Anwar plays poker while Mahathir plays chess
A leopard never changes its spots, and neither do Mahathir and Anwar. What is going to happen today is the same thing as what happened 20-30 years ago. Anwar will be so near yet so far from the job of Prime Minister. And just when he thought he has his hands on the seat, his grip will fail and he will drift into outer space. Some people are destined for greatness and some for disgrace. Anwar falls into the category of the latter.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Anwar Ibrahim imagines himself as one of Malaysia’s greatest political strategists. The truth, however, is that Anwar is merely a poker player, and not a very good one at that, too, who pretends he has a good hand when in reality his cards are duds.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on the other hand, is not a noisy poker player like Anwar. Mahathir quietly observes and takes notes and plans two or three moves ahead with Plans B and C under his hat in case he needs a fall-back.
Mahathir believes, just like Sun Tzu, that you win the war before the war starts and you defeat the enemy without firing a single shot. Since way back from the 1960s, Mahathir has always been a silent plotter while Anwar is a bull in a china-shop. When Anwar snarls, Mahathir smiles, but Mahathir’s smile is that of a predator about to gorge on his prey.
Poker versus chess
The analogy I would use is Mahathir uses silat while Anwar uses kungfu. Silat is graceful while kungfu is rough. And that is the difference between the two. Mahathir walks silently and carries a big stick wile Anwar jumps and leaps all over the place shouting excitedly.
Anwar forgot he made Finance Minister because Mahathir allowed it and the same when he made Deputy Prime Minister. Anwar tried to gain federal power in 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2013 and each time failed. It was not until 2018 that Anwar succeeded but only because Mahathir wanted it to happen. If not, 2018 would have been Anwar’s fifth failure in a row and his last tango.
Anwar hopes to finally succeed to make Prime Minister by the very latest in May next year — 29 years after what he started in 1991. After becoming Finance Minister in 1991, Anwar launched his plans to take over as Prime Minister by first ousting Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghafar Baba in 1993. In five years, Anwar would be the Prime Minister, or so he thought.
Mahathir did not do anything. In fact, he ‘helped’ Anwar by appointing him the Acting Prime Minister for two months in early 2007. Mahathir did not need to do that. But he did it to ‘test’ Anwar and to see what he would do as Acting Prime Minister, which will reflect what he would do if he ever became Prime Minister.
Anwar then made his moves and this included making Mahathir pay for his crimes once he retires. Anwar also tried to cripple Mahathir but, as usual, in his traditional ‘noisy’ manner.
Anwar tried to get Parliament to change the anti-corruption law so that people can still be punished for their corruption crimes even after they have retired from government. Anwar supported the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plan on how to ride out the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Anwar blocked Petronas’s RM2 billion take-over of Mahathir’s son’s shipping company and finally agreed to only RM1 billion, causing a huge RM1 billion loss for Mahathir’s family.
This was a sample of what would happen, in particular to Mahathir and family, if Anwar ever took over as Prime Minister. Anwar made the mistake of showing his hand too early when he was still just the Acting Prime Minister. He should have waited until he was in the driver’s seat before launching his moves to finish off Mahathir.
Anwar used the IMF as his ‘cover’ when he declared, “There is no question of any bailout. The banks will be allowed to protect themselves and the government will not interfere.” This meant, not only Mahathir’s family, but many of his proxies and cronies would face bankruptcy as well. Anwar’s intention was to wipe out Mahathir’s ‘war-chest’.
The last straw was when Anwar bribed Newsweek to put him on the front cover of the magazine in the 1998 article that named him the “Asian of the Year”. And then, when Anwar visited Washington, he was given a 21-gun salute while Mahathir was merely given a red carpet even though he was number one and Anwar number two.
Incoming PM Anwar got a 21-gun salute in Washington while outgoing PM Mahathir did not
Anwar of 1991, 1993 and 1997-1998 has not changed. He is still up to his monkey tricks while Mahathir is still playing cat-and-mouse with him. Anwar knows he has blundered big time, just like he did more than 20 years ago back in 1997-1998. And he is blaming PAS for this, which is why he launched his crusade against PAS on that RM1.4 million “out-of-court settlement” fairy tale.
A leopard never changes its spots, and neither do Mahathir and Anwar. What is going to happen today is the same thing as what happened 20-30 years ago. Anwar will be so near yet so far from the job of Prime Minister. And just when he thought he has his hands on the seat, his grip will fail and he will drift into outer space. Some people are destined for greatness and some for disgrace. Anwar falls into the category of the latter.
