Pakatan Rakyat should refuse MCA & Gerakan as members of a coalition. UMNO would be standing alone, perhaps with MIC (lol). It is not politically sustainable for growth of a strong 2 party system.
UMNO/MCA/MIC should be rebranding themselves as a coalition of cultural organization of the polity. An interracial tolerant social group gone astray since Tunku, well maybe a while later...
OK I am someone who believes BN can reform - REFORMASI...lol...2 Party in Malaysia?
See ANIL NETTO
Sunday, August 31, 2008
DNC 2008 - CSPAN
DNC 2008 - CSPAN - Public Service
CSPAN DNC video views numbers on youtube; which for opening day hype reduce by about 20% of Michelle's, and leaves Barrack having the highest. Bill will always be the wise one who suffered infidelity; and people will pay attention and listen to this guy when he speaks. Dennis was the best with, Wake up America speech.
Michelle Obama 160k
Barrack Obama 144k - CSPAN
Bill Clinton 142k
Dennis Kucnich 118k
Hilary Clinton 94k
Joe Biden 69k
Updated Sep 1st
Michelle Obama 163k
Barrack Obama 167k -
Bill Clinton 145k
Dennis Kucnich 119k
Hilary Clinton 97k
Joe Biden 71k
CSPAN DNC video views numbers on youtube; which for opening day hype reduce by about 20% of Michelle's, and leaves Barrack having the highest. Bill will always be the wise one who suffered infidelity; and people will pay attention and listen to this guy when he speaks. Dennis was the best with, Wake up America speech.
Michelle Obama 160k
Barrack Obama 144k - CSPAN
Bill Clinton 142k
Dennis Kucnich 118k
Hilary Clinton 94k
Joe Biden 69k
Updated Sep 1st
Michelle Obama 163k
Barrack Obama 167k -
Bill Clinton 145k
Dennis Kucnich 119k
Hilary Clinton 97k
Joe Biden 71k
Saturday, August 30, 2008
VP Pick - Obama - McCain ?
August 31st
It has been widely reported that Mcpain's pick of Sarah Palin were due to the following;
> Get Hilary's women supporters - 20% (those who still refuse to vote Obama) to support Mccain/Palin - not sure if successfull.
> Get the right wing excited of Palin who is anti-abortion and pro-gun - and they are excited.
But what all these reports fail to see is Karl Rove's plan; i.e. the men vote. More men would vote for Sarah Palin due to looks/beauty. The undecided men.
Update Sept 1st.
Palin's daughter pregancy out of wedlock. Not sure degree of negative effect on mccain Rep. onservatives. But the Reps. will find ways to get more support out of sympathy votes. Palin has some good accomplishments and the Dems need to discredit her policies views. Obama surely was tested about his past.
But it will take more than beauty or even brawn to beat Obama-Biden. Biden's choice was well thought out and sensitive to voters at large. Obama finally was more specific on his plans and took on McCain sometimes in sterness - Like he can give a punch. but Obama's temperament, judgment and reasoning was evident of his Presidency.
Obama needs to say or imply that he would appoint Hilary as a health czar-ina.
It has been widely reported that Mcpain's pick of Sarah Palin were due to the following;
> Get Hilary's women supporters - 20% (those who still refuse to vote Obama) to support Mccain/Palin - not sure if successfull.
> Get the right wing excited of Palin who is anti-abortion and pro-gun - and they are excited.
But what all these reports fail to see is Karl Rove's plan; i.e. the men vote. More men would vote for Sarah Palin due to looks/beauty. The undecided men.
Update Sept 1st.
Palin's daughter pregancy out of wedlock. Not sure degree of negative effect on mccain Rep. onservatives. But the Reps. will find ways to get more support out of sympathy votes. Palin has some good accomplishments and the Dems need to discredit her policies views. Obama surely was tested about his past.
But it will take more than beauty or even brawn to beat Obama-Biden. Biden's choice was well thought out and sensitive to voters at large. Obama finally was more specific on his plans and took on McCain sometimes in sterness - Like he can give a punch. but Obama's temperament, judgment and reasoning was evident of his Presidency.
Obama needs to say or imply that he would appoint Hilary as a health czar-ina.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
People of the world
Obama's speech in Berlin - July 25, 2008
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.
I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father – my grandfather – was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning – his dream – required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.
That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.
Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.
This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.
The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.
And that's when the airlift began – when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.
But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won…The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty…People of the world, look at Berlin!"
People of the world – look at Berlin!
Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.
Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.
People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.
Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall – a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope – walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers – dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.
In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth – that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.
Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.
That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.
So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.
That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations – and all nations – must summon that spirit anew.
This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.
This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.
This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century – in this city of all cities – we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.
This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations – including my own – will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust – not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.
Now the world will watch and remember what we do here – what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?
Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?
People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived – at great cost and great sacrifice – to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom – indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us – what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores – is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.
Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people – everywhere – became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation – our generation – must make our mark on history.
People of Berlin – and people of the world – the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.
I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father – my grandfather – was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning – his dream – required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.
That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.
Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.
This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.
The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.
And that's when the airlift began – when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.
But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won…The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty…People of the world, look at Berlin!"
People of the world – look at Berlin!
Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.
Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.
People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.
Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall – a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope – walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers – dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.
In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth – that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.
Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.
That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.
So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.
That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations – and all nations – must summon that spirit anew.
This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.
This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.
This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century – in this city of all cities – we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.
This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations – including my own – will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust – not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.
Now the world will watch and remember what we do here – what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?
Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?
People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived – at great cost and great sacrifice – to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom – indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us – what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores – is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.
Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people – everywhere – became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation – our generation – must make our mark on history.
People of Berlin – and people of the world – the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Politicians soiling the pages of holy books - Farish Noor
Politicians soiling the pages of holy books and defiling religion for the sake of realpolitik
Some Questions for the Wise Men of PAS
Written by Farish A. Noor SEE http://www.othermalaysia.org/
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
As if this country hasnt got enough problems to worry about, what with the impending global recession, Malaysia's inevitable slowdown and the fear of capital flight from the country and the region as a whole; now we have to deal with the very real and somewhat nasty prospect of an Islamic state being smuggled through the back door (apologies for the metaphor) while the Islam Hadari ship of state remains stuck in the doldrums of non-governance.
According to the Star's report today (30th July 2008), the Spiritual Leader (Murshid'ul Am) of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS Nik Aziz Nik Mat has stated that 'PAS will propose the implementation of Hudud Law and Qisas (law of retaliation) if the proposed PAS-UMNO merger becomes a reality'.
That, of course, is precisely what Malaysia needs at the moment and it is bound to be the ultimate cure for all our economic and structural-institutional ills. One can imagine the miraculous transformation of the Malaysian economy instantaneously, and the hordes of eager foreign investors who will be falling over themselves in their mad rush to invest in Malaysia as soon as we start implementing Islamic law and imposing Hudud punishments. Why, after all, would one want to visit boring Singapore or dull Bali when they can come to Malaysia to see public whippings and beheadings as proscribed by the conservative interpretation of Hudud punishments as understood by some of our home-grown Islamists?
What is even more startling is the simple fact that the simple-minded people in UMNO seem to be playing with fire without taking into account the attendant risk that one can get burned, sometimes severely. Malaysia's Islamisation experiment began in the 1980s with both UMNO and PAS trying to out-Islamise each other, while struggling for the same Malay-Muslim vote base. Now this grotesque war of ideas has taken on tragic-comic proportions and the Islamic revolution, so to speak, is about to devour its own children.
For jaded cynics like myself who have had enough with politicians soiling the pages of holy books and defiling religion for the sake of realpolitik, this is the straw that has broken this camel's back. I have seen religio-politics gone badly wrong all over Asia: at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists in India, Buddhist fundamentalists in Sri Lanka, Muslim fundamentalists in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The thought that three decades of development can only bring us to this, a watered-down toothless Islam Hadari with no critical acumen and reconstructive potential and an Islamic state being snuck in via the Trojan horse of a Malay-Unity merger between PAS and UMNO reeks to the heavens of majoritarian supremacy more than anything else.
So, before I pack up my books again and head off to saner climes, I would like to ask the wise men of PAS these questions:
1. What, in the respected opinion of the esteemed men of knowledge who lead PAS, is the correct Hudud punishment for someone who kills a Mongolian model and then has her blown to bits by explosives (C4, for instance)?
2. In the learned opinion of the respected men of knowledge of PAS, what should an Islamic PAS-UMNO government do with weapons that were bought from Russia, a state that was known for its rather nasty habit of murdering Muslim Chechnyans?
3. Would the wise men of PAS consider buying some more armaments from our beloved Russian allies in the future when they come to power as the bedfellows of UMNO, such as, perhaps, used Kalashnikovs or other weapons of destruction that were perhaps also used to kill Muslims in Chechnya too?
4. The UMNO-led government has been praised by Washington as a key strategic ally in the 'War on Terror' and its leaders have demonstrated their eagerness to work with other developed Western powers in this war. PAS, on the other hand, declared the Taliban to be their brothers in 2002. Will the new PAS also join hands with UMNO in the great Washington-led Crusade against Islami c terror when they come to power?
5. PAS in the past condemned the UMNO-led government for its alleged dealings with Israel. If PAS comes to power, will the learned wise elders of PAS find the necessary scriptural sources to help promote further dealings with Israel too?
6. Between 2004 to 2008, the wise men of PAS declared that Islam Hadari was fundamentally un-Islamic and when PAS came to power in several states in 2008 it even declared that it would no longer help promote the idea of Islam Hadari. Now that PAS may be on the threshold of its new honeymoon period with its beloved UMNO, will PAS finally admit the error of its ways and accept that Islam Hadari is indeed the truest expression of normative Islam and do its utmost to promote Islam Hadari to its own misguided followers?
7. PAS's leaders have claimed that they wish to further the Islamic cause by getting closer to power. Will they now help to Islamise the Internal Security Act and other repres! sive laws to show that the ISA is, after all, compatible with Islam (especially Islam Hadari)?
8. When PAS ousted its fourth President Asri Muda at the PAS assembly of 1982, its new Ulama leaders condemned Asri as a ethno-nationalist who sold the party to UMNO and debased its Islamist ideology with ideas of racial communitarianism. Now will the same leaders of PAS please apologise to the departed Asri Muda and accept that Asri was right after all, and that the Ulama's ideology of Islamism was in fact an abberation that confused the minds of Muslims?
Comments
loken palanisamy - apakhabar |2008-08-02 09:52:22
Dr Farish,
Despite saner climes, your writings bring perspective.
Its alarming but is PAS like Taliban? Perhaps a softer version. I am curious what you think of the positives of PAS in being noncorrupt and ethical; that non muslims places of worship are 'treated' better in Kelantan.
How PKR & DAP work with the 'home-grown Islamists' PAS is interesting and challenging. Politically the DAP/PKR supporters understand that PAS is morally obligated to pursue an Islamic State. Isn't there a more modern version of Islamic value system that non Muslims and Muslim find acceptable or reasonable.
btw; I understand the need of the separation of State and 'Religion' in Governance.
Some Questions for the Wise Men of PAS
Written by Farish A. Noor SEE http://www.othermalaysia.org/
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
As if this country hasnt got enough problems to worry about, what with the impending global recession, Malaysia's inevitable slowdown and the fear of capital flight from the country and the region as a whole; now we have to deal with the very real and somewhat nasty prospect of an Islamic state being smuggled through the back door (apologies for the metaphor) while the Islam Hadari ship of state remains stuck in the doldrums of non-governance.
According to the Star's report today (30th July 2008), the Spiritual Leader (Murshid'ul Am) of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS Nik Aziz Nik Mat has stated that 'PAS will propose the implementation of Hudud Law and Qisas (law of retaliation) if the proposed PAS-UMNO merger becomes a reality'.
That, of course, is precisely what Malaysia needs at the moment and it is bound to be the ultimate cure for all our economic and structural-institutional ills. One can imagine the miraculous transformation of the Malaysian economy instantaneously, and the hordes of eager foreign investors who will be falling over themselves in their mad rush to invest in Malaysia as soon as we start implementing Islamic law and imposing Hudud punishments. Why, after all, would one want to visit boring Singapore or dull Bali when they can come to Malaysia to see public whippings and beheadings as proscribed by the conservative interpretation of Hudud punishments as understood by some of our home-grown Islamists?
What is even more startling is the simple fact that the simple-minded people in UMNO seem to be playing with fire without taking into account the attendant risk that one can get burned, sometimes severely. Malaysia's Islamisation experiment began in the 1980s with both UMNO and PAS trying to out-Islamise each other, while struggling for the same Malay-Muslim vote base. Now this grotesque war of ideas has taken on tragic-comic proportions and the Islamic revolution, so to speak, is about to devour its own children.
For jaded cynics like myself who have had enough with politicians soiling the pages of holy books and defiling religion for the sake of realpolitik, this is the straw that has broken this camel's back. I have seen religio-politics gone badly wrong all over Asia: at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists in India, Buddhist fundamentalists in Sri Lanka, Muslim fundamentalists in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The thought that three decades of development can only bring us to this, a watered-down toothless Islam Hadari with no critical acumen and reconstructive potential and an Islamic state being snuck in via the Trojan horse of a Malay-Unity merger between PAS and UMNO reeks to the heavens of majoritarian supremacy more than anything else.
So, before I pack up my books again and head off to saner climes, I would like to ask the wise men of PAS these questions:
1. What, in the respected opinion of the esteemed men of knowledge who lead PAS, is the correct Hudud punishment for someone who kills a Mongolian model and then has her blown to bits by explosives (C4, for instance)?
2. In the learned opinion of the respected men of knowledge of PAS, what should an Islamic PAS-UMNO government do with weapons that were bought from Russia, a state that was known for its rather nasty habit of murdering Muslim Chechnyans?
3. Would the wise men of PAS consider buying some more armaments from our beloved Russian allies in the future when they come to power as the bedfellows of UMNO, such as, perhaps, used Kalashnikovs or other weapons of destruction that were perhaps also used to kill Muslims in Chechnya too?
4. The UMNO-led government has been praised by Washington as a key strategic ally in the 'War on Terror' and its leaders have demonstrated their eagerness to work with other developed Western powers in this war. PAS, on the other hand, declared the Taliban to be their brothers in 2002. Will the new PAS also join hands with UMNO in the great Washington-led Crusade against Islami c terror when they come to power?
5. PAS in the past condemned the UMNO-led government for its alleged dealings with Israel. If PAS comes to power, will the learned wise elders of PAS find the necessary scriptural sources to help promote further dealings with Israel too?
6. Between 2004 to 2008, the wise men of PAS declared that Islam Hadari was fundamentally un-Islamic and when PAS came to power in several states in 2008 it even declared that it would no longer help promote the idea of Islam Hadari. Now that PAS may be on the threshold of its new honeymoon period with its beloved UMNO, will PAS finally admit the error of its ways and accept that Islam Hadari is indeed the truest expression of normative Islam and do its utmost to promote Islam Hadari to its own misguided followers?
7. PAS's leaders have claimed that they wish to further the Islamic cause by getting closer to power. Will they now help to Islamise the Internal Security Act and other repres! sive laws to show that the ISA is, after all, compatible with Islam (especially Islam Hadari)?
8. When PAS ousted its fourth President Asri Muda at the PAS assembly of 1982, its new Ulama leaders condemned Asri as a ethno-nationalist who sold the party to UMNO and debased its Islamist ideology with ideas of racial communitarianism. Now will the same leaders of PAS please apologise to the departed Asri Muda and accept that Asri was right after all, and that the Ulama's ideology of Islamism was in fact an abberation that confused the minds of Muslims?
Comments
loken palanisamy - apakhabar |2008-08-02 09:52:22
Dr Farish,
Despite saner climes, your writings bring perspective.
Its alarming but is PAS like Taliban? Perhaps a softer version. I am curious what you think of the positives of PAS in being noncorrupt and ethical; that non muslims places of worship are 'treated' better in Kelantan.
How PKR & DAP work with the 'home-grown Islamists' PAS is interesting and challenging. Politically the DAP/PKR supporters understand that PAS is morally obligated to pursue an Islamic State. Isn't there a more modern version of Islamic value system that non Muslims and Muslim find acceptable or reasonable.
btw; I understand the need of the separation of State and 'Religion' in Governance.