The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.36           October 12, 1998 
 
 
Antigovernment Actions Swell As Economic Crisis Deepens In Malaysia  
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -"Mahathir resign" has become a popular slogan among tens of thousands who have taken to the streets of Malaysia. Protests have taken place almost daily since September 2, when Prime Minister Mahathir sacked Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar was arrested 18 days later.

Police have used batons, riot shields, and water cannons against the demonstrations, which grew from meetings at the deposed finance minister's house to reach a peak on the weekend of September 20. On that day 80,000 people, many of them young, rallied in the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The protests occurred during Mahathir's showcase of the Commonwealth Games, held in Kuala Lumpur in mid-September.

Demonstrations like these have been unheard of in Mahathir's 17 years as prime minister. Political dissent has been met with repression, using laws like the hated Internal Security Act (ISA), which provides for detention without trial. Such laws are modeled on those created by the British colonial regime- controlled Malaya until independence in 1957 (Sarawak and Sabah joined Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963).

The National Front government is a coalition of 14 parties dominated by Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

Under a camouflage of protecting "indigenous rights," the Malay aristocracy's rule has been buttressed by measures discriminating against the Chinese, Indian and other communities, including laws making Islam the state religion and Bahasa Malaysia the national language.

Anwar was detained on the night of September 20 under the ISA. The head of UMNO's youth wing, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and four leaders of the Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia, are among the others who have been arrested.

While he has not been charged, Anwar faces allegations of committing sodomy, treason, and corruption. Prime Minister Mahathir told a news conference on September 22 that "I personally interviewed people he sodomized and women he had sex with." The former Finance Minister has strongly denied the charges, saying that Mahathir saw him as a rival for the leadership and an opponent on some key policies.

Economic crisis deepens
Before these events Anwar, a 16-year veteran of Mahathir's cabinet, had been considered his likely successor. Differences between the two figures have become evident as the capitalist crisis has bitten deeper in the region.

The Malaysian economy -which had been one of the fast growing "Asian tigers" before this year - has officially entered a recession.

The economy contracted 6.8 percent between April and June, following a 2.8 percent drop in the first quarter. The construction industry has been hardest hit, dropping 22 percent in the second quarter. Manufacturing and farming also declined by more than 9 percent. As a result the unemployment rate, which had been near zero, is between 4 and 5 percent. Malaysia's debt to imperialist banks has risen every year in the 1990s, and now stands at more than $27 billion.

Mahathir has assumed a demagogic, nationalist stance, blaming the country's economic difficulties on, at different times, overseas financiers, journalists, and Jews.

Anwar, on the other hand, became known for supporting the kind of austerity measures the International Monetary Fund has proposed for countries like Indonesia and South Korea. The former deputy premiere also called for political reforms. "I fight for civil society, the rule of law, and administrative transparency," he has said. Groups opposing his arrest have demanded the rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and the abolition of the ISA.

Among the crowd at the September 20 rally was Eric Bastian, a 50-year-old worker, who told a reporter that "I never supported [Anwar], but I would like to at this time because he has been unjustly treated and he will stand up against corruption and nepotism."

Anwar's purge occurred in the wake of a range of economic measures pushed through by Mahathir earlier in September. As reported in New Zealand's Sunday Star Times, "Dr. Mahathir [announced] a range of foreign-exchange controls designed to shield Malaysia's currency and economy from speculators and financial instability."

The article reported that the measures were taken in response to news that Malaysia is "officially in recession, with its currency the ringgit, having lost 40 percent of its value, the sharemarket down 75 percent and new car sales off 70 percent, all over the past year."

These latest measures have caused disquiet among the imperialists, who are also concerned about the unprecedented protests against the Mahathir's rule. Evincing paternalistic concern, a U.S. government official commented that "we tell everyone in the region that you'll do best by getting your system in shape to participate in a globalized economy. Mahathir clearly has chosen a different path."

 
 
 
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