Yemen pula gelora, 20,000 sertai ‘hari berang’ di ibu negara

February 03, 2011

Presiden Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh berucap di Parlimen semalam menawarkan untuk berundur pada 2013 tetapi terus dibantah oleh pembangkang. – Foto Reuters

SANAA, 3 Feb — Lebih 20,000 rakyat Yemen membanjiri jalan-jalan utama di ibu negara Sanaa hari ini – menamakan himpunan sebagai “hari berang” sambil menuntut perubahan segera dalam kerajaan dan menganggap tawaran Presiden Ali Abdullah Saleh semalam untuk berundur pada 2013 tidak cukup.

Protes di kawasan-kawasan lain di Yemen juga dijangkakan selepas ini – mirip perkembangan di negara utara Afrika, Mesir.

Ali Abdullah juga seperti Presiden Mesir Hosni Mubarak memerintah negara itu lebih tiga dekad.

Hosni berhadapan dengan protes aman, berlarutan sejak 10 hari lalu tetapi bertukar menjadi ganas semalam dan mengorbankan lima orang.

Penyokong-penyokong Ali Abdullah memandu di sekitar ibu negara sambil menggunakan pembesar suara menggesa kumpulan prokerajaan agar turun untuk berhadapan dengan puak berdemonstrasi – suasana yang disaksikan di Mesir sejak semalam.

Bagaimanapun sejak awal pagi tadi, penunjuk perasaan antikerajaan Yemen sudah pun berhimpun dalam jumlah yang besar sejak protes tercetus di negara Semenanjung Arab itu dua minggu lalu – tindakan yang turut didorong oleh protes politik Tunisia.

“Rakyat mahukan perubahan rejim,” laung penunjuk perasaan yang berhimpun di luar Universiti Sanaa di sini.

“Tiada rasuah, tidak kepada pemerintahan diktator,” kata penunjuk-penunjuk perasaan dipetik laporan msnbc hari ini.

Melihat pada pemberontakan yang semakin membara di dunia Arab, Ali Abdullah semalam berkata, beliau akan berundur apabila mandat kepimpinannya berakhir dalam dua tahun lagi.

Beliau juga berjanji anaknya tidak akan mengambil alih jawatan daripada beliau kelak.

“Tiada lanjutan kuasa, tidak diwarisi, tidak akan mengubah kedudukan jam,” kata beliau.

Jurucakap pembangkang Mohammed al-Sabri bagaimanapun telah menolak untuk berunding dengan Ali Abdullah sambil melahirkan kesangsian mengenai tawaran presiden itu.

Mohammed berkata Ali Abdullah pernah membuat janji yang sama pada 2006 tetapi gagal untuk memenuhinya dan bertanding semula.

Ali Abdullah memerintah Yemen sejak 32 tahun lalu.

Ia dilihat sebagai protes terbesar di Yemen, satu lagi negara rakan Amerika Syarikat dalam memerangi rangkaian Al-Qaeda.

Wael Mansour, jurucakap penganjur demonstrasi berkata hari ini, rakyat Yemen tidak berpuas hati dengan pengakuan dibuat oleh presiden mereka semalam.

“Hari ini akan ada tekanan yang lebih besar, segar ke atas Presiden Ali Abdullah, yang perlu adakan lebih banyak kompromi dengan pembangkang,” katanya.

Bagaimanapun beliau tidak menjelaskan kemungkinan kompromi yang dimaksudkan.

Yemen merupakan negara paling miskin di dunia Arab dan menjadi syurga rangkaian Al-Qaeda.

Hampir separuh penduduk Yemen tinggal di bawah garis kemiskinan dengan pendapatan RM6 (AS$2) sehari.

Malaysia defends web filter plan

The Malaysian government has defended the establishment of an internet filter, amid criticism it may be used to stifle politicial dissent in the country.

A senior official with the National Security Council (NSC) confirmed reports that the coalition government was considering imposing controls - effectively scrapping a 1996 guarantee that it would not censor the internet.

He told the AFP news agency on Friday: "We need to maintain racial harmony. We cannot have full-blown democracy like in the United States.

"It is to keep out pornographic materials and bloggers who inflame racial sentiments.

"This country must survive."

Hundreds march

He dismissed suggestions the proposal echoed China's aborted "Green Dam" project, aimed at introducing internet filtering software on all new computers sold in the country.

The proposal comes after anti-government protests last week in which nearly 600 people marched on the streets of the capital Kuala Lumpur demanding an end to a controversial security law.

An unnamed source told Reuters news agency: "They [the government] are looking to tweak the technical and legal details of implementing this internet filter, setting the stage for its implementation late this year or next year."

The country's opposition has described the move as a "horror of horrors" that would destroy the relative freedom of the internet in Malaysia, where the mainstream press is tightly controlled.

The memory of deadly racial racial riots in 1969 is still strong in Malaysia, and the need to preserve peace between majority Muslim Malays, and the minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, is commonly invoked by the government.

Tight controls

In July, China indefinitely postponed its controversial plan requiring all computers sold in the country to have specially designed internet filtering software installed.

The Malaysian government had promised in 1996 not to censor the web [AFP]

China said the Green Dam software was designed to block internet pornography and protect children, but the policy drew flak from industry and human rights groups as well as foreign governments.

They said it distorted fair market competition and could be used to tighten Beijing's grip on political dissent.

Malaysia's lively blogosphere has been a thorn in the side of the Barisan Nasional government, which has ruled for more than half-a-century, but was dealt its worst ever results in elections a year ago.

Internet news portals and blogs, which escape tight controls on the mainstream media, were credited as a key element in the swing towards the opposition which heavily used new media to communicate its ideas.

source: ALJAZEERA