COMMENT Josh Hong has spoken loudly and clearly - he is against signing the petition to the White House organised by John Malott to pressure for Anwar Ibrahim’s release. He does so by placing himself on the moral high-ground of being a patriot. We must “save our own country on our own”.

The Chinese Malaysians, in particular, should not sign the petition. The Malay nationalists must not be incensed farther by the perceived disloyalty of the non-Malays who sign. Dr Mahathir Mohamad must not be given the pleasure of having his suspicion of the skin-deep loyalty of the Chinese Malaysians confirmed.

Josh Hong strings together ‘facts’ on Nelson Mandela which would appear interesting and impressive to the uninitiated. He claims that Mandela finally succeeded in his struggles because of a ‘bottom-up’ approach aided by journalists and scholars. He says that Anwar does not enjoy Mandela’s prestige and his misery has not aroused much sympathy from the global media.

But why must Anwar be pitted against Mandela ( left )? Anwar might one day gain greater prestige than Mandela. And is it true that Anwar’s misery has not aroused much sympathy from the global media?

Strangely, Josh Hong advocates engaging the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Asean human rights bodies because they are “largely free of government influence”. One would question if this is true of these human rights bodies. One would also question how these bodies are going to get their enquiries and fact-publishing acted upon without engaging governments. By his reasoning, there should be no sanctions against Iran and North Korea by world governments.

And it is a worthless exercise trying to engage with China for trade opportunities and for improvement in inbound tourism. So also, it will be futile to maintain friendly relations with Indonesia over our needs for construction workers and domestic maids. We can “save our own country on our own”.

The doctrine of non-interference has its limits and bounds. I would not interfere in the domestic quarrels of my neighbour. However, when I see my neighbour about to slash his wife with a machete, I will need to intervene. Malaysia would not interfere in the slash-and-burn policy of Indonesia in its oil-palm industry, but when smoke from the burning gets blown into our airspace, we have to register our protest.

Can we not compare John Malott’s ( right ) petition campaign to engage the US government as equivalent to human rights bodies getting world governments to act against the offending parties? John Malott acts as a friend of Malaysia, quite apart from him being a friend of Anwar. He is no stranger to Malaysia , having been the US ambassador here before.

The US may be no angel when we consider its foreign policy, but we do not have to see every twitch of its muscles as sinister.

Different ways of venting one’s anger

Having challenged the value of signing the petition, Josh Hong then challenges those who sign the petition to go on the ground and be street protesters. But why must there be a necessary connection between the two?

Those who sign the petition need not be fans of Anwar nor be in agreement with all he stands for. They may deeply sympathise with his misery, and they may be even more aggrieved by the state of the country. They may sign the petition with, or without going on the street in protest. There are different ways of venting one’s frustration and anger.

There are diverse ways of attempting to bring about change for the better. And don’t be surprised if many of those who sign the petition are also present in certain street protests.

Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has appealed for her husband’s supporters to sign the petition, which currently hovers around slightly over half of the number needed for the US government to take notice.

The minimum 100,000 signatures needed must be reached by March 12. Would any dare to consider Wan Azizah and her children as traitors to the country? Would Anwar be regarded as a traitor as well? Or should only Malay supporters of Anwar sign the petition? A not insignificant number in Malaysia see issues like this as transcending race and religion.

Let us not allow the opinion of one individual to discourage others from signing the petition.

BS POH holds a PhD degree in Engineering and a PhD degree in Theology. He was incarcerated for his faith under the ISA from 1987 to 1988.