‘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.

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Hostage drama: Girl rescued, ex-convict dies in hospital

Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - A 34-year-old man with a previous conviction for armed robbery, who barged into a house in Kampung Baru here and took a 10-year-old girl hostage on Monday, was shot by the police and died later in hospital.
The girl was unharmed.
Relating the ordeal, the girl's father, Shafrudin Marlis, 47, said that he, his wife and three children were watching television about 11am, when a half-naked man stormed into their home at Lorong Raja Muda Musa 6 and grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
"It was only a matter of seconds before he grabbed my daughter Fifi Ramadani and threatened to kill her if we approached him," he said, when met at the house Monday after the girl had been rescued by police and the man arrested.
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said that when police arrived at the scene moments after receiving a distress call, the man had locked himself in a room in the house and taken the girl hostage.
"He demanded for drugs and water. We gave him water and also called in a psychiatric specialist from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) to talk to the man and assess his condition," he told reporters.
He said that police also brought in one of the suspect's friends to try to coax him to release the girl.
"But all our attempts failed. We then had to shoot the suspect after he became more aggressive. We fired four shots, which hit him in the rib area," ACP Zulkarnain said.
The girl was brought out safely about 4.10pm. She was unhurt but taken in an ambulance to Hospital Kuala Lumpur as she was in shock.
The man was brought out on a stretcher about 10 minutes later.
ACP Zulkarnain said the man was also taken to HKL for treatment. He succumbed to his injuries Monday evening.
As soon as the man was taken away in an ambulance, residents who had gathered at the scene cheered the police and the psychiatrist for their success in saving the girl.
He added that initial investigations showed that the man was from Sabah.

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