Opposition must move on without Anwar
Nothing can take away his legacy, but the parties in the coalition need to raise credible leaders from their current ranks.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
Anwar Ibrahim has been a mover of Malaysian politics for decades. Rising to power in Umno as an Islamic activist, Anwar ultimately became the Deputy Prime Minister before a sex scandal saw him ousted from office and party. With his imprisonment, the Reformasi movement exploded into a political force that defined the early 2000s. Following his release and clearance from the charges, the same movement carried him to the post of leader of the most significant opposition coalition Malaysia has yet seen.
Unfortunately, a second sex scandal erupted when one of his aides accused him of sodomy. The trial ended with Anwar behind bars once again despite an outcry from the local and international communities, and Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition in which so many placed their hopes, fell apart.
Now, this is not to say that Anwar is primarily to blame for the dissolution of Pakatan, but he certainly did not help. As the DAP and PAS quarrelled, Anwar launched the Kajang Move to pre-empt a power struggle between Azmin Ali and Khalid Ibrahim. It was a move that PAS rejected and it would eventually fail in its objective of propelling Anwar’s wife to the post of Selangor Menteri Besar, not to mention the original objective, which was to give the post to Anwar himself, as many pundits suspected. Instead, Azmin claimed the post he had been lusting for.
Hamstrung by the trial, Anwar neglected his duties as the head of Pakatan, even as the bickering between PAS and DAP threatened the coalition’s integrity.
It would be unfair to say that Anwar should have been in better command. A trial of the magnitude he was facing would demand total attention. However, it is quite unbelievable that a political veteran like him did not have a Plan B in case he was imprisoned. Anwar had to know that at best, he had a 50-50 chance of escaping conviction. Prudence would have told him to set up a interim coalition leader, one who had the tact and political know-how to manage the various egos and agendas in Pakatan. After all, a decade’s worth of work is a terrible thing to lose.
Pakatan became a headless chicken following Anwar’s imprisonment, and with no one to mediate between PAS and DAP, the coalition imploded. Along with it went Anwar’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister. Anwar is 68 years old now. Assuming he is freed after Pakatan hypothetically wins the next GE in 2017/2018, he will be 70. First, the courts must clear him, and then, he may have to wait five more years under Malaysian law to resume political activity, at which point, he will be 75. At best, he may be a two-term Prime Minister, which one supposes is perfectly fine to Anwar himself, unless he intends to hold office till his death.
