The ballad of Anwar and Azmin; ’tis better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all!

Umar Mukhtar

The drama between PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli and his deputy president Azmin Ali is symptomatic of the sickening non-alignment of PKR top leaders as a result of KETUM Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration. After all, if everything is fine and dandy among the top leadership, who needs Anwar? Anwar is trying hard to stay relevant by rocking the boat and pretending that he holds the cork (pun intended) to plug the leak that he himself is constantly creating.

Sure, there’s corruption of all forms in the state secretariat in Shah Alam. It always has. It is the seat of government, for heaven’s sake! Otherwise, why would politicians break their asses trying to be its tenants? There’s money to be made. The only difference is how much is spared for the people’s welfare compared to what they keep. No politician here does things for the love of god. Otherwise, he’s a stupid Malaysian politician, because god doesn’t vote.

Some take money, some take in kind. In Rafizi’s script, they demand sexual favours instead. Bottom line, it’s corruption that makes it worthwhile to run governments. And because it is omnipresent, anyone can take a wild shot alleging corruption and it will hit someone there for sure. So Anwar was right in using corruption as his excuse for being ‘kaypoh’ from inside the jail. He also had done that to ex-MB Khalid Ibrahim. It seems that sodomy is not his thing.

So Azmin is a bad MB deserving to be removed? If MACC finds that he is directly involved, or corruption is so rampant that if he did not know about it would mean he was sleeping on the job, Azmin should go. But is that the case? Or is it the normal drama queen stuff to attract publicity? Already the way the news was broken has somebody’s DNA all over it. So our attention now is on penny and dime stuff while the billion-ringgit 1MDB mystery remains unsolved.

Cikgu Bard, the ‘tukang karut’, probably under several payrolls, will scream his monologue to complement this sensational news, which he never did about 1MDB, while waiting for his disciplinary hearing, which will never come if someone has his way. Other minnows will say their bit as if to indicate on which side of the fence he or she is on. Meanwhile, the business of governance is neglected while the party is breathless awaiting cues from the jailbird.

So the proxy war goes on to fill up the boring lonely hours spent in the cell. We can understand that but what is not obvious is why these weaklings on the outside are compelled to play this worthless game. You will find that most owe their political careers to Anwar. It was a deliberate choice of Anwar that those who need him were chosen for tasks beyond their worth. And they are now lost without their KETUM and will do anything for his release.

Pathetic is an understatement. It is almost sad when an unactualised man goes the way Anwar does. The party is not going anywhere and that suits him fine. Imagine PKR in the hands of anybody not of his family. So meanwhile, fight among yourselves, PKR, and believe that only Anwar can solve the problems that are actually of his own making. Otherwise, what will greet Anwar when he is eventually released? His desperation is heart wrenching. But he did it to himself.

Meanwhile, what is to become of the party that came about to reform our silly excesses in politics? That seem the furthest thing from Anwar’s mind. It is his release that matters most. He made a slip when he initially agreed to support Mahathir’s document but withdrew the next day when it did not include his release. Because, to Anwar, it is his release that reform is all about. And how dare Azmin ignore his protestations? It is not Azmin’s party but Anwar’s.

Azmin is apparently cool about things. That’s because he is MB and is not carrying a Japanese fan around. But with the so-called challenges brought forth by PAS and DAP, his days as MB may be numbered. So Azmin will be forced to do something and it is characteristic of him that he may just kiss Anwar’s hands through the bars like a dutiful prodigal son yet keep his dagger in place for the next ‘sandiwara’ to unfold. Hopefully it is not x-rated.