The Western media is having a field day reporting on the rebellion - that's what it is - in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Baharin, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Iran and Algeria. There are street protests in Greece, Spain, Russia, Bosnia and even China, but Libya hogs the news right now.
Zainal Abidin bin Ali's government (the Malaysian spelling ,I think, makes it more recognizable, just like the name Zainuddin Zidane, the Algerian-French footballer, not Zinadine) in Tunisia fell, as did, after 14 days of street protests in Cairo and Alexandria, Mubarak's in Egypt.
Of course the US President and his State Secretary led the West in quick condemnation of these two former allies, especially Mubarak. Now they turn their wrath on Muammar Qadaffi. Their howls of anger are even joined by black singers Beyonce and Mariah and others. Yes, they are truly singing a different tune now. The songstresses didn't shy away from the million-dollar fees offered before.
Without so much as a pause to take their breath when fuming about the right of free speech and the process of Western-style democracy, these Western leaders have now dumped the very people they had considered allies before. Suddenly they give unconditional support for mob-rule, which is how these street protests must be viewed. Never mind the talk of "proper transition of power" and the "constitutional remedy" that these arm-chair critics utterred in their previous commentaries. If it's good p.r. for the Western civilisation, why the hell not !
I'd like to see the old films on the US campus riots in the 60's, and the Watts and the Martin Luther King early marches. Why is it not good for the geese if it's good for the gender ?
I don't codone the wrongs that Zainal Abidin and Mubarak and Qadaffi have made. The street protests are valid precisely because these Islamic states did not provide for the "syura" that syari'ah provides for in good governance. The syari'ah recognizes the freedom of the people to choose their leaders and remove governments, just like Western-style democracy.
But unlike Western democracy, Syariah says the ultimate authority is God, not the people. And there are injunctions in the Holy Book and the advice of the Sunnah with regard to consultation, dispensation of justice, guarantees on minorities, and obedience to the just leader.
We can see the autocratic republican rule in these beleaguered Arab states, We can see the large disparity in income, the high cost of living, on top of the high unemployment, and the ostentatious life-style of the ruling class against the general poverty of large segments of the people. This is ripe for rebellion. We can almost feel the distress and nervousness of the Saudi King and all his half-brothers, and the King of Jordan, too.
Now suddenly you hear billions being doled out for their peoples, the incalculable petro-dollars that should have been shared long ago. I mean, how much can the princes eat, anyway.
Malaysian leaders can learn a thing or two here. Don't say it won't happen here - stranger things have happened. The billions earned by Petronas and the banks - these should be shared by the rakyat. What good is the money in the banks ,only so the banks can make more money ?
Assisstance should be channeled down, to bring the price of petrol down, to make basic goods available and affordable, to make medical costs low, to make education within means, right up to university, and to create jobs for the trained.
And allow channels for people to speak out.
Fortunately the 5-yearly elections give some respite for this. But more avenues must be opened so people don't go to the streets to speak out. And don't just pretend to listen. Act quickly on the reasonable requests so people now they're heard.
Who's next ? Keep your eyes on China. With a Communist government and a capitalist economy, with vast swathes of rural poverty surrounding pockets of the ultra-modern and expensive metropolis, with huge numbers of rural-urban migrant workers who are under-employed and underpaid, with glaring astronomical riches of a few against the abject poverty of many, with widespread reports of corruption in high places, and with a steel grip on public expression, the Middle Kingdom seems ripe for the Middle Eastern malady.
The notice on the Chinese opera wall says "Coming Soon"!
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