Much as I welcomed the formal protest by 50 Australian members of parliament against the Umno/BN government’s latest trial of Anwar Ibrahim, I wish they had been a lot more outspoken.

Not that they really could be, of course, as diplomatic conventions have to be observed, even with governments as disgraceful as Malaysia’s.

“Many friendly observers of Malaysia find it difficult to believe that a leading opposition voice could be charged with sodomy a second time, and so soon after his party made major gains in national elections,” the protest letter stated, or rather understated.

“It should be made known to the Malaysian government that, in our opinion, global esteem for Malaysia will be affected by these charges against Mr Anwar,” the letter continued, before venturing the hope that “Malaysia’s authorities will not pursue these charges”.

As mild if not meek as this message was, at least I was delighted to see that it offended the Umno/BN regime, always as sensitive to criticism as its utterly insensitive to calls to clean-up its act.

shafie apdal and mps no defection pc 280808 04 Mohd Shafie Apdal, an Umno/BN cabinet minister and chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was quoted in Malaysiakini as declaring that he was “very disappointed that Australia should interfere in Malaysia’s constitution”.

“Maybe, in some countries, a certain act by a person is legal. But in Malaysia it is against the law and that person must be brought to justice,” he said.

Shafie’s statement was full of all the usual Umno/BN lies and spin, of course. As he no doubt well knows, “a certain act”, by which he presumably meant sodomy, is indeed legal in Australia, but only between adults and with the consent of both parties.

If sodomy is against the law in Malaysia and an offender must be brought to justice, what about all the other activities that are against the law and for which offenders are seldom if ever brought to justice, like corruption, fraud, embezzlement, theft and even homicide by public officials and government agencies?

mahathir mohamad 06 At least Shafie was somewhat more temperate in his response to the protest by Australian MPs than Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) would have been back when he was prime minister. Way back, when then Australian premier Paul Keating, called him “recalcitrant”, Mahathir went totally off the deep end.

And whenever those bugbears Mahathir never tired of criticising, like the US, the Zionists and the West, ever rebutted or returned his ire, he claimed they were only jealous because Malaysia was the “envy of the world”?

Real source of disgrace

Back in those days, it seemed to me, a great many Malaysians appeared to buy this ludicrous story. But of late I’ve noticed that more and more Malaysians have stopped believing the myth that a man like Mahathir or Najib Abdul Razak or a coalition like Umno/BN is somehow synonymous with Malaysia.

In fact more and more Malaysians have woken up to the fact that it’s not Malaysia or Malaysians that the world, or in this case a group of Australian MPs is criticising, but the Umno/BN regime that’s such a disgrace to the nation and citizens it claims to represent.

Take a look at the dozens of comments on Malaysiakini stories about the Australian protest, of which the following are a tiny but entirely representative sample:

Sulaiman Hikmat: We the people (of Malaysia) are being shamed internationally by our government. We the people (of Malaysia) do not deserve this, we the people feel ridiculed, we the people feel oppressed, we the people feel we are as much victims of these scandalous and ridiculous charges against Anwar Ibrahim...

Doc: As expected, international pressure is mounting on Umno with regard to (these) fraudulent charges placed against Anwar just because he is leading a strong opposition. Australia is the first country to voice out their concern for Malaysian democracy currently being plundered by the ruling Umno government....Internationally, Umno is seen as a dying regime desperately trying to hold onto powerto ensure its continued monetary gains at the expense of its citizens’ well being, liberties and their right to the country’s resources and wealth.

Malayamuda:

Malaysia should first respect her laws and constitution before asking others to respect it. After the Perak debacle, it’s quite obvious that our constitution is just being taken for toilet paper by Umno.

Avatar: Mr Shafie - can you clarify which law the Aussies should respect - the one for the royals; or the one specifically for the ruling party namely Umno or the law for the common people? I guess the Australians are confused which law you refer to and you are confusing yourself by not stating the exact law to be respected. I am sure you are not referring to the law for common people, right?

Singa Pura Pura: Minister Shafie, your premise is wholly misconceived. The Australian MPs do respect the laws of Malaysia. What they do not respect and cannot condone, as is the case with most Malaysians, is the selective prosecution of Malaysia’s opposition leader.... Hundreds, possibly thousands, of acts of sodomy, both consensual and otherwise, take place in Malaysia each day. Why does the government of Malaysia, through the chambers of the Attorney-General and the office of the Public Prosecutor, single out the opposition leader of Malaysia for prosecution....? Why are high profile cases of murder, pecuniary corruption and abuse of power and process, where there is evidence to commence proceedings, selectively disregarded?”

And so on and on, in similarly enlightened and enraged vein. But the prize for the most comprehensive exposition of the conflict between Malaysia and Umno/BN must go to Neil Khor’s deliciously tongue-in-cheek Feb 13 article, ‘There’s nothing wrong with Malaysia’ .

In this hilarious parody of Mahathir’s trademark sarcastic style, Khor powerfully makes the point that the 50 Australian MPs were too properly polite and restrained to conclude: that there’s nothing whatever the matter with Malaysia that can’t be fixed by getting rid of the Umno/BN government.

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he mentors creative writing groups. Soon to be published in Kuala Lumpur is a third book of his columns for Malaysiakini, following earlier collections ‘Mad about Malaysia’ and ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’.