Anwar = Pahlawan Asia? Not quite

Here's what I found in my Y! mail today:

Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:55:49 +0800
From: xxxxxxxxx@bbbbbb.com.my
Subject: Sila Undi Kalau Berminat..........

Time calonkan Anwar sebagai 'Pahlawan Asia'
Thursday, September 30 @ 11:52:51 MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 Sept (Hrkh)- Ketua Pemuda KeADILan, Ezam Mohd Noor menyeru rakyat Malaysia untuk memberi sokongan kepada Dato' Seri Anwar yang dicalonkan sebagai salah seorang 'Pahlawan Asia' oleh sebuah majalah terkemuka, Time Asia.
Anwar adalah salah seorang daripada 20 tokoh-tokoh Asia yang dicalonkan untuk diundi secara online di laman web rasmi majalah tersebut.
Dalam undian yang masih berjalan sekarang, Anwar yang dibebaskan pada 2 September lepas berada di tempat ketiga di belakang tahanan politik Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi dan pejuang kemanusiaan Tibet, Dalai lama.
Setakat berita ini ditulis, Anwar memperolehi 9.7% undi , manakala Suu Kyi memperolehi 46.4% dan Dalai lama 39.5%. Anwar adalah satu-satunya calon dari Malaysia yang menerima pencalonan tersebut.
Sehubungan itu, menurut Ezam, rakyat Malaysia seluruhnya harus berbangga dengan pengiktirafan ini dan mengambil bahagian dalam pengundian yang masih berjalan sekarang.
"Saya menyeru seluruh rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira fahaman politik dan kaum supaya memberi sokongan kepada Anwar dengan meluangkan masa melayari laman tersebut dan mengundi Anwar sebagai tanda sokongan," kata Ezam kepada Harakahdaily.
Pelayar laman web boleh mengundi untuk memilih tokoh masing-masing. Keputusan akan diumumkan pada 4 Oktober 2004. -ER/zs

I got the above email for subscribing to one particular KM e-group, and responding to this message, another member wrote in:

Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 09:13:46 +0800
From: aaaaaaa@yyy.com.my
Subject: Sila Undi Kalau Berminat..........

Tell me, or even list down 3 deliverables during his tenure as DPM what
he has done to Asia or even to Malaysia to deserve this recognition.

Somehow to me that's aptly put. I mean, minus all the charges about sodomy etc, I still don't see him contributing much - frankly speaking the only thing about Anwar that I can remember is his suggestion that we all use sebutan baku for Bahasa Melayu. And I hated it.

Probably I'm just not being the good Malaysian who remembers who did what for the country - *sigh*.

Since the results were supposed to be released yesterday, I layaried Time Asia's website... And here's the list of those nominated in the same category, and the results:

Aung San Suu Kyi Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate
40.4% 37,617 votes
Anwar Ibrahim Former Deputy PM, finally free
35.9% 33,379 votes
Dalai Lama Global spiritual leader
20.3% 18,879 votes
Anuradha Koirala Saving those sold into prostitution and slavery
0.5% 482 votes
Yang Liwei China's first man in space
0.5% 482 votes
Narayana Murthy Infosys founder, IT entrepreneur
0.4% 373 votes
Corazon Aquino Post-Marcos savior
0.3% 266 votes
Liu Xiang Track star and Olympic medalist
0.3% 264 votes
Manmohan Singh The unexpected Prime Minister
0.2% 227 votes
Sakie Yokota Working to bring North Korean abductees home
0.2% 173 votes
Kim Dae Jung Political prisoner turned President
0.1% 124 votes
Shaukat Aziz Banker, finance minister and now PM
0.1% 116 votes
Martin Lee Longtime campaigner for democracy
0.1% 98 votes
Chen Chih Hsin & Chu Mu Yen First Olympic Gold Medallists
0.1% 97 votes
Lee Hsien Loong Taking up the reins
0.1% 86 votes
Dat Nguyen The first Vietnamese-American in the NFL
0.1% 84 votes
Liang Congjie Environmentalist and founder, Friends of Nature
0.1% 83 votes
Medha Patkar Fighting to save the Narmada river valley
0.1% 74 votes
Tarun Tejpal Editor of Tehelka.com, investigative journalist
0.1% 67 votes
Wang Shuo "Punk Lit" pioneer
0.1% 49 votes
Total Votes Cast: 93,022
- compiled from www.time.com/time/asia