A petition to the White House website has been created. We need 150 signatures immediately. We need 100,000 signatures by March 15. Please spread this message.
Here is the link to give to peoplehttps://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-release-malaysian-opposition-leader-anwar-ibrahim-prison-top-priority-us-policy-toward-malaysia/fBrTzvBz
From the actions of the Obama administration, it is pretty obvious that it enjoys a good working relationship with Najib. This is clear because when Obama was in KL, he turned down the chance to meet Anwar, presumably at the request of Najib. Then you have the infamous golf game with Najib on Christmas eve. Throw in a 1MDB negotiated tender deal (read NOT open tender) on a 50MW solar power plant in Kedah awarded to a very close associate of Obama, you can more or less guess just how close the two leaders are. In addition to everything else, the White House wants Najib to sign the TPPA, so being friendly to Najib is economically beneficial to American big business interests.
So is petitioning to Obama then a waste of time? The short answer is no.
A petition with 100,000 signatories or more will send a clear signal to Obama that we want a policy change in US-Malaysia relationship. That the relationship must be based on a respect of human rights and democracy first and foremost and then only considerations on trade taking second place.
It may or may not move Obama’s position, but the petition (if big enough) will provide a basis for other American politicians to push Obama to change. Obama have many political foes who will use this petition to shame him to more concrete action. There are also many anti-TPPA American politicians in Senate too. There are afraid that American jobs will be lost upon conclusion of the TPPA. So my advice is that we focus on the petition as a tool, and then let the American politicians themselves sort it out.
A petition is an expression of the rakyat’s position. As long as it is there, it can be used as a tool to foster change. Politicians, be it Obama or his foes will use this tool. How far change can be effected depends on how many signatories the petition have. I hope it can bring dramatic changes but even if this petition results in no more golf games between Obama and Najib, to me, then that is worth it.
It takes 2 minutes to sign the petition. So don’t be so disheartened as to give up. Anwar never gave up on a better Malaysia. We shouldn’t give up on him.