Anwar’s true legacy

By admin-s Last updated Oct 30, 2014

His influence amongst Pakatan partners has reached its lowest ebb. Perhaps it is time he gentrifies his legacy to the next generation by stepping back, realising that new politics should no longer be about personalities but about issues.

Ishmael Lim, FMT

If Malaysians were mesmerised by Anwar Ibrahim going head-to-head with the palace over the Selangor MB affair, then they ought to know that the politician-survivor par excellence will today be defending his personal freedom in the highest court in the land. The parliamentary opposition leader is to plead his defence on the Sodomy 2 charge in the hallowed halls of the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya. The Federal Court (FC) is set to review the Court of Appeal’s (COA) conviction ruling, which overturned a High Court acquittal of Anwar.

Anyone who knows Anwar would know that Anwar and politics are inseparable. An affirmation of the COA ruling by the FC would spell death for his political career. His custodial sentence from 1999 till 2004 for Sodomy 1 made Anwar miss the GE12 in 2008 because of a five-year moratorium rule. But he made up for that when Wan Azizah vacated the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat for him four months later in July 2008.

The sodomy charge allows a maximum sentence of 20 years, and if the COA sentence of five years is upheld by the FC, he would still be barred from politics for a further five years upon his release. He would be a wizened 77-year-old by then. The attorney general has made known that he is pressing for the maximum sentence to be meted out. So if this comes to pass, then Anwar could be well past 80 if he should even consider entering the fray again.

One would have imagined that if the first sodomy conviction in 1999 had Al Gore chanting “Reformasi” in synchronicity with the political activism seen on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, a second sodomy conviction against Anwar ought to have drawn an even greater interest from the international community.

Although many renowned overseas individuals and non-governmental organisations have continued to suppport Anwar through statements and letters conveying objection and concern at the apparent political motivation of the charges, the voices of scepticism and disapproval from foreign governments seem less commital this time. Perhaps their embassies have merely noted the less enthusiastic mood of the people for a second Reformasi centred around the same personality.

Even Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson has modified his protestations from that of trumped-up politically motivated charges to that of an argument that decries the use of a law that criminalises something that ought not be a crime in the first place.

Of the things we can directly attribute to Anwar, the most notable must be for his role in forging the Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance. Even when he was behind bars, his prisoner of conscience role as well as his immense charismatic power became a powerful rallying point for the most unlikely of political parties and personalities to come together to form a coalition pact.

And if he should be sent away this time, the already formed coalition might capitalise on his incarceration to reinvigorate themselves with the new generation of young blood armed with the sophistication of new media, live feeds and instant communication. This is after all Anwar’s true legacy, the political awakening of a people content to slumber under the unchanging system of a government which, with every change of a face at the top, has yet to offer anything close to the changes expected by the electorate.

Next echelon

The cohesive factor in PR that was once associated with Anwar’s stewardship must now find its own footing regardless of the outcome of the FC appeal. Anwar being who he is will always expect to be the central figure in the opposition’s challenge for Putrajaya, but the next echelon must make their peace and forge their own cooperation if they are to stay relevant and viable for the electorate. They must find a new figurehead that symbolises this cooperation. It will not be easy, given the fresh bruises from the Selangor MB crisis, but their sense of survival must overtake their tendency to prolong the intra and inter party feuds that characterised the recent crisis.

The PR parties must give up the notion that they cannot survive without the infant pacifier in Anwar. And all the hatchets must be buried.