Anwar Ibrahim and Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla
Opposition Leader and former abuse-of-power-convict Anwar Ibrahim dishonoured the agreement, which he asked to have. Anwar had asked Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla to broker an agreement with Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak just before the 13GE, where all parties respect and honour the outcome of the polls.
Anwar broke treaty with Najib by protesting polls results, reveals WSJ
BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
MAY 25, 2013
Anwar speaks during a rally in protest of the general election results at a stadium in Kelana Jaya, May 8, 2013. — Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, May 25 ― Former Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla has accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of reneging on a peace deal to respect the outcome of Election 2013 that he brokered between the opposition leader and Datuk Seri Najib Razak in April.
The Wall Street Journal reported today interviews with all three parties confirming the secret peace deal, and quoted Jusuf as claiming that he had phoned Anwar a day after the May 5 polls and urged the opposition leader to respect the commitment and “look at reality”.
“We had a commitment,” Jusuf was quoted as saying. “But they said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ ‘‘
The renowned international newspaper said that Anwar admitted to making the pact but told the WSJ that his opponents had nullified the deal by the way they ran their campaign.
“How can you talk reconciliation when you demonise your opponent in this manner?” Anwar was quoted as saying.
The WSJ wrote that it was Anwar who had approached Jusuf on the agreement two months ago, seeking the latter’s help in securing his opponent’s commitment for a peaceful election outcome.
The deal — that both sides refrain from personal attacks during campaigns and to accept the outcome of the polls — was subsequently made in April.
The two rivals had apparently rejected a clause in the accord to offer the loser a role in a “reconciliation government”, the WSJ wrote.
An adviser to Najib reportedly confirmed the deal, telling the WSJ that Anwar had sought Jusuf’s assistance to secure a mutual agreement to accept the results of the polls peacefully, regardless which way it goes and even in the event of a slim majority.
“The prime minister reiterated privately to Jusuf Kalla and in public before the election that BN would respect the will of the people and accept the election results, even if the opposition wins,” the paper quoted the aide as saying.
But Anwar’s version of the events surrounding the peace deal appeared to differ.
Quoting Anwar, the WSJ wrote that it was Jusuf who reached out to offer his assistance in ensuring an orderly outcome to the polls.
“There were many friends around the region who were concerned about the transition of power and whether it would be peaceful,” Anwar reportedly said.
According to the paper, Jusuf is known for his role in brokering peace deals during his term as vice-president from 2004 to 2009, having done so in Thailand and Sri Lanka to help resolve conflicts across the Indonesian archipelago.
In the May 5 polls, Najib and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) was returned to power in Putrajaya after a heated contest that saw Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) win the popular vote but lose the polls.
A dissatisfied Anwar and PR have been staging mammoth rallies across the country since the close of the election, insisting that the election had been stolen from them through fraud and widespread cheating.
During one of his rally speeches, Anwar vowed never to surrender until PR claims its rightful place at the helm of Putrajaya.
The 65-year-old Anwar also appears to have put his plans for retirement on hold, and seems determined to fight on.
PR’s point of contention was the popular vote, which saw BN scoring just under 48 per cent of the total number of votes cast and PR scoring the majority at 51 per cent.
But the uneven dispersal of votes across various constituencies, which PR has labelled gerrymandering by the BN, had cost them the election as it only snapped up 89 seats to BN’s 133 seats in the 222-seat Parliament despite winning the popular vote.
Apart from the “Black 505” rallies, which have drawn mammoth turnouts all around, PR is also filing formal petitions against the results in 27 constituencies.
But the WSJ noted that Anwar believed these challenges were unlikely to turn the polls back in favour of his PR.
It added that although Anwar had accused the Najib camp of undermining his campaign with personal attacks, Jusuf did not join the opposition leader in the criticism.
Instead, the Indonesian leader said he felt both sides had met their commitment to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign.
But Jusuf said he fears that a prolonged dispute over the polls results between Anwar and Najib’s camp would only harden existing divisions among factions in Muslim groups and the Chinese and possibly lead to violence.
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This is the Wall Street Journal story:
Behind Malaysian Poll Protest, a Peace Deal That Collapsed
BY PATRICK MCDOWELL AND JAMES HOOKWAY
JAKARTA, Indonesia—A former Indonesian vice president with a history of brokering peace agreements has accused Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of reneging on a secret deal to respect the outcome of Malaysia’s elections on May 5.
Jusuf Kalla revealed the pre-election accord in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, amid a public protest campaign by Mr. Anwar over what the opposition leader said was widespread vote fraud by the ruling National Front coalition. The election returned Prime Minister Najib Razak and the long-ruling National Front to power in the tightest national election in Malaysian history.
Mr. Kalla said the two candidates—whom he said he considered friends of his going back decades—had made a written agreement in April to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign and to accept the outcome, in a deal first proposed by Mr. Anwar.
Mr. Anwar acknowledged he had made the pact with Mr. Najib, with Mr. Kalla as mediator, but said the National Front had rendered it void by the way it ran its campaign.
He singled out Malaysia’s media, much of which is controlled or owned by the government or members of the ruling coalition. “How can you talk reconciliation when you demonize your opponent in this manner?” Mr. Anwar said to The Wall Street Journal. He also said it was Mr. Kalla, not him, who first proposed the pact.
Mr. Najib stressed reconciliation in his first public remarks after the election, though both sides said that the other had rejected a clause in the pact that the winner was to offer the loser a role in a “reconciliation government.”
Mr. Najib’s camp confirmed that the agreement was made and dismissed Mr. Anwar’s view that it had been undermined by the campaign—during which both sides accused the other of low blows and distortions. Mr. Anwar had strong support among Malaysian Web-based media during the campaign.
Mr. Kalla said he felt that both sides met their commitment to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign, and he hasn’t criticized Mr. Najib over the conduct of the election.
Mr. Anwar said he plans to step up a legal campaign to overturn the results in 29 electoral districts, raising political tensions in Malaysia, which has grown increasingly divided in the aftermath of the election.
Mr. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who has been the country’s most prominent opposition leader for the past 15 years, has led a national campaign of mass rallies since the election. The scene has grown increasingly confrontational. Three prominent opposition activists were detained and later released in the past week.
In the weeks before the election, Mr. Anwar alleged that the National Front and Malaysia’s Election Commission were manipulating electoral rolls and mobilizing illegal voters. On May 5, Mr. Anwar said his alliance had won and accused the National Front of stealing the election.
The National Front and the Election Commission rejected the allegations of electoral fraud. The Commission said there were extremely few irregularities, and that a record 85% of voters cast ballots.
Mr. Anwar said he is pessimistic that courts would overturn results in key districts.
The final vote count showed that Mr. Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat alliance won a majority of the popular vote, but Mr. Najib’s coalition won heavily in many rural constituencies, where he has strong popular support, to emerge with a 21-seat parliamentary majority.
Mr. Kalla said that the outcome of the balloting, held on a Sunday, was clear. “We had a commitment,” he said. “On Monday, I asked Anwar to accept it and look at reality. But they said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ ”
Mr. Kalla said Mr. Anwar approached him about an agreement two months ago, and they met at his Jakarta home. Mr. Anwar asked him to reach out to his opponent and secure his commitment for a peaceful election outcome, Mr. Kalla said.
At the time, Mr. Anwar was leading in voter surveys in Peninsular Malaysia, where most of the country’s 29 million people live. A victory by his alliance—a collection of Islamists, a mostly ethnic Chinese party and the largely urban secular party he leads—would have been an earthquake to an establishment controlled since 1957 by the coalition that Mr. Najib now leads.
Mr. Kalla had brokered peace agreements in various conflicts across the troubled Indonesian archipelago during his time as vice president from 2004 to 2009, and had roles in peace negotiations in Thailand and Sri Lanka.
He said that he shuttled back and forth between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, meeting the opposition leader and Mr. Najib.
“Mr. Anwar sought Jusuf Kalla’s assistance to secure a mutual agreement between BN [Barisan Nasional, the National Front] and [Pakatan Rakyat] stating that both sides agreed to accept the results of the general election, even in the event of a slim majority by either side,” an adviser to Mr. Najib said. “The prime minister reiterated privately to Jusuf Kalla and in public before the election that BN would respect the will of the people and accept the election results, even if the opposition wins.”
Mr. Anwar said Mr. Kalla reached out to him to offer his assistance in ensuring an orderly outcome to the elections. “There were many friends around the region who were concerned about the transition of power and whether it would be peaceful,” he said.
Both candidates had pasts rich with fodder for personal attacks during the campaign. Mr. Anwar spent nearly six years in prison on sodomy and corruption convictions after failing to unseat his one-time mentor, Mahathir Mohamad, in 1998. The sodomy charge was overturned, and he was later acquitted on a second sodomy trial. Mr. Anwar consistently denied the charges.
Mr. Najib, meanwhile, has been subject to rumors widely disseminated in the media—which he has denied—that he had an affair with a Mongolian model and translator who was later murdered. Two police officers were convicted in the murder. Mr. Najib hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing.
Mr. Kalla said he fears that the longer the dispute between the two political leaders goes on, the divisions in Malaysia—among factions in the majority Malay Muslim group and between Malays and the ethnic Chinese minority—will harden and perhaps lead to violence. Malaysia was racked by race riots in 1969 and Mr. Kalla’s neighboring country, Indonesia, has suffered repeated outbreaks of sectarian violence.
—Celine Fernandez in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.
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It is evidently clear Anwar approached his friend Jusuf Kalla and asked the Indonesian Vice President to broker the agreement with Prime Minister Najib, who is the BN Chairman. Prime Minister Najib summarily agreed. In fact during the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament on 5 April 2013, Prime Minister Najib promised a “Smooth transition of government”.
Najib announces dissolution of Parliament
Khaidir Abdul Majid | news@nst.com.my 0 comments
0 1 Google +0 0PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak dissolved the parliament this morning paving the way for the general election, ending months of speculation.
“This morning I had an audience with the yang di-Pertuan Agong and received His Majesty’s consent to dissolve Parliament,” he said.
“This dissolution which is effective today, will pave the way for the 13th general election,” said Najib in a live televised address from his office in Putrajaya.
In the 12-minute speech that began slightly after 11:30am, Najib flanked on his right by his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, called on the leaders of the state governments to dissolve their respective legislative assemblies so that elections for parliament and state seats can be carried out simultaneously.
He asked all political parties contesting the election to respect the wishes of the people.
The premier also called for a smooth and calm transition should there be any change in the government of the day, whether at the state or federal level.
Read more: UPDATE: Najib announces dissolution of Parliament – Latest – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-update-font-najib-announces-dissolution-of-parliament-1.247199#ixzz2UIcgO3Y8
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This clearly demonstrated not only Anwar refused to honour the agreement when the outcome didn’t go his way, he got the Opposition to organise a series of demonstration all over the nation to protest the outcome of the 13GE. They claimed irregularities and fraud during the 13GE polls. However, until present day no shred of any evidence what so ever was furnished to substantiate the claims.
They just harp on the notion that they obtained popularity votes although the first-past-post electoral system Malaysia adopted clearly shown that BN won 133 Parliamentary seats and took nine out of twelve State Assemblies.
BN won the popular votes in nine states plus Putrajaya and Labuan
The Oppositions’ series of demonstrations were deemed against the law as they failed to adhere to the rules stipulated under the Peaceful Assembly Act where they were a party for enacting this new law last year, which guarantees the freedom of assembly, provided certain conditions are met.
It is also clear that Anwar Ibrahim and his band of bandits are group of lawless persons and they thrive towards a state of lawlessness.
They have no shred of credibility and integrity to be trusted with anything, even to honour the promises they made out of their own will. Considering the statements that they made post 13GE, it is clear they respect no law and no one. This list of gross disrespect include HRH Rulers.
In essence, they are much worse than the communist rebels who brutally terrorised this nation and the people for 44 years.
