Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak hold to office is slipping steadily. The week long people’s protest is gaining momentum against his more than two decades of virtual power. The people have suddenly awakened. Even the country’s judges have joined the protest. Mubarak’s entire cabinet has resigned and he has appointed the country’s Intelligence Chief Omar Sulaiman as Vice President, an appointment which hitherto does not exist. A new Prime Minister too has been appointed.
Egypt has a standing army of five hundred thousand. It was reported that more than three hundred thousand soldiers has been deployed to quell the protest, and 150 protestors were reported to have died. Some in the army are said to have ignored orders to deal with the rioters; a scene similar to the protest in Tunisia recently.
Demonstrations in support of the protestors are gaining momentum throughout the world, including Iran and the US. Protests have spread to Alexandria and the famous tourist resort of Sharm El Sheikh. Cairo, especially around Tahrir Square is the center of the people’s protest where thousands remained entrenched. Egyptian air force jet planes have flown low over Tahrir Square to intimidate and scare the protestors, but the protestors remained resolved and resolute in their protest against Mubarak.
Saudi Arabia has pronounced its support for Mubarak, but most western leaders have supported US President Obama’s call to Mubarak that ‘reshuffling of the government is not enough’. Is this Obama’s way of saying that he has had enough of Mubarak, and that it is high time that Mubarak relinquish the Presidency?
The US government and Turkey has advised its citizens residing in Egypt to return home. US and Turkey has send planes into Egypt to extricate its citizens. There are many Malaysians, especially students in studying in Egypt’s renowned universities. What will be the fate of these students? Are they not to be flown out by our RMAF flights?
How long more can Mubarak remain in power? Is this the end of the road for Mubarak? My guess is that two decades of power is enough. Mubarak’s departure is inevitable. He should leave now and follow the route that the Tunisian former President and the Shah of Iran had taken.
I call upon all like-minded Malaysians to take stock of what is happening to Egypt today, and to be conscious of the fact that it is the people that decide the government and the fate of the nation. No government can survive if the people’s faith and trust in them is compromised.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
If only they remember history well why the Shah fell....!
ReplyDeleteMany lessons could be learnt...if they want to..that is if.....the word IF !
Nothing new in world affairs, it is part of the evolutionary process.Greedy kings and leaders get dumped when they failed to meet the expectation of the population.
ReplyDeleteTough call on Ben Ali and Mubarak, they have neglected their responsibility towards their people, so now it is the time of reckoning for them.Like Ban Ali, my prediction Mubarak will also be dumped if the Egyptian Army does not support him.
It looks like going to be interesting case study for Staff Colleges/Defence Universities of the growing power of the military when faced with a new kind of revolution not of arms and bullets, but the kind we are witnessing these days, of street protests, banners and acts of self-immolation.
These days it is spontaneous street revolutions of jobless and hungry citizens and not the kind of ideological revolutions led by Lenin, Mao Tse Tong or Che Guavera in the distant past.
So the ETP to transform Malaysia into a high-income economy is the kind of plan we need to keep the rakyat going.
Dato'
ReplyDeleteHistory has proven that dictators never leave office on their own, they have to be booted out.Hosni Mubarak is just history repeating it self. The so called guardian of Islams most holy place and the dwarf of Jordan are now quivering under his robes,at this turn of events. They could well be in for a kicking next. Once the Juggernaut of people power gets into motion nothing can stop them. Hey! but wait a minute this does not apply to China. There the Juggernaut of government machinery will literally roll you over. Dato' is it the lack of solid people power in China, or is the ruling party just too overwhelmingly powerful that it can quell and crush any dissent in the bud?
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteYes, I do agree that the events in Tunisia, Egypt and most likely Yemen are good case studies for officers attending Staff College and even MPAT.
The result of the case studies will certainly be of help to the government. I hope there are takers to this suggestion.
Sorry Dato', Mubarak has been in power for 3 decades.
ReplyDeleteAbot time he goes...US tacit support not withstanding.
Good luck to people power.
I just hope the blood-letting will stop.
Ironically, with the Muslim Brotherhood movement poised to enter the fray: I fear that there might be more bloodshed!
I suppose the events unfolding in Tunisia and Egypt are making the absolute monarchs in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and maybe Jordan have sleepless nights.
Dear Wira,
ReplyDeleteThanks for correcting me. Yes, Mubarak has been in power for three decades. I must have been asleep or was I thinking of Taib Mahmud?
Why Taib Mahmud?
ReplyDeleteI wonder when that wily Melanau is going to call it quits. Too long in power!
I suppose his new wife is not likely to encourage him to do so, will she?
I'm sure, like Mubarrak, king Abdullah,and the rest of the absolute monarchs still roosting in their hereditary thrones in the Arab states, the CM of Sarawak is also having sleepless nights.
I sure hope in his case it is the young wife rather than the fear of being kicked out from office!
ha,ha,ha