narrow it down to the by election that took place recently: August 26, 2008. It was another historic event and the MAN, who we spoke about in the quote earlier: Anwar Ibrahim came back into power and is back into Parliament as an MP now. Anwar Ibrahim had faced many challenges and it was an uphill task for him, but never the less his persistence and hard work proved it all.
He speaks for the people and the people voted for him on August 26, 2008 during the Permatang Pauh by election and it was a sensation as he was back again and being put under the spotlight once again, but this time by the people.
Anwar Ibrahhim has set his sight on becoming the next Prime Minister of Malaysia by September 16, 2008. September 16 has been translated to a "Golden Day" by many as 916 is a number for gold. If you were to go to a jeweller in Malaysia and ask for 916, you will be presented with gold jewellery.
It is yet to be another historic moment that many are looking forward to. It wil be the biggest victory and history that is yet to be written if and when Anwar Ibrahim and his coallition party were to take from the current ruling government and head for new reforms that the people of the country are asking for.
The Gladiator reminded me of this whole event. It events were like de ja vu to me and you must watch the movie in order to relate to this event. Once you have or if you have watched this move you will know why I call Anwar Ibrahim: The Man, The Myth and The Legend.
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