What has Anwar achieved in 40 years?
Yes, a million-dollar question. Anwar was in the Youth Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Education Ministry and Finance Ministry. What reforms did Anwar introduce in those 16 years in all the Ministries he had headed? The answer is nada, zilch, zero, kosong! Anwar was an underachiever. He had no revolutionary ideas. He did not introduce any reforms. And if he had succeeded in ousting Mahathir in 1998 and had taken over as Prime Minister, only God knows what would have happened to Malaysia.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I remember Anwar Ibrahim as the boy who back in 1964 used to insult my mother. Well, he did not insult my mother on a personal level but while in College (MCKK or the Malay College Kuala Kangsar) he used to hit out at the ‘evil’ British colonialists. But then, at that time, Malaya had already been Merdeka for seven years and, in fact, Malaysia had already been created (I had witnessed the proclamation of Merdeka and had watched the fireworks display at the Lake Gardens).
My mother did have her reservations about Merdeka. This was probably because she personally knew all the founding fathers of the independent Malay who had schooled in England, as my father had, so she knew that most of them were playful playboys who were more interested in having fun than serving the rakyat. In fact, most of the founding fathers of Malaya were from the elite class until Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came along a decade later followed by Anwar Ibrahim another decade after that.
I hated Anwar the anti-British Malay nationalist back in the 1960s while in school
So, Anwar was really not my favourite schoolmate back in 1963-1965. The fact that I did not speak Malay fluently made my life in College even worse because everyone else was from a Malay background. So, I was labelled a ‘Melayu Celup’ and had to suffer being called that in my three years stay in school. Finally, I left halfway through form three and transferred to the Victoria Institution (VI) where I no longer had to suffer insults from the anti-British Malay ‘nationalists’ like Anwar Ibrahim and his ilk.
It would be around 20 years later before I met up with Anwar again when he challenged Suhaimi Kamaruddin for the Umno Youth leadership.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about Anwar’s career after leaving school and while in the University of Malaya:
From 1968 to 1971, as a student, Anwar was the president of National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students. Around the same time, he was also the president of University of Malaya Malay Language Society (Persatuan Bahasa Melayu Universiti Malaya or PBMUM). In 1971, he was a member of the pro tem committee of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) or Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia which he co-founded. At the same time, he was elected as the second President of the Malaysian Youth Council or Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM).
Anwar never did anything great in his 16 years in government
As you can see, Anwar was a Malay nationalist, Malay language activist, and Muslim activist all through his years until he joined Umno in 1982. Anwar campaigned against the use of English and wanted Malaysia to use just Bahasa Melayu. These activists went all over town painting out the English signboards with red paint. Anwar wanted nothing to do with anything not Malay or Islam.
In 1974, Anwar alleged that farmers were dying of starvation in Baling, an allegation which the government denied, and he organised anti-government demonstrations. For being a threat to national security, Anwar was detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for almost two years.
In 1981, Mahathir took over as the new Umno President cum Prime Minister and the following year Anwar abandoned his cause and joined Umno — the excuse he gave was Umno was rotten so he needed to join Umno to change Umno from the inside. The truth is, back in 1982 Anwar already lusted after the post of Prime Minister and he wanted to ride on the back of Mahathir to become Prime Minister.
Anwar turned from being a Malay nationalist-Islamist to pro-America to get American support through the IMF to oust Mahathir and take over as Prime Minister
In 1984, Anwar ousted Suhaimi and took over as the new Umno Youth Leader, campaigning on the platform that Umno Youth in the old days of Syed Jaafar Albar and Harun Idris was a party within a party but since then had ceased to be a pressure-group to Umno. Anwar wanted to restore the Umno Youth movement to what it used to be and fight for Malay rights, the Malay language and Islam.
As what Ustaz Fadzil Muhammad Noor had predicted, it was not Anwar who changed Umno but Umno that changed Anwar. Anwar became just another Umno slime-ball who used money and patronage to get ahead in his climb up the ladder to the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. As what Mahathir said, it was Anwar who introduced the culture of ‘money-politics’ into Umno, a nicer term for bribery, corruption and vote-buying.
Ustaz Fadzil Noor predicted that Anwar will not be able to change Umno but Umno will change Anwar instead
According to Mahathir, Anwar ruined Umno and money became the new perjuangan for the party. Anwar, on the other hand, accuse Mahathir of the same thing. So maybe they were both doing it.
But what is more crucial is Anwar’s performance and track record over 16 years from 1982 to 1998. We know what Mahathir achieved in 22 years as Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003. What did Anwar achieve in 16 years before he was kicked out from Umno and jailed for six years?
Yes, a million-dollar question. Anwar was in the Youth Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Education Ministry and Finance Ministry. What reforms did Anwar introduce in those 16 years in all the Ministries he had headed? The answer is nada, zilch, zero, kosong! Anwar was an underachiever. He had no revolutionary ideas. He did not introduce any reforms. And if he had succeeded in ousting Mahathir in 1998 and had taken over as Prime Minister, only God knows what would have happened to Malaysia.
