Anwar’s View of Obama’s Win

Malaysia said Wednesday that Barack Obama's victory could mean less use of American force in solving world conflicts, and more respect for smaller nations.
"Malaysia... hopes Obama's government will be more sensitive to the sovereignty of smaller nations and will not use force in resolving global conflicts," Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said in a statement.
"Obama's victory is seen as bringing change and hope to the world," he added.
"Malaysia welcomes him as the new light in the struggle for democracy. As America's first black president his victory has shown that Americans can accept a leader regardless of colour, religion or beliefs."
Rais said that Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation, hoped the new administration would also pay greater attention to developing countries as well as to humanitarian and developmental issues.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy premier who was strongly backed by the United States after being sacked and jailed in 1998, said Obama would boost prospects for engagement between the US and Muslim countries.
"Some of the most contentious issues of our time, including the ongoing conflicts and confrontations in the Middle East, require a commitment to diplomacy, a willingness to engage in a meaningful dialogue and a departure from the aggressive unilateralism witnessed in recent years," he said.
"In this we anticipate that president-elect Obama will show leadership where previous administrations have failed."
Malaysia has been a long-term critic of the US intervention in Iraq, with former premier Mahathir Mohamad branding incumbent US President George Bush a "war criminal". -- Agence France-Presse - 11/5/2008 9:20 AM GMT


Anwar congratulates Obama, says we can learn from America
By Debra Chong and Shannon Teoh, m/insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 – Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim called Barack Obama's victory in the US elections a "phenomenon."
"I know it is not easy to say anything positive about America, at least not in Malaysia, particularly not the way the media has been portraying me," he said, referring to allegations that he is a stooge of the American government.
"But his strength – unlike Bush – is that he is prepared to engage. And this is very critical for the US," Anwar continued.
He was referring to outgoing US President George Bush's famous "You are either with us or against us" catchphrase.
"But this is a very healthy and welcome trend ... that you have a black and minority leading as an American and not as a black person. We should learn from this," he said at a press conference in Parliament today.
Anwar, however, added a caveat that he did not necessarily share the same foreign policy prescriptions as Obama.
"In fact, some of his views regarding the Middle East conflict are quite disturbing," the former Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
He also told reporters that he had written a congratulatory note to Obama and called on him to "act on the need to immediately engage with all quarters and to try first to withdraw from Iraq."
"I've great admiration for him personally. I believe Barack, at least, represents change in the US. He represents the face that is willing to engage and have a meaningful dialogue and serious conversations with various groups," he said.
"I have been in touch with him and I am really pleased that he and Senator Biden won."
Joe Biden was Obama's running mate and now America's new Vice President.

[From The Time] Anwar’s View of Obama’s Win: Greater Expectations

What seemed audacious and improbable before is now a reality. In Obama’s victory are sown the seeds of great expectations that a truly new chapter will be written in the history of the world.

Muslim nations will have cause to celebrate this triumph; it offers prospects for genuine dialogue and engagement and should witness the politics of diplomacy supplant the politics of war and the theology of terror. Other nations traditionally at loggerheads with America may find reason to reciprocate to a more balanced approach.

—By Anwar Ibrahim
Former Deputy Prime Minister

His full PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tahniah Kepada Perubahan!

'Obama wins,' pronounce Indonesian sixth-graders

Students at US presidential candidate Barack Obama's old primary school in Indonesia were prematurely celebrating his election win Wednesday, and looking forward to his first presidential visit.

"Obama wins! McCain loses!" chanted the crows of about 250 excited children at the Menteng One primary school in the affluent central Jakarta suburb of Menteng, as they watched coverage on local television.

Deputy principal Akahmad Solikhin won rapturous applause when he announced to the children that Obama would be visiting them soon. "If Obama wins he'll visit our school," he said.

The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama was raised in Hawaii and moved to Indonesia when he was six after his divorced mother remarried an Indonesian.

He went to school in Menteng in the late 1960s, and in his memoirs recalled his time here as the "bounty of a young man's life."

Solikhin said that with the Democrat senator appearing set to become the first black US president and the most powerful man in the world, he was having a powerful new influence on his old school on the other side of the planet.

"We're using Obama as a tool to motivate the students to be successful.

There is an emotional connection between the students and Obama," he said, adding that enrollments had increased 5.0-10 percent over last year.

Sixth-grader Farhan Ashardi, 11, said he now believed he could be president of Indonesia one day.

"If Obama can do it so can I," he said.

But fifth-grader Aisya Nadine said she had no plans to become president of Indonesia, itself a rowdy democracy of 234 million people.

"It's hard to become president in Indonesia, there's a lot of corruption here, it's hard to control," she said. – Agence France-Presse - 11/5/2008 3:30 AM GMT

Ex-classmates in Indonesia applaud 'Barry' Obama

The name is Bond -- Barack Bond

White House hopeful Barack Obama would make a great James Bond, says Bond actor Daniel Craig. And John McCain could be grumpy spymaster M.

Asked who most resembled the fictional British spy hero -- Democrat Obama or his Republican opponent McCain -- Craig told Parade magazine Wednesday:

"Obama would be the better Bond because, if he's true to his word, he'd be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them."

Craig, who plays 007 in the upcoming "Quantum of Solace," said McCain, 72, was better suited to playing Bond's elderly, often testy boss M, currently played by British actress Judi Dench.

"There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain," Craig said.

But 007 refused to reveal one top secret: which of the candidates' wives he thinks would make better Bond girl material.

"That's much too dangerous a question," he told Parade. --- msn/Agence France-Presse - 10/22/2008 8:03 PM GMT

Clinton Victories Ensure Democratic Presidential Race Will Go On

Democrat Hillary Clinton pumped new life into her presidential campaign Tuesday with decisive primary wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Rival Barack Obama continues to lead in the delegate count, but Clinton's victories mean that the battle for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination will go on for weeks, if not months. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington.

Hillary Clinton told U.S. television networks that her three victories Tuesday back up her claim that experience makes her the stronger Democratic candidate for president.

"Voters are finally focused on who they think would be the best commander in chief and who would be the best president to turn this economy around," said Clinton.

Clinton appeared on NBC's Today program, as did rival Barack Obama.

Obama won only one of the four primary contests on Tuesday, finishing first in Vermont.

Despite Clinton's victories, Obama noted that he maintains his lead in delegates and remains on track to win the party nomination.

"The bottom line is that we are in a very strong position," said Obama. "Senator Clinton barely dented the delegate count Tuesday. We are going on to Mississippi and Wyoming where we feel confident that we can do well, and this process is ultimately going to be about who has got the most delegates and we think we will be in that position. MORE HERE

Clinton Races to Primary

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton argued Sunday that her campaign for the White House is "about solutions," not feelings, as she swept through Ohio on an intense push two days before the state's presidential primary.

She told more than 2,000 cheering backers that she wants to solve the economic troubles facing the industrial Midwest.

"For some people this election is about how you feel, it's about speeches," Clinton said. "Well, that's not what it's about for me. It's about solutions."

The former first lady opened an Ohio campaign marathon, sweeping across the state on a series of appearances lasting until the wee hours of Monday. Her first stop, in suburban Columbus, was aimed at firing up canvassers who were manning phone banks and knocking doors for her.

"Ohio is once again the center of attention, for a reason," Clinton said. "It truly does represent America, the hopes and aspirations, the challenges and opportunities, they are all right here in Ohio. It is a picture of America."

Clinton has lost the last 11 nominating contests to rival Barack Obama and was looking to primaries in Ohio and Texas for a campaign boost. Those states, and Rhode Island and Vermont, vote Tuesday. Polls show tight contests in Texas and Ohio.

"The last days leading up until Tuesday are ones where we really need you," Clinton told cheering supporters. -- MORE HERE

Obama rides wave into Texas

Clinton viewed as underdog in state

AUSTIN, Texas - Barack Obama stood on a stage under smoky blue lights, the pink granite dome of the Texas capitol looming behind him, amid memorials to Texas rangers, Alamo martyrs, and even heroic Confederates.

He looked out at streets packed with thousands of young people in Texas Longhorns sweatshirts, some carrying small children, and car after car of vendors with Obama memorabilia piled on their hoods, and delivered his familiar lines with a Lone Star flair: "John McCain has tethered himself - or, I'm in Texas - he's lassoed himself to George Bush's policies."

In Texas, where size matters, Obama is mounting what may be the most elaborate primary campaign in any state in history: His ads are ubiquitous on radio and television, his famed online operation is bringing together people in towns way off the normal campaign trail, and his rallies - in dramatic settings, showcasing the rampant enthusiasm of his youthful supporters - are advertisements in themselves, for the pure momentum of his candidacy.

Now, with two days until the voting, Obama has been so successful at building the appearance of momentum that he has reversed the conventional wisdom: What was once considered fertile ground for Hillary Clinton is now assumed to be Obama country. A win in Texas could be Obama's knockout blow - but a loss, amid such heightened expectations, may sting a little more than was assumed a few weeks ago.

"Obama is running a movement campaign, sweeping new people in," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. "She's running a traditional campaign of appealing to Democratic constituencies."

"All is not right in Clintonland," added Bruce Buchanan, political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. – MORE HERE

US Election 2008: Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama

True support combines with stop-Clinton sentiment in next week’s primary - One of Sen. Barack Obama’s surest applause lines comes about halfway into his standard stump speech. It goes like this: “They whisper to me. They say, ‘Barack, I’m a Republican, but I support you.’ And I say, ‘Thank you. Why are we whispering?’” If the latest polling data are to be believed, those Republicans aren’t whispering in TX, where 195 of the 228 delegates the state will send to the Democratic National Convention will be chosen in a primary and caucuses Tuesday. As many as a tenth of the Texans voting in the Democratic contests could be Republicans, and overwhelmingly they favor Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, the polls show. “I ran for Republican precinct chair. I went to the Republican state convention,” said one of them, Donald Rau of Austin, who has already voted in early balloting. “In this election, I voted for Barack Obama.” -- MORE