Anwar lends advice to United States

By Gina Fazio

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim offered the United States some advice on dealing with the Muslim community. He asks the United States to recognize the achievements Islamic nation have made recently like Indonesia and Turkey though he surprisingly did not include Malaysia in these achievements.

Anwar urged the West to think carefully about the Muslim community, saying "I pray, I fast, I don't drink... am I a fundamentalist? I don't know."

Anwar also said that the West should respect the rulings of Shariah courts. However, he personally believes that these ruling should not be tolerated if they curtail human rights and women's rights. This is interesting after recent reports back and forth between Sisters in Islam and the Youth Party. Although Anwar's comments are not in direct correlation with anything happening in Malaysian and have more to do with speaking to the US about it's actions in the rest of the Islamic nations such as Pakistan or Afghanistan, pne cannot help wondering if he is also adressing Malaysians.