Anwar Ibrahim made the TIMES 100 Most Influential People list, coming in a respectable 85 overall and number 9 on the Leaders and Revolutionaries section. Not bad when you consider the fact that in his home country he is demonize by those from the ruling government. Here's a report by Malaysiakini:

Penasihat PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dinobatkan sebagai seorang daripada 100 tokoh paling berpengaruh di dunia oleh sebuah majalah terkenal.

Keputusan itu dibuat berdasarkan undian secara dalam talian majalah mingguan antarabangsa Time.

Tokoh-tokoh tersebut dibahagikan dalam lima kategori: pemimpin dan revolusioner, hero dan perintis, ahli sains dan pemikir, seniman dan penghibur, serta jurubina dan titan.

Seratus tokoh paling berpengaruh dipilih daripada 207 tokoh yang dicalonkan.

Dalam majalah itu, Anwar digambarkan sebagai pemimpin Islam yang memperjuangkan sikap toleransi, demokrasi dan hak-hak asasi manusia.

Source: Malaysiakini

MCA obviously did not read the TIMES otherwise they wouldn't have so much to say to the people of Penang about Anwar.



MCA had this to say as reported by their own main stream media newspaper:

The Chinese community has been advised not to be hoodwinked by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s promises.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said Anwar had caused “severe” damage to the community through his many unfair policies when he was Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister.

“He was responsible for putting non-Chinese educated administrators in Chinese schools and he was also against relocating Chinese schools or increasing the number of Chinese schools,” he said at a luncheon with state MCA committee members yesterday.

Source: The Star

So when Anwar Ibrahim was Deputy Prime Minister and Education MInister and member of UMNO and he put in all the unjust policies above, what did MCA do about it? Did MCA speak up against Anwar Ibrahim at that time? Remember Anwar Ibrahim at that time was part of the ruling government and whatever changes he made was not a change by a person but rather by the government of the day. So for MCA to cry over spilled milk now is really something close to stupid.

Yes, they were "unfair policies" but what was even unfair was that these policies were supported by the BN government at that time, of which MCA was part of it. So did MCA speak up for the Chinese community? Did MCA send a strong message to the then Deputy Prime Minister that the Chinese community was unhappy?

Looking at all this, it is fair to say MCA is a lost cause. Attempting to be the voice of the Chinese people now is akin to saying the Titanic is not sinking even when you are waist deep in water. The damage has been done and MCA should just keep quiet and work at building the trust of the Chinese community. It will take years to right the wrong so MCA better start working now and please stop the smear campaign against Anwar Ibrahim. By demonizing Anwar Ibrahim, you are merely making the rakyat angrier towards you. Why strike against a popular figure-head when you are at your most unpopular state? Pure stupidity if you ask me.

It merely shows the weaken state of the BN government when component parties are now speaking up against their own bed-fellows. It's time MCA take a bow and keep quiet.