Media statement released by
Wee Choo Keong, 04 March 2008
Dr Chandra Muzaffar, a self-proclaimed intellectual and arm-chair critic of BN of yesteryears, suddenly saw it fit to allow himself to be manipulated by the Barang Naik party to cast malicious aspersion against Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to indirectly influence Malaysians not to support the opposition.
This is, for all intent and purpose, an affront to basic freedom and democracy.
For a start, Chandra is just an intellectual fraud. He only pays lip-service to words like freedom and democracy.
In 1998/99 I was sacked from the DAP under strange circumstances and many other DAP leaders throughout the nation resigned from the DAP. At the same time, we were thinking of joining PKR in order to carry on our struggles against injustices, corruptions and abuses of power. During that period, Chandra was the Deputy President of PKR and he, as unreasonable as it was, saw it fit to make a unilateral declaration that all former DAP leaders were banned from joining PKR.
To say the least, this behaviour of his was absolutely bizarre and mind-boggling.
We were extremely shocked and disappointed with Chandra, whom we thought was a real democrat and a great defender of freedom and injustice. After the said infamous declaration of his putting a blanket-ban on former DAP leaders from joining PKR, we knew then that Chandra was merely an arm-chair critic and intellectual fraud when it comes to freedom and democracy.
Whatever Chandra had uttered last night at the forum organised by The Star was not unexpected given his past record. And those utterances should be consigned to the foul-smelling garbage bins much like his mouth at the time surely.
Moreover, Chandran’s vile gibberish of last night was also verbiage and an obvious act of sabotage against the people of this country.
We call upon Chandra to carry on being an arm-chair critic in his academic ‘prison’ and to immediately stop insulting the intelligence of the public.
Chandra would also do well to go back to school to re-learn the basic principles of freedom and democracy.
Mr. Wee,Thanks for the view. Now I am seeing Chandra Muzzafar in different light.
It is true that he is a fraud from day 1. There was no need for him to say what he said unless he has an agenda to help BN. My advice to Chandra please remain as an “Arm Chair” critic. You are just a fraud. You pretend to talk about freedom and yet you prevented other from joining Keadilan in order to help your friend, Lim Kit Siang.Don’t be trick by this fraud.Vote Keadilan.
v=http://www.geocities.com/rakyatbarisan/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/rakyatbarisan/index.html
well said, wee. turncoat for trappings of life, no? let his conscience rule, if there is any left.i dont weep for such spineless individual.
Wangsa Maju-ians, here’s a good one from chanlilian.nethttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvs3GQIq1o4
Just ignore this guy, he’s just making himself look stupid. Wonder how much he got from BN
Obviously the SOB is a hypocrite, a charlatan and a spineless pseudo-academic only this godforsaken Bolehland country can put up with for so long. He epitomised the stark and pathetic realities of our local academia – so much hogwash that fails to stand the scrutiny of time. We can simply write him off as garbage.
Yg Berkhidmat,Firstly, my sympathies over your unfortunate episode with DAP.2ndly you are magnanimous enough to move from BB to Wangsa Maju. Congrats.Chandra was a humanist before he joined politics. Now I don’t know what he is.
Wonder how much he was paid to regurgitate such garbage ???
Got back from work using the LRT. Noticed the PKR flags and your banner coming down the stairs near the station. Its a bit low though, I hope it stays there for some time..as for CM, I guess he made the biggest mistake in his so called political career. He allowed himself to be used as a tool to spread out hatred and ill claims.. he will regret his words
Chandra: A sell outCaptain Yusof AhmedI was quite appalled to read Chandra Muzaffar’s very personal attack against Anwar Ibrahim (read today’s the Star’s report, here and also Aril Mikhail’s letter to Malaysiakini, here) when he said that it will be an “unmitigated disaster” for Malaysia if Anwar becomes prime minister. Since he was a former PKR man himself, it is rather daunting to imagine the sudden wave of disillusionment that must have swept over such a ‘brilliant’ man and cause him to utter such balls.I first met Dr. Chandra Muzaffar (photo) sometime in early 1983. He was then riding high as an academic cum NGO human rights activist and had been invited to speak at an Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) in Kuala Lumpur, which I chaired as founder chairman of the ITF Malaysian Council. I cannot recall what he spoke about, something about union rights I think, but I remember the strike-happy Aussie dockers unions were full of praise of him and wanted cassette tape copies of his speech. I wasn’t very impressed and neither was the late Dr. V. David of the Transport Workers Union, who co-chaired the conference. We believed then that it was easy to be gung-ho and say a lot things when you are not carrying the baby or be responsible for the rights and livelihood of many member workers. Perhaps there is something to be said about the old adage “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach”. So perhaps also Chandra should just stick to teaching and not get involved in politics and the affairs of men.What a sell out, indeed.http://cyusof.blogspot.com/
Chandra criticising Anwar? Aril Mikhail | MalaysiakiniMany years ago in the 1980s, then leader of the Labour Party in England, Denis Healey, was openly criticised for having been a member of an extreme Left political party in his younger days. His simple response was that he also believed in Santa Claus in his younger days. Indeed, all of us – without exception – change as we age and as we learn more about life. Some more so thanothers, of course, but change we certainly do.This, unfortunately, is something that seems to have been lost on Chandra Muzaffar in his widely – almost gleefully – published diatribe against Anwar Ibrahim in the mainstream newspapers today.Like his equally disingenuous friends in the BN coalition who, perhaps unable to counter much of the opposition front’s critiques against the failure of BN rule, Chandra – out of the blue, after having been quiet for so long – suddenly decided to rip into Anwar. ‘He’s singing a different tune now’, asserted Chandra. Anwar ‘Deceiving Malaysians’ claimed another headline attributed to Chandra.The gist of Chandra’s personal attack is that Anwar is saying things now that are the opposite of what he said and did when he was high up in Umno. This, of course, is nothing new and Anwar himself has addressed these criticisms often enough. It’s a trifle ironic that Chandra is ‘coming clean’ and saying all this of Anwar now, when he himself appears to be doing the exact opposite of what he was doing when in Aliran and PKR. Before, he consistently argued against the BN having a two-thirds majority and the need for a strong opposition. Now, on the eve of the elections, he seemingly dismisses the opposition and asserts that, despite its flaws, there is no other viable coalition beyond the BN. How fortuitous. I guess when you’ve been offered a cushy position in a state university for two years, you tend to ‘change’ somewhat. Dear Chandra, selling out is fine. But becoming a willing tool of a corrupt, arrogant and racist regime at this critical juncture devalues, indeed destroys, whatever good work you may have done thus far. May God guide you. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/79148
Aliran founder a true disappointmentAmar | MalaysiakiniFor someone who heralded Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ascendancy to premiership in 2004 by stating something to the effect that it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Malaysians to change leadership, it is sad to note that Chandra Muzaffar now appears deluded by the invidiousness of BN’s 50 years in power.He castigates, in the mainstream papers today, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as being effectively anti non-Malay. The examples he quotes in the report were events that happened way before Anwar lost Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s patronage and interestingly, these were events that took place before Anwar’s reformasi movement commenced. On what basis did Chandra join PKR as deputy president given that he had reservations over Anwar’s past decisions?Does not Chandra, being an eminent political scientist, realise that people do change their opinions and principles as a result of circumstances in life? Has not Mahathir changed his ‘tune’ since leaving office, a tune Malaysians would have loved to hear in his 22 years as prime minister? It is said that no one is a permanent friend or enemy in politics. This is also applicable to a rational electorate where we, as citizens, should be prepared to dump a leader if need be and likewise embrace one when they appear to be talking sense; and Anwar is talking a lot of sense presently. Likewise, does Abdullah command the confidence of right-thinking Malaysians now vis-B-vis 2004?For all that he accuses Anwar of, does Chandra want us to list down the anti non-Malay statements made by current Umno leaders? What alternative does Chandra have in mind? Perhaps another term and a two-thirds majority in the legislature for the BN which has proven itself to be a curse on nation-building?Chandra has single-handedly, at the eleventh hour, thrown the spanner in the works for all Malaysians looking forward to mitigating the injustices of giving the BN a two-thirds majority. Truly disappointing for someone who was the founder of Aliran. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/79146
Chandra: UMNO(BN) PussyfooterTian Chua: BlogWhile I was walking the market this morning, some people stopped me and expressed their disgust with Chandra Mustafa for what he said in the Star report today (March 4).To me, Chandra’s attack on Anwar is nothing new. What he has done was not unexpected. The BN must be very desperately running out of ammunition, even Chandra is now their last cannon.Chandra’s statement failed to harm the opposition or Anwar. Instead his integrity is publicly damaged.I wonder Chandra was always conscious of Anwar’s ‘misdeed’ during his government days? Or this knowledge was an “after-thought” of his post-KeADILan days? If so, who could have imparted such privileged information onto him?Chandra left the party when I was in ISA detention. His departure saddened me (and many party members), as Chandra was one of the persons who had persuaded me persistently to join the party.Initially I was reluctant, my reason was that I preferred to stay as an NGO activist.If Chandra had already known Anwar’s wrongdoings, he shouldn’t have recruited me into the party. He should have told me and warned me of the “danger” of associating with Anwar.The logic of this is simple, either Chandra was dishonest to me at the time of the party foundation, or he is being dishonest now.I wonder if Chandra knew then all Anwar’s flaws and mistakes (when he was in government), why was he so enthusiastically defending Anwar for many years.Despite of his popularity as an NGO advocate, Chandra has behaved like lalang throughout his career. I used to look up to him in my university days. However in 1996 when Malaysian NGOs hosted the controversial “Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor” (APCET II), I was very disappointed when he refused to support the initiative. Worse, he condemned the human rights NGOs for defying Malaysian order and jeopardized our diplomatic relationship with Indonesia.Chandra has just made another transformation, from ‘neutral’ NGO he is now an apologist for UMNO/BN.http://www.tianchua.net/en/2008/03/04/chandra/
Dear YBH,Pliz send this media statement of yours to Malaysiakini as a letter. This week it is free, it will draw big readership. Anyway, no one of us is ready to buy the nonsense of intellectual cheats and oiled stooges of UMNO like Muzaffar. Another samseng purporting to teach us anything. He must be silly and saddening. Sheesh!
Sdr WeeYou are absolutely right. A person like Chandra should know better. But he chose to let himself to be a tool for the BN. Chandra, please tell Malaysians what was your objective in coming out to say such things during this elections period?You are right he is a fraud. He likes to hear his own voice. But he does not understand the basic fundamental right of freedom of association.Now that Chandra had spoken loud and clear, I am sure that he will be well rewarded for doing such a brilliant job! A job well done, Chandra.Lets vote Keadilan for a just society. Vote for Wee in Wangsa Maju.
hi everyone! I was on the LRT this morning, the guy infront of me was reading thesun (which is becoming a nuisance these days)The front page said something like “Chandra: There’s money politics in PKR” and I was like what is he talking about and again he’s just being a nonsense by the BN machinery. I dont know the content but I wouldn’t want to think so much of his writing. He’s just making wild accusations like before…Lets not be dettered by this wheel-chair chap.. It is going to get rougher approaching the polling day
Yesterday PKR, Today BN, tomorrow what? People without a firm stand is un-trustable and lost his mind, better stay in Tanjung Rambutan la.Vote for PKR, DAP & PAS.
wonder how much money CM got for being one of BN’s barking dogs…a barking old dog without teeth….hehehehehehHMK
Dr. Chandra only damages his own credibilityYBH James Wong: BlogThere are many local academics and intellectuals who share positive opinions on Anwar Ibrahim but only Chandra Muzaffar’s bitter attacks against him are highlighted in the mainstream media. I do not think one needs to be very educated formally to understand the reason why the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) does not apply to Chandra Muzaffar whenever he lashes out at the former DPM publicly. According to a retired academic who attended The Star-Asian Centre for Media Forum on the 2008 Malaysian General Election at Menara Star on 3 March (Monday), Chandra Muzaffar has “really succeeded” in damaging or even destroying his own credibility by re-launching “a very bitter and vindictive” attacks on Anwar Ibrahim’s “past records” in the BN government. If Chandra Muzaffar has always known Anwar’s “past records” in BN, why did he not castigate Anwar while he was in power and why he (Chandra) also continued to support Anwar in the period from 1998 to 1999 and also became Parti Keadilan Nasional’s deputy president and its parliamentary candidate in the 1999 general election? Another good Christian friend who also attended the forum opines that whatever his “past records” in the BN government, Anwar has ‘cleansed’ himself by his willingness to suffer grave injustices and tortures from 1998 to 2004, and also by working hard now to oppose BN’s unjust policies. Seen in light, Anwar is definitely a better person than those in the BN who still refuses to make amends for the better. Has Dr. Chandra Muzaafar himself changed for the better or worse ?http://jameswongwingon-online.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-bn-s-media-loves-dr-chandra.html
I WONDER WHY TOU ALL STILL READ GARBAGE FROM THE STAR. TO EVEN RESPOND TO IT IS, LIKE MALAYSIANS WOULD SAY, STUPIDER.
davidyou joining PFT? paper free tuesday and tell this mainstream papers that their propaganda has hit ceiling.as for the so-called intelelctual guy, go sell his wares somewhere else. we can smell it from afar your intentions. enjoy your ill-gotten fruits and like judas, your conscience will ultimately take are of you.by the way, wee dont be surprise that he will throw a curveball suit against you for calling him fraudster. get ready to hit him back, real hard.
The ailing Barisan Neraka is getting another crutch – now in the form of Nallakarupan; spewing another load of b***s***No number of turncoats could help BN turn around anymore – it’s One-Way ticket, bye bye BN
chandra is irrelevant!this election is not about anwar,it’s about moving forward for a better future.it’s actually about us!makku makko jua…
Chandra is a broken record. Lets not even talk about him….an idiot for sure.
There is such thing as negative rebranding. The Candu Movesofar is rebranding himself further down the quality lane. He talked about other countries’ injustice but never touched on his own. He now group with those corrupts to tarnish people’s good work. He going down with the devils.
This is what Marina Yusoff said about Chandra Muzaffar. See how this guy manipulated Keadilan.www.geocites.com/freedom_malaysia/marina.html
We all know he is an intellectual fraud and a real wheel chair critic. Why did he join KeAdilan when he knew about Anwar?He does not know about basic principles of freedom and democracy, how can he called himself an intellectual. Chnadra, how can you banned people from joining PKR when you were its Deputy Presidnet?Chandra has no credibility period. So forget about that b…..d. We need to move on. This election is not about Anwar but the future of our children and the nation.Lets not renegade like Chandra to derail us from fighting for a change for a better future of our country.
I sent a comment why it is not published
Regards everybody,Many of us are not aware that we can change/improve due to age, maturity or experience. Dr Chandra had the excellent opportunity to work, and liaise with Datuk Seri Anwar (DSA)while he was with PKR and there’s no better moments of truth than to know the realities/qualities of someone through such experiential learning over time. DSA is blessed with wonderful rhetoric skills and clever-scheming art to manipulate issues and situations (his one-time neck braces episode is one to quote). Azmin, Ezam and Nalla,(to name a few) through their heart-felt sincerity, I am sure, God willing, are in the best position to come out to shed some light in this saga. Indeed, I feel sorry, we the laymen are being disilushioned by DSA and his entourage. He is ever to grip upon the power of people’s trust whereas in actual fact he is not sincere and hiding magnitude of scheming secrets that would bring the downfall of this country. I pray hard this won’t happen.
Tapi pendapat saya setiap manusia tetap akan buat kesalahan, bukankah setiap manusia boleh diberi peluang untuk membaiki kesalahan, kenapa kesalahan lama perlu diungkitkan
Haha.. u guys must be joking. Anwar is and was corrupt a long time ago. It seems that certain sections of rakyat are trying to leverage on the position oHf anwar and pkr to split votes,causing this so-called political ‘tsunami’. I dont need to tell you who these ppl are, you know who they are. Back to the times of british rule i’d say now.The situation will be remedied soon enough.
WCK,Congratulation on your victory to Wangsa Maju seat!Let me get straight to the point. You have earned the Wangsa Maju mandate does not mean that your predecessor has not done anything for the past 2 terms. This Barisan Rakyat/Alternative team has no record to prove and experience to rule a state and all of you are under microscope of the rakyat and your nemesis. This is all apparent when the PM has publicly made this clear. We are taking a risk in this investment on the alternative choice. I would like to highlight this praising and worshiping propaganda of Anwar Ibrahim has to be stopped. This disgust me to see one to be so highly regarded. Even Dr M is more humble in his image. Just we know that there a lot balls carrier around.In fact, in Islam this is not cordoned.Like I have said earlier, your predecessor has record to prove that earned my respect. I would suggest this BR/BA team that you are in to learn and extend a bridge to your opposition (BN) to work together. This will show that you have a big heart.Regards,I am Wee too.
I wish to congrats you.Just ponder this. You had the edge of winning due to one of the many promises to counter the rising price of commodities. Likewise your mentor also had made the magnificent promise to lower the price of petrol on the 9th of March if ever his party wins. Not that Selangor is under your helm. Can you all do it as time is running out. Please ask him to answer so that laymen like me is not duped. Thank you