The World Assembly of Muslim Youth is also one of the vehicles through which the Saudi Wahhabi government funds Islamic extremism and international terrorism. WAMY was co-founded by Kamal Helwabi, a former senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and by Osama bin Laden’s nephew, Abdullah bin Laden (who served as WAMY’s President through 2002 and is now its Treasurer). WAMY raises funds for the terrorist group Hamas, and in October 2002 made Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al an “honored guest” at a Muslim youth and globalization conference held in Riyadh. WAMY also helps finance the Kashmir insurgency against India, characterizing it as a “liberation” movement. 

A Saudi opposition group reports that WAMY disseminates literature encouraging “religious hatred and violence against Jews, Christians, Shi’a and Ashaari Muslims.” As WAMY puts it, this literature is expressly designed ”to teach our children to love taking revenge on the Jews and the oppressors, and teach them that our youngsters will liberate Palestine and Jerusalem when they go back to Islam and make jihad for the sake of Allah.” Some WAMY publications have included interviews with Saudi clerics such as Ayed al-Qarni, an adviser to Saudi Prince Fahd. In one such interview, al-Qarni stated that he prays for America’s destruction daily, that he encourages students to go to Iraq to fight against U.S. forces, and that those who cannot go should at least contribute money to the cause. Another WAMY publication features a list of “martyrs” who have attacked and murdered Israelis; one of the individuals on this list is a man who drove 14 bus passengers off a cliff as a member of the group “Heroes from Palestine.” 

Investigations of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center uncovered, in an apartment of one of the terrorists, an envelope marked “WAMY” along with a training manual on how to set up terrorist cells in other countries and stage attacks.

WAMY came under FBI scrutiny after 9/11, when it was determined that a radiologist, Dr. Al Badr al-Hamzi, whose credit card was found among the possessions of the hijackers, was receiving funding from the organization. The Senate Finance Committee requested that the IRS examine WAMY’s U.S. branch for links to terrorism. WAMY was also named in a trillion-dollar lawsuit by the families of the victims of 9/11.

In May 2004, federal law-enforcement, immigration, and anti-terrorism agents raided WAMY’s Alexandria, Virginia office, seizing all of its computers and hard drives, and arresting a volunteer board member, Ibrahim Abdullah, on immigration charges. WAMY had been operating out of the office of Jamal Barzinji, who was involved with a total of seven organizations that were raided by federal agents in connection with terrorist financing. After the raid on its office, WAMY likened itself to the YMCA, saying that it was interested only in “youth education, youth development, and serving the Muslim community.” 

Though WAMY’s activities in the United States were derailed, its operations elsewhere in the world continue unabated — in many instances with the help of other, likeminded organizations. For example, WAMY’s efforts in Somalia are supported by  the “Christian charities” Novib and Oxfam, which are based in the United Kingdom and Holland, respectively. 

One of WAMY’s closest affiliates is the European Council for Fatwa and Research, which aims to spread fundamentalist Islam and implement Shari’a (Islamic Law) worldwide. Another organization with intimate ties to WAMY is the Muslim Students’ Association of the U.S. and Canada. And four directors of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) – including Anwar Ibrahim, a terror-supporting Malaysian Islamist who co-founded IIIT – are trustees of WAMY.  

In December 1999, WAMY announced at a press conference in Saudi Arabia that it “was extending both moral and financial support to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) ”to help it construct its $3.5 million headquarters in Washington, D.C.”  WAMY also agreed to “introduce CAIR to Saudi philanthropists and recommend their financial support for the headquarters project.” In 2002, CAIR and WAMY jointly announced, again from Saudi Arabia, their collaboration on a $1 million public-relations campaign.

Islam scholar Stephen Schwartz calls WAMY “the Saudi equivalent of the Hitler Youth: a hate-mongering, ultra-extremist group preaching, among other niceties, that Shia Muslims are not real Muslims, but products of a Jewish conspiracy.” The website Militant Islam Monitor characterizes the organization as “part of the Saudi Wahhabist ‘Jihad through conversion’ drive.”

While a fellow at the American Center for Democracy, Ilan Weinglass detailed for FrontPageMagazine.com Anwar’s ties to terrorism through the International Institute of Islamic Thought:

Anwar Ibrahim is a founder and director of the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a think tank in Virginia that has alleged links to terrorism. IIIT’s 2003 tax-exempt IRS filing lists a $720 donation to the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Ashland, Oregon, which was designated as a terrorist funding organization by the U.S. government in 2004. Among the Treasury Department’s findings were that the Oregon branch of al-Haramain engaged in tax fraud, money laundering, supporting Chechen mujahideen affiliated with al Qaeda, and had “direct links between the U.S. branch and Usama bin Laden.” In fact, many of al – Haramain’s offices around the world were closed for supporting terrorism.

There is more evidence of IIIT’s links to terrorism. A few examples: according to court documents, in the early 1990s IIIT donated at least $50,000 to a think tank run by Sami al-Arian, the World Islamic and Study Enterprise (WISE), that served as a front group for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. IIIT is also named as a defendant in two class-action lawsuits brought by victims of the 9/11 attacks. One alleges that IIIT received the bulk of its operating expenses from the SAAR network, whose component groups are accused in another class-action suit of being “fronts for the sponsor of al Qaeda and international terror.” The same suit lists IIIT as well as every officer of IIIT besides Anwar Ibrahim as a supporter of the SAAR network. This public information was available to SAIS, yet the school extended a fellowship to Ibrahim.

Ibrahim, along with three other IIIT directors, is also a trustee of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). According to congressional testimony of testimony of Jonathan Winer, former Deputy Secretary of State for International Law Enforcement, in October 2002 WAMY made Hamas leader Khalid Mishal an “honored guest” at a conference held in Riyadh. A Saudi opposition group reports that WAMY disseminates literature encouraging “religious hatred and violence against Jews, Christians, Shi’a and Ashaari Muslims.” Evidently, as a trustee of this group, Anwar Ibrahim is far from advocating moderate Islam.

Ibrahim and his family were also the beneficiaries of an apparent tax fraud perpetrated by IIIT. The same tax filings showing a donation to the al-Haramian foundation show $92,200 in contributions to Ibrahim’s daughter, Nurul Izzah. IIIT violated U.S. law when it wrote “none” under “Donee’s relationship” when listing donations to Ibrahim’s daughter. The group would have lost its tax-exempt status had it been known that it was sending money to the family member of a director. Ibrahim never disavowed this act when given the chance and even stated explicitlythat these contributions were made for the education of his six children.

Moreover, the International Free Anwar Campaign (IFAC), which was established when Ibrahim was in a Malaysian prison, has some apparent links to al Qaeda. Rahim Ghouse, who was an IFAC leader based out of Melbourne, Australia, had business dealings with Yassin al-Qadi, who is on the Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Terrorists for funding al Qaeda. While this alone is not conclusive, it should have raised a red flag. Instead, SAIS assigned Ibrahim to “counsel students who wish to learn more about Southeast Asia and the Muslim world.”

Perhaps most importantly, Ibrahim never disavowed IIIT’s support of terrorism. On the contrary: in an October 25, 2003 response to the broadcasting of terror-supporting charges against IIIT on Australian television, he effusively praised the organization and said that charges against it were politically motivated.

But secularists within Turkey remain unconvinced.

In spite of Turkey’s strides towards westernization and the possibility of EU membership, the AKP is a protagonist of ethnic and religious derision. Erogan’s advisor, Ahmet Davutoglu provides a basis for this concern as a concept of governance. Davutglu writes: “The world is composed of cultural blocs, and Turkey falls into the ‘Muslim bloc.’”

From the US perspective, Turkey under Erdogan has proven to be a difficult strategic partner in the war on terror. Does the condition of the US relationship with Turkey foreshadow a decline in the US-Malaysia relationship under Anwar?  

We already know that Anwar perceives Malaysia to fall within the “Muslim bloc.”  And so, in the context of the war on terror, the US must question what ground will be lost as Anwar pushes Malaysia closer to Sharia and farther from the West. 

Work done by TerrorFinance.org points to the lucrative May 2006 IPO of Al-Baraka Banking Group, (ABG) - an entity who’s chairman, Salah Kamel was responsible for the purchase of shares of Bank Islam that at the time was a Malaysian government-owned entity and allegedly involved in laundering funds belonging to the Third World Relief Agency.  Anwar has been, and still is a member of the board of directors.

Further, it appears that while Anwar was Minister of Finance in the mid-90’s he sold the government’s remaining shares of Bank Islam to SAAR Foundation, headed by an individual named Jamal Barzinji. At the same time, SAAR foundation was financing Anwar’s International Institute of Islamic Thought. Barzinji was a director at each organization. 

For the entire article go to: 

http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/2007/02/yassin_alkadia_.html

Ahmed is reported to have said that “the Chinese were mere squatters or temporary residents of the nation and therefore, it was impossible to achieve equal rights amongst races in the country.”

Naturally, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan are quite upset over this. 

As it is, the idea is being floated that Gerakan should withdraw from BN. Whether it would join Pakatan Rakyat, stand alone, or dissolve, it’s loss to BN, though a relatively small portion of the coalition, would still provide fodder for Anwar and PKR with which to tear at the government.

In the midst of great effort to stave off the momentum behind Anwar’s resurgance of power and the the very real possibility that Anwar may be able to make good on his promise to topple the government, Umno cannot afford ridiculous mistakes that only serve to fracture Barisan Nasional.

The state chief minister, Abdul Hadi Awang, said he believed that his responsibility toward God took precedence over fulfilling the requirement to refer the Shariah bill to the federal attorney general before it was enacted. 

In that instance, a moderate federal government provided the check on power needed to avert the complete will of PAS, but again, that will has been made very clear.

Are we to presume that Anwar, who himself has ties to terror, will defend Malaysian pluralism and tolerance against the aims of PAS, that very core of his coalition he owes so greatly for any victory that he has, or may achieve?

Image by KamalSell via Flickr

In the wake of his landslide victory Malaysia’s Islamist party has  endorsed Anwar Ibrahim, removing a major obstacle in his push to win power.

But the question remains whether he can hold his coalition together:

Analysts said that PAS, which wants an Islamic state in this Asian country of 27 million people, would remain a difficult partner for Mr Anwar’s “rainbow coalition” which also comprises liberals and an ethnic Chinese party.

IHT is reporting that, “With 18 percent of the vote counted, Anwar was leading by 5,855 votes to 1,910, according to the Malaysian Election Commission.” Anwar’s chief information deputy has declared victory and said Anwar: ”We are entering Parliament with a clear agenda and they [ the governing coalition] should wake up with the stark realities of the day.” 

If the numbers hold firm, Anwar’s claim that there there has been a mandate for change will carry enough weight to make real the potential for sufficient defections from the National Front to bring the PKR into power. He needs 30 to do so in order to accomplish this by his stated date of September 16th. 

Tricia Yeoh, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies, said she believed there was enough infighting and disaffection within the governing party that these defections were feasible. But Anwar’s opposition movement is still young and its unity could fray if it moves too quickly into power, she said.

“I do think they have sufficient numbers,” Yeoh said of Anwar and his allies. “The issue is whether it’s the best and most strategic move for him now.”

Anwar’s coalition is a precarious balance between a those representing ethnic minorities and hard line PAS, who seek an Islamic state.  Anwar’s winning argument, something both factions can agree upon is an anti-corruption message.

“One of the things that has held this country back is the issue of corruption - resources are not being distributed in a way that is fair to the vast majority of people,” said Bridget Welsh, a specialist in Malaysian politics at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

But it is questionable whether Anwar, who himself has a checkered past, can be relied upon to match virtue with rhetoric. And minorities should be extremely concerned about his underlying interest in an Islamic state. The record indicates that to be the direction he would lead.

Najib was quoted in Bernama, the state run news agency, as saying that: ”Anwar is so desperate to become prime minister that he is willing to pawn the dignity and principle of the Malays like opening Universiti Teknologi Mara to the other races who are allowed to establish their own universities.” 

Najib said those who like to politicise the dignity of the race, religion and nation should be rejected as a leader.

As reported by VOA, Wong Chin Huat, an analyst in Anwar’s camp, claimed that “UMNO has stoked racist sentiments during the campaign period, including comparing the ethnic Chinese to pigs, which are considered unclean by Muslim Malaysians.”

“The UMNO machinery has been playing up ethnic sentiments to its height. They openly compare Chinese as pigs,” added Wong Chin Huat. “You never do that publicly, never put that in a campaign and this time around UMNO used that in a Malay area hoping that would push up the Malay support to create that sense that if you have Anwar winning, the Chinese and the Indians are going to dominate the country.”

Winning the Malay majority electorate in Permatang Pauh is seen as the key to controlling whether there will be substantial enough defections from UMNO to shift the balance of power to Anwar and the opposition and knock down the BN government for the first time. The tipping point for substantial enough defections, according to Wong Chin Huat, would be for Anwar to capture 70 - 80 percent of the Malay vote. He needs a total of 30 to defect from the government.

Polls close at 5:00pm (0800 GMT) on Tuesday. There are 58,459 eligible voters.

As reported by the Star Online, PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim kicked off his daily campaign with a visit to Kampong Sama Gagah market where party workers gave away curry powder to market-goers. 

Later in the evening, he attended a dinner with the Chinese community in Seberang Jaya before making an appearance at his nightly ceramah perdana in Mengkuang Titi.

Leading the Barisan camp was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who made a brief stopover at Kampong Permatang Ara, Permatang Pasir, just before midnight on Thursday to give moral support to party workers and meet villagers who came out in droves after hearing that the national leaders were in the vicinity.

He spent almost one hour mingling with the villagers and even enjoyedpulut (glutinous rice) with salted fish, showing he is still very much akampung boy at heart.

Coming into the final stretch of the by-election campaigning, both the NB and PKR election workers have increased their door knocking campaign as well as attendance at evening ceramah in an effort to touch as many voters as possible.

It is widely believed that Anwar will win a seat in parliament. The question will be whether the margin is significant enough to be declared a mandate for change in the government.

Anwar Ibrahim has shown himself again to be more radical than freedom-loving individuals should be comfortable with him being. For instance, he railed against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Islam Hadhari project, saying, ”There is only one Islam,” and that Islam Hadhari implies that there is a “bad Islam.” The conclusion is that Islam Hadhari should be scrapped.

While there may be one true faith, there are any varieties of expressions of Islam, many of which are highly intolerant. Islam Hadhari, though admittedly flawed in practice, at least has been an attempt to moderate those who would otherwise trample the rights of others. An honest discussion of the issue would recognize this.

What blueprint for acceptance of minority rights and civil society does Anwar propose?

It is easy to tear down what others have had the imagination to build, but doing so is not in itself the hallmark of a leader.

A leader through example inspires others on to achieve greatness.

But what inspiration to achieve greatness does Anwar give the people of Malaysia?

Truly, what does his example inspire?

As is pointed out by Ganesh Sahathevan of the The Terror Finance Blog, “many Westerners believe Anwar to be a liberal who would prefer the rule of civil law rather than Sharia. This belief is often relied on to argue against any evidence of his involvement in the financing of terrorism , or at the very least, structures that lead to acts of terrorism.”

But the evidence of involvement with those connections can’t, and shouldn’t be ignored - especially by Americans (including Gore) who seem to be drawn in by Anwar’s ‘underdog’ status as opposition leader and choose to ignore facts about his past. 

His role in founding the International Institute of Islamic Thought, and the IIIT’s subsequent financing of jihadist and Islamist organisations known to be involved in acts of terrorism should set off alarm bells.

For instance, during Israel’s action in Lebanon, Anwar’s commentary in the press was very pro-Hamas and anti-Israeli. It would seem that associates of his put that sentiment into action. A board member of Anwar’s IIIT, Sheik Yusuf Al-Qardawi, “for whom Anwar has great admiration, ” is the likely founder and leader of the “Union for Good,” an association now banned in Israel because it is a de facto Hamas support network.

The police had maintained that Anwar would receive the report after he had been officially charged with a crime. But he was charged on August 7th.

By dragging their feet and withholding the information, the government has played into the hands of Anwar, a politician particularly adept at PR, by feeding those inclined to be skeptical the notion that the government has been up to no good.  

But on the other hand, according to Anwar, the report may have been withheld for good reason; namely that it might show holes in the case against him.

“We have found there was another inconsistency in the police report that was given to us - six weeks later, (and) on the instruction of the minister,” he told reporters in Yayasan Aman building in Permatang Pauh, where the party’s election campaign office is located.

While it has been much talked about that that the charges of sodomy taint Anwar’s image, ever the fox, there is opportunity for Anwar in the midst of disaster.  The other side of the coin is that, if the government gives Anwar ample opportunity to show that he has been unfairly persecuted, the resulting backlash could prove the deciding factor in turning PM’s to his cause -and thereby ushering in the PKR to power.

So what DOES the report say?

At this point, the only folks who don’t have a copy are the people of Malaysia.

It seems this particular conspiracy theory never gets old or goes out of style:

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has accused his country’s government of supporting the pro-Israel lobby in the US and Jewish groups inside Israel.

“I have evidence proving that the government is backing the Jewish lobby in the US and some parties inside Israel,” Anwar told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.

But as usual those making the accusations have nothing but their own grand theories to offer as proof or evidence:

Anwar, a former deputy premier contesting legislative by-election as the next step in his plan to become premier, declined to elaborate on the nature of the support or his evidence.

I guess it is easier to blame the “Israel Lobby” than to address the very real problems involved.

It might be easy to laugh off such conspiracies if there wasn’t a long history of tragic results from this type of worldview.

The Prime Minister said that:

“According to Islam, an individual seeking justice should be respected, even though it may be a personal issue,” the premier said, according to the New Straits Times Monday.

“There are those who question his method and whether he is following the right procedure but in his heart he must have a clear intention,” Abdullah said.

“The incident must have been traumatic, otherwise he would not have lodged the police report.”

In Anwar’s corner, the former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, a friend of Anwar’s for 15 years, held a press conference in support of Anwar, decrying Saiful’s action as unislamic, and a political gimmick saying “I think (the allegations) are wrong because I know Anwar and I believe totally in him.”

“It is un-Islamic because there is no such thing as swearing in syariah. Both should go to the syariah court,” he said at a press conference at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat headquarters here.

Bernma quoted the hospital’s general manager, Wan Mahmood Wan Yaacob saying that ”He is still on leave and we never issued a statement that his services would be terminated. His services are still needed by the hospital.”  Wan declined to give any indication when Osman will return.

The Star’s story is curious as it directly attributes comments to Pusrawi Hospital general manager Wan Mahmood Wan Yaacob that are in complete contradiction:

Pusrawi general manager Wan Mahmood Wan Yaacob said that Dr Mohamed Osman had taken three weeks leave and was scheduled to return to work on Aug 1 but had failed to turn up.

“Under the labour laws, an officer who fails to turn up for work five days consecutively will have his service terminated automatically, without notice,” he told M-star yesterday.

He added that the salary of the medical officer would not be paid because he failed to keep in touch with Pusrawi after he ended his leave on Aug 1.

Wan Mahmood said that the doctor had disappeared and all efforts by Pusrawi to trace him had failed.

So did M Star completely fabricate this material? What gives?

The PAS spiritual leader of the Islamic Party, PAS, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat pledged last weekend to stand behind Anwar, choosing to overlook the unresolved criminal charges and crediting his faith in Anwar’s experience. 

PAS, one of the three parties in Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition has conservative elements that tend to push for greater closeness with the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) because of a shared Malay/Muslim interests. That said, being in on the ground floor with Anwar’s opposition coalition could reap greater benefits for PAS in the long run in the form of appointments to offices of influence.

This, of course, is good news for Anwar. Without PAS as a coalition partner, Anwar couldn’t hope to pull off his grand plan to take over the government next month. But although PAS is downplaying its strong Islamic viewpoint, it bears remembering that, should the scheme work, upon victory, Anwar will be heavily indebted to PAS, who most certainly will expect that favor to be returned.

At that point it will be very interesting to see what impact pro-Sharia law PAS officials have on already fragile minority rights in Malaysia. 

“We hope he [Gore] will stop goring as it is about time he re-examines the goring process within himself and his country,” Rais said after a flag-hoisting ceremony in Putrajaya in conjunction with Asean’s 41st anniversary.

Rais was reacting to a recent statement whereby Gore accused the Malaysian government of using “character assassination” twice in an effort to politically destroy Anwar Ibrahim. -That is, once this summer, and then again back in 1998.

Almost ten years ago Gore similarly offended Malaysians during Anwar’s first difficulty with sodomy charges. At that time, Gore actually utilized some of the opposition slogans as part of his public criticism of the Malaysian government. 

Mr Gore also used the word ‘reformasi’ - the rallying cry of anti-government protestors who support the sacked Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

It was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s responsibility as the then-Foriegn Minister to chastize Gore for his “irresponsible incitement.”

But fast forward to 2008. Gore is yet again backing Anwar.

What is behind this? 

Has Gore been paying attention? Does he understand that Anwar’s coalition partners include the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party - the same guys that have recruited folks to go to Pakistan and fight with the Taliban?

And, of course, the irony here is that, given PAS’s ideal to move the government towards instituting an ever-more universal Sharia law, it is the very sort of statute that Anwar is charged with that PAS would stand behind.

So if Gore is hoping to back the crew that seeks to further westernize Malaysia’s democracy, he’s sitting in the wrong camp.

As an uncertain financial climate weighs on the US economy, appreciation for the significant bearing it has on the well-being of Malaysia’s economy is gaining attention in the press.

Shankaran Nambiar, writing for the Star, points out that, aside from the strain on the economy resulting from home-grown problems, that “shock waves” emanating from the US have a big impact on the Malaysian situation.

He points to data from the US dot-Com collapse in 2001 showing that the Malaysian growth rate slid to 0.5% In the meantime, with the US the largest destination for exports at 16% of the total, and with a substantial portion of the 15% that goes directly to Singapore eventually ending up in the US, a slowdown in US importation due to a shaky economic footing will mean a downturn for Malaysia as well. 

Nambiar points to milestones in making his case.

There was a double whammy June and July. After losing hundreds of thousands of US jobs in the first half of 2008 and with the rate of inflation at its highest in 17 years in June, the July IndyMac failure and Fannie and Freddie bailout underscored the enormity of the 2007 mortgage crisis, the full effects of which likely not yet have been felt.

With some reports that more than a million US citizens have been foreclosed upon.

In late February, Nouriel Roubini, in a written testimony to the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee, claimed that the US economy was at risk of a systemic financial meltdown. Roubini, a professor at the Stern School of Business, New York University, presented eight reasons why he thought a financial meltdown could not be avoided.

Structurally, the US economy has not been on solid ground for some time now. Its budget deficit has been rising, and now amounts to about US$357bil. It has a current account deficit of about 5.5% of gross domestic product, which declined from a deficit that stood at about 7%, a few years ago.

By many accounts worst is not over for the US economy. In addition to falling consumer confidence, high inflation, and reduced demand from firms, the US dollar is expected to drop further. The dollar, which has already dropped by 21% against the currencies of its major trading partners, is expected to drop further, reducing the purchasing capacity of Americans.

And with 60% of the economy reliant upon consumer purchase, that spells real trouble.

The result of all of this, according to Nambiar, is the likelihood that Malaysia will impose increasing interest rates in an attempt to stave off inflation in response to developments in the US, and thereby subsequently hamstring domestic investment.