I can’t say I am surprised. He joins the ‘illustrious’ ranks of US-backed dictators such as Suharto, the Shah of Iran, and Marcos, who enjoyed fabulous wealth while their people suffered from poverty and repression. That’s also what happens when the political elite mix business with politics and engage in lots of corporate wheeling and dealing.
Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian report:
President Hosni Mubarak’s family fortune could be as much as $70bn (£43.5bn) according to analysis by Middle East experts, with much of his wealth in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
We know that the United States provides military aid to the Mubarak regime. But where does much of the money actually end up (leaving aside the ‘commissions’)?
… Mostly to U.S. corporations. I asked William Hartung of the New America Foundation to explain:
“It’s a form of corporate welfare for companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, because it goes to Egypt, then it comes back for F-16 aircraft, for M-1 tanks, for aircraft engines, for all kinds of missiles, for guns, for tear-gas canisters [from] a company called Combined Systems International, which actually has its name on the side of the canisters that have been found on the streets there.”
A rare video report from the ground looking at how pro-democracy activists defended Tahrir Square – at a terrible cost, several killed and over 5,000 injured – after coming under waves of attack from pro-Mubarak thugs.
On this ‘Day of Departure’ protests, some three thousand people have gathered in KL calling for Mubarak’s ouster. They join protesters gathering across the world.
Watch Aljazeera’s live streaming of the’ Day of Departure’ from Cairo. (Why is Astro’s screening of Aljazeera’s ‘live coverage’ a few minutes behind Aljazeera’s live coverage over the Internet?)
Photo by Khalid Samad's stream Twitter photo by FaizFazil Twitter photo by FaizFazil Protest in KL on the 'Day of Departure' - Photo via tweet from pmnicol
1616: Eight people are believed to have been arrested. Those arrested are in police trucks outside the PNB building.
1556: Protesters have dispersed from the Tabung Haji building area, as police linger on. Meanwhile, Latheefa tweets: “They tried to arrest Fadiah who went to inquire about the arrests! – shouting at her ‘budak baru! very prof indeed!'”
1551: A least four protesters have been arrested, reports my contact.
1546: Police fired water cannon briefly to disperse the protesters, reports a contact. About a hundred people are still around the Tabung Haji building area. My contact says he saw police taking one of the protesters away, and he believes there could be a few arrested.
1538: Police are spraying stuff on the demonstrators. They look poised to make arrests, reports a contact.
1532: According to a tweet from Latheefa Koya citing her source Fadiah, police have arrested some people including an old man. They are being brought to IPD Dang Wangi.
1522: A contact at the scene reports that the turnout was in the region of 3,000 to 5,000. Riot police blocked the road leading to the US Embassy, leading to some commotion. Some teargas was sprayed (but not fired using tear gas cannisters.) By 3.20pm, the protest was drawing to a close after demonstrators were pressured to disperse.
1453: Riot police have taken up positions about 50 metres away from the US embassy.
1440: The crowd has reached 2,000 people, according to a tweet.
1427: Some 500 people have gathered in front of the Tabung Haji building in KL. Several hundred more, carrying banners, have just arrived from KLCC. A contact at the scene reports that the crowd has reached a thousand. They might be heading for the US Embassy.
About a hundred police personnel are already at the scene as sirens wail.
After what’s been happening in Egypt, I thought I would draft a memo to dictators and authoritarian leaders around the world to give them some free and unsolicited advice.
Inspiring photo of the day: Egyptian Christians protecting fellow Muslim protesters who were praying at Tahrir Square earlier today - Photo credit: ShawkattRaghib via twitter
Dear Mr Dictator/Authoritarian Leader
Recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere must be giving you sleepless nights or making you feel terribly uneasy.
May I offer a few tips so that you don’t see similar eruptions in your own countries:
Do not suppress dissent
Allow your people sufficient avenues and outlets to express their frustrations, anger, complaints and criticism. You don’t want their anger and frustration to be pent up. Think of these avenues as built-in safety valves. In this respect, free media and a functioning Parliament have a big role to play. Don’t forget to free up the state-run media as well. Get rid of all repressive laws, especially detention without trial, and bring back democracy quickly before it’s too late. Liberate your people!
A “life-threatening” cyclone is expected to hit the coast of Northern Queensland, Australia at around 10.00pm. It comes in the wake of devastating floods which swamped large parts of Queensland recently.
Meanwhile, a colossal winter storm has struck the United States. It is expected to affect a third of the population. And over here in Malaysia, we have floods in the south of the peninsula. Climate change? sign of the times?
Many of us now know that Malaysia has lost RM889 billion in terms of illicit financial outflows from 2000 to 2008. But how much was the per capita average annual illicit outflow when compared to per capita GDP?
Most shocking of all, the illicit outflow from Malaysia cost the rakyat 17 per cent of per capita GDP, but less than 1 per cent in Egypt and Tunisia. In other words, that outflow could have potentially added up to 17 per cent of GDP, or made available up to US$1,200 for the betterment of every man, woman and child in the country, including non-citizens.
By now, we are gradually becoming familiar with the poverty, unemployment (especially among youth) and income inequality in Egypt that seems to be fuelling the protests. But what is less well known is that Egypt, like Tunisia, had only recently been viewed as an ‘economic miracle’ after it wholeheartedly pursued standard IMF/World Bank ideas.
(Follow the ‘one million-strong’ gathering in Cairo ‘live’ over Aljazeerahere.)
It’s funny that Hillary Clinton now says that Egypt has to”‘reform”. Only in August 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt had become Washington’s economic favourite. And last year, the World Bank, in its ‘Doing Business 2010’ report gushingly (and embarrassingly) applauded Colombia and Egypt as the “top global reformers in four of the past seven years”. I kid you not. How wrong can you get? Unless they meant reforms to profit a small minority of the business elite.
Such IMF/World Bank ‘structural adjustment’ policies include privatisation, subsidy cuts, market ‘liberalisation’ and deregulation. Sound familiar?
Although many welcomed the Penang state government’s decision to enact a Freedom of Information Act, the release of a draft Bill has made a mockery of the people’s aspirations for more transparency and accountability.
Have a look at Sarajun Hoda’s analysis of the draft Bill on Aliran here:
The FOI Bill is surrounded by a million reasons stipulating why information ‘may’ not be given. Instead of asserting the opening up of access to information, it only speaks about conditions for not divulging information and even more excuses for impeding access. It finally sounds just as haughty, opaque and obfuscating as the Selangor Bill.