‘Reformasi, ‘Bersih’, ‘Arab Spring’ led by foreign forces, says UUM lecturer

By Clara Chooi

January 25, 2012

Bersih participants during their rally last July 9 in Kuala Lumpur, filepic from TMI.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Both the “Reformasi” and “Bersih” movements, which had thousands of Malaysians take to the streets to rally against the establishment, were masterminded by foreign forces determined to topple the government with violence, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Muhammad Afifi Abdul Razak has claimed.

Writing in a commentary in Utusan Malaysia today, the political science professor insisted this was not merely a “conspiracy theory”, and likened both movements to the “Arab Spring” in the Middle East.


He warned that such uprisings could lead to internal strife, where countries would be at war with themselves instead of among one another.


“Instead, wars would involve clashes between the country’s armed forces, who are loyal to the government, and their own people who rise to oppose what they believe is cruelty by the same government or regime,” he wrote.


Little known Muhammad Afifi said such violent clashes were actually led by “certain foreign-based forces” who would never tire of offering aid to the locals to topple their own governments.
“The clearest example is the ‘Arab Spring’ scenario... as well as the ‘Reformasi’ and ‘Bersih’ movements in Malaysia,” he said.
“All these scenarios were clearly planned by outside parties who wanted to use the opportunities to topple a government with violence.”


It has often been alleged that both the federal opposition, particularly Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and the Bersih coalition, a non-governmental pact led by former Bar Council chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan, are being funded by foreign forces.


Following the controversial Bersih 2.0 rally last July 9, Ambiga admitted to the coalition receiving some money from two US-based organisations — the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) — but for other projects not related to the protest.


The NDI describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan organisation “working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government”.


The OSI, according to corporate information on its website, was started by financier George Soros in 1984 to help countries make the transition from communism, and has grown to include not just the US but more than 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.


“Therefore it is clear here that the ‘special roles’ played by these ‘third parties’ truly exist and is not just a hoax or conspiracy theory,” said Muhammad Afifi.


“Today, we must no longer discuss threats and the role of the country. Instead we must pay attention to this ‘special’ third party role and threat to manipulate the international political scenario.”


Muhammad Afifi earlier referred to the existence of “third parties” and their “special” roles as first introduced by Western writers such as Willian Guy Carr, Professor Carrol Quigley, Lyndon LaRouche and Professor Kevin MacDonald, which he said was dismissed as “conspiracy theories”.


But Muhammad Afifi pointed out that Robert Cox, former director-general of the International Labour Organisation, had also spoken of a similar theory in his 1981 article, where Cox referred to “social forces” as the “third parties”.


“These non-state social forces can be categorised as international terrorists, separatists, rich and influential individuals, private organisations and fraternities, international financial institutions, multinational corporations and non-governmental organisations,” he said.


As such, Muhammad Afifi said it was this key concern that Malaysia must pay special attention to in order to save the country from anarchy.


“It’s true what Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in the closing ceremony (of the International Conference on Global Movement of Moderates (IGCMM) that using the ‘wasatiyyah approach’ is not a choice but a must because Malaysia is a small country that values peace and moderation,” he said.