Chandra: WSJ editorial significant
SHIFT IN STANCE: ‘Newspaper may now realise Anwar can no longer pretend to be a victim of persecution’
(NST) – 1MALAYSIA Foundation board of trustees chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar said it was significant that the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), whose editorial stance has usually been pro-opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, chose to press him to plead guilty.
“Perhaps they are beginning to realise that Anwar can no longer pretend to be a victim of persecution.”
He said this in response to an opinion column published last week by the WSJ, which argued that the opposition leader should plead guilty to taking part in an illegal rally.
Anwar and two others were charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) after they allegedly violated a court order by inciting protesters to break the barricades and enter Dataran Merdeka during last month’s Bersih 3.0 rally.
In the piece, the WSJ said: “If Anwar wants to practise civil disobedience, he can’t pretend to be innocent at the same time.
“A more straightforward way to convince the public that the PAA is an unjust law would be to plead guilty and pay the fine ahead of the election,” it said.
However, Chandra did not agree with the daily’s characterisation of Anwar’s actions during the rally as an act of civil disobedience.
“An act of civil disobedience is when a person makes it clear from the outset that he is protesting an unjust law — such as Martin Luther King fighting against United States segregation laws or Mahatma Ghandi protesting the British salt laws.
“Rather, it is an act of subterfuge — with Anwar carrying out actions which further his own agenda.”
He said Anwar was not engaging in civil disobedience as both he and the organisers of Bersih had said they were willing to obey the law, including the order not to enter Dataran Merdeka.
Chandra said the PAA could not be an unjust law as it was an act which recognised the right and freedom to assemble, as stated in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said the WSJ article had not examined the issue in greater depth from the intellectual, factual and legal viewpoints — including whether pleading “not guilty” could also be seen as an act of civil disobedience.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Tian Chua said Bersih was not a rally of civil disobedience, but a mass movement calling for electoral reforms.
“The logic by WSJ follows the argument that Anwar, by pleading guilty, could prove (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s) reforms are inadequate.
“However, that is definitely not the objective of the rally,” he said.
