Anwar’s game is to make deals with everyone
GE15 is Anwar’s last chance to become prime minister. If he fails to do it this time around, then his career is finished. In GE16, Anwar will be 80 years old, and hence too old to become PM in a country where the average age is 31 years old.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
1. Anwar Ibrahim Refuses To Name Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister
2. Anwar Ibrahim Proposes New Coalition Without DAP
3. Anwar Not Ruling Out Talks With Bersatu
4. Report: Anwar Shrugs Off Links To ‘Big Tent’ Talks But Won’t Stop Allies
Over the last two days, Anwar Ibrahim has been sending mixed signals to Malaysians (SEE NEWS LINKS ABOVE). The truth is, Anwar is “testing the market” to see what he can get away with, and how far he can get away with it.
Anwar knows he cannot get Umno, Bersatu, DAP, PAS, Amanah, and PKR to agree to all come under the same “big tent”. So Anwar is using a new approach. He will not try to get Umno, Bersatu, DAP, PAS, Amanah, and PKR to agree to all come under the same “big tent”. He will instead get SOME OF THE PEOPLE from Umno, Bersatu, DAP, PAS, Amanah, and PKR to leave their parties and come under his proposed “big tent”.
This is actually a brilliant strategy, if it can work. And only Anwar can think of something like this. The only question is: should that happen now, before GE15, or after GE15 and when the results are already known.
A couple of days ago, Umno spokesman Lokman Noor Adam warned that the party must be cautious in choosing its candidates for GE15 because some of them are going to be Trojan horses who will defect after the election. Lokman suspects they will contest the election under Umno’s banner only so that they can win their seats, after which they will leave Umno and join Anwar’s “big tent”.
Basically this is “16 September” all over again. In 2008, Anwar tried to buy over 30 Barisan Nasional MPs from Sabah, Sarawak, and West Malaysia. It was supposed to be 15 MPs from West Malaysia and 15 from East Malaysia. But the promised RM900 million budget did not materialise and the coup failed.
Anwar tried it again in February 2020, and again later that year, and both times he failed again. Anwar does not seem to have any success with coups despite claiming each time that he “has the numbers”.
GE15 is Anwar’s last chance to become prime minister. If he fails to do it this time around, then his career is finished. In GE16, Anwar will be 80 years old, and hence too old to become PM in a country where the average age is 31 years old.
