Transcript of the interview with Steve Sackur of BBC HARDTalk
Anwar’s answer: Still you have to endure this. You have the commitment, you believe in the reform agenda. You understand the price you have to pay in fighting against authoritarian rule.
ANWAR DID NOT ANSWER STEVE SACKUR’S QUESTION
Sackur: Well simply you are fighting against the courts. You stand as convicted of the charge of sodomy and unless you win this last stage of appeal, you are going to go back to prison. Having been there before, you are going back.
Anwar: Ya, but the courts operate under the thumbs of the executive. We are not talking about independent judiciary. The system is opaque - you know there is no free media. Therefore, it is a system that has been compromised.
Sackur: Well that is a message, if I may say so, that you have delivered to the Malaysian people for many years now. The Malaysian people don’t really seem to buy it. I mean your opposition coalition ran hard in the 2013 elections but you couldn’t win.
Anwar: We won the popular votes. There was no free media..
Sackur: You have something like 89 seats but the ruling party coalition had MANY MORE.
Anwar: Yes, we won 52% of the popular votes in the country and Narenda Modi – 38% he became Prime Minister. We won 52% of the popular vote in the absence of a free media and a fraudulent electoral process. And this is a remarkable feat in any democratic country.
Sackur: I talked about the street protests that greeted your imprisonment all those years ago. I think it what was it …six years you had in prison where you complained bitterly about the treatment you received in prison.
Anwar: Solitary confinement…
Sackur: Ya, there is no sign right now is there that the people are going to take back to the streets on your behalf!
Anwar: No …er I ..I don’t ..er...necessarily er suggest that they should go to the streets because the battle is in the courts. Er but I..
ANWAR FALTERS, STUTTERS, STAMMERS BECAUSE STEVE SACKUR HAS REMINDED HIM OF THE WANING SUPPORT FROM THE RAKYAT.
Sackur: Do you suggest they should if you lose this last battle?
Anwar: I don’t believe any authoritarian government should assume that people just would condone any act of atrocities not against me, other members of parliament, other political leaders over the issue of sodomy, or sedition, er ..terrorism -whatever - and this cannot be tolerated in any modern civil society.
ANWAR EVADED STEVE SACKUR’S QUESTION WHETHER HE WILL SUGGEST TO THE RAKYAT IF THEY SHOULD TAKE TO THE STREETS!!
WHY??
Sackur: Are you…and we don’t know whether you will end up in prison, but we do know you remain the most sort of polarising and controversial figure in your country.
Are you prepared and are you determined to continue the political battle?
Anwar: Yes, we are but we have to combat against racism, religious bigotry and then there is corruption and abuse of power in the country.
You have seen the MH370 how it was treated. There is no media access. There is no transparency. Clearly, it is incompetent and no one is held accountable.
ANWAR DID NOT CONFRONT STEVE SACKUR’S ACCUSATION THAT HE IS THE MOST POLARARISING AND CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE IN MALAYSIA! DOES THIS MEAN HE IS HAPPY WITH THE LABEL? Instead he detoured by throwing a red herring to Steve Sackur about MH370 and then slammed the government. Why? Fair?
Sackur: Well, interesting. You have steered the conversation to a missing airline – MH370. The government accuses you of playing politics with a case which is obviously deeply upsetting to the families of those who are still missing, also extraordinarily sensitive.
And you just continue to stir up and make mischief with something that is far too serious for politics, isn’t it?
Anwar: Steve, we initially supported all undertaking initiatives by the government but when they decided to erase the records of the radar and when they did not release the cargo manifest.
ANWAR DID NOT ADMIT NOR DID HE DENY STIRRING UP AND MAKING MISCHIEF ABOUT MH 370 BUT CONTINUED TO ACCUSE THE GOVERNMENT.
Sackur: They did release the manifest…
Anwar: They released after three months and it is questionable whether that sort of cargo manifest is the true facts is being questioned.
Sackur: Are you implying a cover-up? What could they be possibly covering up?
Anwar: Well, I don’t know. But the fact is that, it is the responsibility of any government to release information. We have the best – most sophisticated radar system and we are not being told what was in the sighting of the radar.
What is Anwar’s agenda? Despite admitting that he has NO knowledge of any cover-up, he still insists there IS a cover up and globetrots to international media to shame the government before his appeal is heard. Why? You be the judge.
Awesome sauce that someone finally called him up on his spinning. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBro,
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome! I did transcribe another interview he gave to CNN and cannot remember where I stashed the file.
But I remember he regurgitated the same sermon about judiciary, the lack of media independence, street protests.
Looks like he has a robottic memory of pre-rehearsed scripts but they are being recycled so often that the strain shows in his face and tone!
Cheers mate!