Why was Anwar in Singapore ?

Posted on March 7, 2008. Filed under: anwar, bernas |

‘Why am I here in Singapore? Because I will not get fair treatment by the Malaysian press,’ said Mr Anwar, who was in Singapore to speak at the Risk Minds Asia conference at the St Regis Hotel yesterday.
Citing reports carried in yesterday’s edition of The Star, Mr Anwar claimed that the Malaysian press has launched a ‘vicious personal attack’ against him.
The Malaysian daily carried three separate reports where Mr Anwar’s past policies were criticised.
One had Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi questioning his record as Education Minister, another had a former friend KS Nallakaruppan suggesting that Mr Anwar would ‘destroy the nation’, while a third had Malaysian Chinese Association president
Ong Ka Ting telling voters not to be taken in by Mr Anwar’s rhetoric.

‘The reports (criticising me) had not a sentence of opportunity for me to give a reply,’ Mr Anwar said yesterday.

‘But that proved one point. That we’ve been quite effective to be able to force the ruling authority - the UMNO government and the entire media - to attack me.
‘First, the media said I am anti-Hindu and anti-Chinese. At the same time, the Malay leaders of UMNO went to the villages and distributed leaflets and said that I am anti-Malay because I am pro-Hindu and pro-Chinese.
‘I think it (such practice) doesn’t go well for a multi-racial country like Malaysia and it is very demeaning.’