Anwar is formidable in jail but a joke when a free man
And Mahathir knew this would happen. The only way to weaken Anwar is to release him from jail. In jail, Anwar is a formidable opponent. As a free man, Anwar is a joke and a comedy of errors. All the greatest blunders the opposition made were when Anwar was a free man and was leading the opposition.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
It was quite a surprise that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad broke the law when he released Anwar Ibrahim from jail in 2018. No doubt Anwar was granted a pardon, but the proper process was not followed in the granting of this pardon. For all intents and purposes, Anwar’s pardon is illegal.
Dr Mahathir, being the wily old fox, knew what he was doing. The ‘illegal’ pardon was a ‘fallback’ in case he needed to pull back the pardon on grounds it did not follow the proper process. Mahathir could get Anwar’s pardon declared null and void and then send him back to jail.
More importantly, why did Mahathir take the risk of pardoning Anwar and release him from jail? This is like the story of the scorpion and the frog. However you may help Anwar, in the end he will sting you. Malaysia’s streets are littered with Anwar’s victims of betrayal the last 50 years since the early 1970s.
Ask yourself, who from Anwar’s inner circle from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are still around him today? They have all either been killed off, or they have drifted away in disgust. Some say Anwar has changed since the 1970s and 1980s. Those close to him say Anwar never changed. He is still the same Anwar. The only thing is, he is clever at hiding the real Anwar.
The height of Anwar’s political career was when he was in jail. Even his enemies (such as me) rallied behind him during the Reformasi movement days. But when he was released from jail in 2004, most of us drifted away and abandoned him. In fact, in 2006, we even supported Mahathir since he opposed the Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (a.k.a. Pak Lah) government — while Anwar tried to use Pak Lah to return to Umno (which means abandoning PKR and the opposition).
We realised in 2004 that all Anwar wanted was to return to Umno. Pak Lah and Khairy Jamaluddin tried their best to bring Anwar back to Umno. But Umno’s Supreme Council was controlled by Mahathir, not Pak Lah. So Mahathir used the Umno Supreme Council to block Anwar’s return to Umno.
In 1998, Anwar went to jail. In 2004, he was released. In 2015, Anwar went to jail again. In 2018, he was released again.
From 2004 to 2015, the opposition under Anwar was in a mess. Only when Anwar went back to jail did the opposition become more organised and became stronger. When Anwar was removed from the scene in 2015, Mahathir took over as the de facto opposition leader — and in 2018 the opposition swept into power.
When Anwar was released from jail in 2018, the opposition became chaotic again.
And Mahathir knew this would happen. The only way to weaken Anwar is to release him from jail. In jail, Anwar is a formidable opponent. As a free man, Anwar is a joke and a comedy of errors. All the greatest blunders the opposition made were when Anwar was a free man and was leading the opposition.
Pakatan Harapan won the 2018 general election because Mahathir was in charge. If Anwar was not in jail and had led the opposition in the 2018 general election, Umno-Barisan Nasional would not have been ousted. Now that Anwar is back in charge, Pakatan Harapan would not be able to win GE15 next year.
