VOA常速英语2007年-Malaysia Crackdown Targets Political Opponents

By Luis Ramirez
Bangkok
11 December 2007

Police in Malaysia have arrested more than 20 opposition¹ activists² as the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi clamps down on growing dissent³ in the country. VOA's Luis Ramirez has more from our Southeast Asia bureau in Bangkok.

Witnesses in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, say police on Tuesday blocked and arrested the activists, who were trying to march to the parliament. They wanted to hand over a memorandum⁴ protesting plans to extend the term of the head of Malaysia's election commission.

Separately, authorities at the Kuala Lumpur airport briefly⁵ detained Anwar Ibrahim - one the country's prominent opposition leaders - on his return from Turkey. Authorities gave no reason for holding Anwar, but reports quoted officers as saying he had been placed on a police watch list.

The arrests and detentions⁶ Tuesday are the latest events in what critics say is the government's growing crackdown on dissent in the country. Malaysia in recent months has seen an unusually high number of protests over corruption⁷, rising food and fuel prices, and ethnic⁸ marginalization.

Activists say the police are - more than ever - invoking⁹ Malaysia's laws banning assembly of more than four people without a permit. William Leong, a lawyer for Anwar and other activists, says the crackdown is in response to growing unrest in the country.

"There is growing frustration," he said. "There have been many issues that have been raised lately. Issues relating to the economy, issues relating to corruption, issues relating to poverty, and there has been a total lack of ability to express the unhappiness [of ] the people."

Many Malaysians are expressing anger over rising prices of fuel, highway tolls¹⁰, and food, as well as a growing crime rate, and corruption, which activists say has worsened since Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took office in 2003. Leong says disillusionment is spreading.

"This is really a very sad state of affairs because this country gave overwhelming support to the present prime minister, Abdullah Badawi. He came in on a platform of anti-corruption but what we have seen is really the opposite and that is a cause for concern," said Leong.

Some activists have been pushing for Mr. Abdullah to call early elections, perhaps in the coming year. The next poll is currently due in 2009.

Malaysia prides itself for its sustained economic growth and decades of relative harmony among its Malay, Chinese and Indian communities. Some of the recent protests, however, have seen Indians taking to the streets to protest what they say is a lack of business and educational opportunities, as well as oppression of Hindu Indians by the Malay majority, which is mostly Muslim.

Police last month used water cannon¹¹ and tear gas to disperse¹² thousands of ethnic Indian demonstrators who gathered for a rally in the capital.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

4 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

10 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

11 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

12 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。