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Honolulu (Feb. 24) -- To promote democracy in the Middle East, Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, suggested the United States point to Indonesia and Turkey as examples of Muslim democracies. "It's a major beginning," he said. "You can promote this to the Arab world, not the American experience but the Indonesian experience, the Turkish experience. This is better because this is homegrown."
But democracy is more than "just having free and fair elections," Anwar said. Indonesia, in the midst of a democratic transition, has had to recover from "three decades of dictatorial rule." As a result, he said it must create a democratic framework of "separation of powers; credible, well qualified, well trained judges and lawyers; a free media -- and free and fair elections."
Anwar made the comments Feb. 23 at a public program in Honolulu, co-sponsored by the University of Hawaii Center for Southeast Asian Studies, the Council on Muslim Asia, the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, the East-West Center, and the Friends of the East-West Center.
Anwar was a guest of the University of Hawaii Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program in Liberal Arts, sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education. He was nominated by the university’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the Council for Muslim Asia.
The subject of Anwar’s talk was "Human Rights and Politics: An Asian Perspective." In 1998, Anwar was removed from his posts as deputy prime minister and finance minister and imprisoned for political reasons. In 2004, after six years of solitary confinement, he was acquitted of all charges by the Malaysian Federal Court. He is currently a visiting professor at Georgetown University and distinguished visiting senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University.
After six years in jail, Anwar said he emerged feeling "stronger and more passionate about freedom and human rights." He emphasized his belief that freedom and human rights are universal -- not purely American or western concepts.
In the media, he said, viewers see "so much rage against Americans and the West, but speak to individuals in the Middle East and you sense there is a difference in their position on American foreign policy and American Jeffersonian ideals or the spirit of the American Constitution."
He also said that to understand Muslim society is to understand that it is not monolithic. "To look at the (Muslim) experience in Asia, you cannot understand and appreciate the changes (in the region) from the prism of the Arab world," he said. "The experience in Asia is something we need to observe and appreciate."
Anwar also advocated engagement to minimize conflict and differences, but said that should not negate the push for human rights and freedom.
"I am for engagement, for trade," he said, with reference to China, "but we should not ... ignore that freedom and human rights remain paramount."
"Just because you have good relations with countries" like China, he said, "should not preclude the discussion or articulation of issues of human rights and freedom, because to do so you are condemning the majority of the population who have been denied basic freedoms."
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