
Like millions of other Malaysians I was looking forward gleefully to witnessing a Pakatan Rakyat government installed in Putrajaya after 16 September 2008 - with Anwar Ibrahim as our sixth prime minister.
Sixth... seventh... eighth... ninth... it doesn't matter. I remain convinced that Anwar has the necessary experience to steer the nation clear of some treacherous reefs looming ahead.

[Well, this no longer holds true. Zaid Ibrahim has disqualified himself from consideration as a trustworthy leader. He has revealed himself as egotistical, petty-minded and occasionally vindictive - even though his views remain far more palatable than one would expect from any BN politician. Zaid has thus far had a cushy career as an Umno lawyer, de facto law minister, and lone wolf political commentator. Unlike Anwar and many other opposition figures, however, Zaid Ibrahim has never had to endure political persecution and incarceration, which makes me wonder if he has the mettle and stamina to survive a full-frontal assault from the power establishment.]
For that matter, Nizar Jamaluddin has also been described as prime minister material - but before he stands a chance of being appointed to the nation's highest office, his political party will have to shed some of the theological deadwood it is currently burdened with.
[It was reported yesterday that Hadi Awang bumped into Najib on the Sarawak campaign trail and hugged him warmly. That not only gives me the creeps, but I worry about PAS leaders like Hadi Awang, Nasharudin Mat Isa and Hasan Ali who seem unable to resist Umno's horny pheromones.]

I'm convinced that anyone who has survived such a nightmarish ordeal would have learned to cherish the true meaning of freedom and justice.
Apart from Anwar's phenomenal charisma as an orator and political reformer, he is supported by the genteel, softspoken Wan Azizah whose compassion, dignity and strength stand her in excellent stead as a prime minister's wife the entire nation can wholeheartedly love and respect. Not only that, their beautiful daughter Nurul Izzah has proven her mettle as an articulate, intelligent and plucky leader and has all the qualities necessary to someday become Malaysia's first female PM. (Not that I'm in favor of political dynasties - but being born into a political family does provide a strong foundation for handling the stresses and strains of leadership.)

A few of my moneyed friends have expressed their reservations about having Anwar Ibrahim as PM. Some parrot Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin's heavy hints about Anwar's cozy ties with key agents of the New World Order cabal and their Zionist banker connections. They're wary of the fact that Anwar is respected by well-known Neocons like Paul Wolfovitz and has access to a global network of influential names in academia and the mass media. Unlike Najib, Anwar Ibrahim doesn't have to pay millions to some Israeli-owned PR agency to have the international media paint a rosy image of him as a leader.

Their deadly grip on power appears indomitable and absolute. But that's merely an illusion. Truth is, the cracks have become huge enough for new reality options to hatch from within these occult power centers.
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David Mayer de Rothschild (born 25 August 1978), adventurer & environmentalist |
As always their own descendants - the children and grandchildren of Evelyn Rothschild and David Rockefeller, for example, will break the family mold and mutate in ways unforeseen. Like a tower struck by lightning, the entire edifice of hereditary power and wealth will quickly crumble as the New World Order manifests as something its original planners would never in a million years have imagined possible.
As a brilliant and charming deputy prime minister cum finance minister, Anwar had apparently attracted the attention of these global powerbrokers. Perhaps he had been emboldened by their tacit support to make his power play against the recalcitrant Mahathir in mid-1997 - which triggered a vindictive and violent reaction from both Daim Zainuddin and Mahathir who represented the vested interests of the Umnoputra elite that had burgeoned during Mahathir's 22-year premiership.
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Daim "Don Corleone" Zainuddin |
It was nothing less than a political crucifixion. Just as two thousand years ago the entrenched Jewish priesthood and the obese merchants in Palestine were terrified of the master Yeshua's populist message of reform and renewal - the feudal power establishment in Malaysia was severely rattled by the close proximity of the same groundswell of massive rebellion that swept Suharto and his dynasty from power right next door in Indonesia.



I was telling some friends recently that the political atmosphere during the Mahathir Era was horribly stifling, especially after 1986 when his power faced serious challenges. But, strangely, things feel even worse today - not necessarily because Najib is crueler and more ruthless than his cynical puppetmaster - but simply because the Internet can now reveal the full extent of Umno/BN's criminal mismanagement, complete with charts and tables and long lists of figures.

Thanks to the emergence in Cyberspace of loose cannon maverick royals like Raja Petra Kamarudin - whose access to "official secrets" and whose ability to expose and destroy the rogue regime we call Umno/BN (along with all who stubbornly cling to their ill-gotten gains and their obscene privileges) should never be underestimated - those of us who genuinely love this country still have many strategic options apart from migrating.
As RPK has shown by positioning himself out of harm's way and continuing to fire salvo after salvo at political targets of the day, it's futile trying to scare bloggers into silence. You can haul up and question a few - but at what cost to your expensively tailored international image? And for every Malaysian-based blogger who gets intimidated into silence, a hundred outspoken bloggers based abroad will emerge to carry on the information war.
[RPK launched the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement as a "Third Force" when he realized that Anwar Ibrahim had his own way of doing things that didn't always coincide with RPK's strong opinions. These two men are extremely charismatic but very different in temperament. Anwar is a natural-born fiery orator, diplomat and political strategist; while RPK enjoys the role of flamboyant revolutionary and gunslinging political Paladin, six-shooters blazing from both holsters. RPK has never run for political office and maintains a stance independent of BN and PR. However, what troubles me is that RPK maintains an affable, hand-kissing relationship with Dr Mahathir and recently met with Sanusi Junid, who was sent to the UK as Dr M's emissary to persuade RPK to disconnect from Anwar Ibrahim. RM10 million was dangled as a carrot. RPK says he turned it down, even though he was momentarily tempted. Since his shocking U-turn at the beginning of 2010 when he agreed to be interviewed by TV3, publicly withdrawing his lethal insinuations against Rosmah and Najib, his former admirers have largely agreed that RPK has now become just another hired gun, shooting his mouth off on behalf of the highest bidder.]

One of the perks of amassing a vast fortune is to be admired and applauded wherever you go. However, if your reputation sinks to the level of infamous rogues like Robert Mugabe, Augusto Pinochet, Ferdinand Marcos, Slobodan Milošević, General Than Shwe, Kim Jong-Il, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney... you'd probably be wishing you could have been half as talented as Michael Jackson instead... or twice as dead.
[First posted 12 November 2009, reposted 28 September 2015 & again with revisions on 14 September 2019]
18 comments:
nice one, dude
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8355417.stm
one of the better articles written.
Mahatiu Mamak Iskandar Kutty Kerala will be in deep shit if PR takes over the central government and AI becomes the PM.
The Great Dictator will die of heart attack when Barisan Najis lost in 13 GE.
An intelligent & brilliant research and analysis worthy of the best of the best ! Accurate and thought pounding.We wish the 7th will come true but make it fast, the waiting is torturing when the criminals still walk and try to look good.
Bravo to a fantastic read !
Your fusillade of shots are
adding more and more holes to the
UMNO/BN ship!
Holy smoke! Surreal but unfortunately, 90% true!
Taikohtai
I had little reason to trust Anwar's agenda during his ABIM and UMNO days. After Mahathir brought him down, I felt sympathy for him but still had no cause to endorse his agenda beyond bringing Mahathir down.
Based on what he had to say before and after GE12, I decided that he deserved a chance. But his ineffectual handling of loose canon and his promotion of Malay-Muslim leadership in Sabah makes me wonder whether he has really changed.
I reserve my judgement.
The right question to ask is should Anwar be PM? This can be answered if we have a good answer to the next question. Why is the Finance portfolio is now held by PMs after Anwar? What did Anwar do making the PMs no more trusting other themselves with regards to Finance ministry?
yeah, talking from a secular, socialist point of view.
you absolutely forget about the other 60% majority cum decision maker population ie the muslims
very little muslims will support zaid ibrahim. they still remember vividly the day zaid sued kelantan government for implementing hudud
very little too will support RPK due to his secular principle
while many will support anwar... i can assure you from the muslims point of view, nizar from PAS will be the best candidate to lead this country
it is funny to come out with an analysis but you forget the political inclination of 60% population of this country
what kind of analyst are you?
Antares,
Zaid Ibrahim in his latest blog post has suggested that Anwar Ibrahim "sacrifice" his ambitions so that Pakatan Rakyat can realistically take over the government in the next elections.
You don't believe? Check out his blog
http://myzaidibrahim.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/tengku-razaleigh-dan-pakatan/
My thanks to all of you who enjoyed this post and said so.
Singam - Your reservations about Anwar are your own and you're entitled to them. I don't expect every promising political leader to be exactly like me, and I'm sure there are many areas where Anwar's opinions and mine differ. But the important difference between Anwar and me is that he has the common touch - he knows how to address the masses and galvanize them into action - and I don't. And because he is truly eclectic in his reading, I feel that Anwar is a lot more open to dialog and discussion than someone like, say, Mahathir, who relies more on brute force and the rule of fear than brain power and emotional appeal. As for his naming Thamrin as PKR head in Sabah,
not much I can say about that because I have little raw data on Sabah politics. Jeffrey Kittingan is a local warlord and political acrobat and was probably making too many unreasonable demands. Why Anwar picked Thamrin I don't know - but I didn't see Thamrin as a Muslim-Malay and assume that Anwar must have a damn good reason for his choice. Perhaps the non-Muslim Sabah leaders are too accustomed to factionalism to be able to manage from a larger perspective? I'm open to learning more from those who know Sabah politics.
Malaysiaunited - I read recently that the only time Malaysia was enjoying a fiscal surplus was during Anwar's tenure as finance minister. It's very dangerous to have a PM also serve as finance minister because an important check & balance mechanism is thereby non-existent. Obviously, as finance minister Anwar showed some backbone and didn't always accede to the demands of the PM - and when Mahathir realized the guy who held the pursestrings wasn't going to say "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" to every demand, he decided to wrest the finance portfolio for himself - and Jibby is merely taking advantage of this unhealthy precedent to maintain total control of a terrible situation.
Anonymous @ 9:32AM - The 60% Muslim majority you speak of is certainly NOT a homogeneous quantity. I would venture that 6% of this Muslim majority control the beliefs and opinions of the other 54% by exploiting the feudal power structure and the mass media they own. Out of this 54%,
at least 44% are simple, reasonable human beings whose mindset can and will open up to fresh data and new inputs. Whoever controls the flow of information and sensory stimuli issuing from radios and TV sets has the power to modify and mold the direction of "public opinion." If more funky music is heard on the radio (instead of marching songs and sentimental pap), the thoughts of the rural majority will quickly become funkier too. That leaves only 10% who will follow Hasan Ali, Zul Noordin & Nasharudin Mat Isa to fundamentalist hell & back. I'm sure we can deal with them in a friendly & humane way. Ultimately every soul instinctively desires freedom - and once corrupt or expired software is replaced with more advanced programs, people's lives will function a lot more smoothly and with fewer inner conflicts.
I totally support your view and I too feel that Anwar Ibrahim would make a grat prime minister and he is a good man.
He have experience and he is accepted by all malaysians.
Malaysia would be a great country with Anwar Ibrahim as our Prime Minister.
Keng Tiong Hai
Shah Alam
What would you think if Tengku Razaleigh were to be nominated for the PM's post?
Anonymous @ 7:43PM - Tengku Razaleigh is the Last of the Mohicans in an Umno that exists only in memory. He has navigated well and improves with age. In 1986 I was looking forward to seeing TRH take over from Dr M. But Dr M doesn't let go. We all know that. TRH wasn't angry enough, impetuous enough, impatient enough to seize the day the way Anwar did - and it all blew up in his face. Took Anwar 10 years to reclaim his destiny against all odds. What I mean to say is: TRH is a classy gentleman politician with much experience and wisdom to offer us - but who do you think is going to nominate him for PM? The stinking rotten mess left behind as Mahathir's legacy would be too much for Kuli to clean up. Anwar can lead a strong team to do the job and Tengku Razaleigh can be sage advisor. The only way I can see TRH being recruited to take over as PM is in the event Anwar loses his court battle and lands up in jail. There will be major upheavals (I won't even go there) and in their panic Najib & Gang will go too far... and the wiser ones within the Old Guard will realize (a bit late but better than never) that they have no option but call it a day and invite TRH to be interim PM while civil order is restored and urgent matters resolved. No way the country can move on so long as the ruling clique remains unchanged - they are all too compromised to begin on a clean slate. No positive change can occur till Musa Hassan, Gani Patail, Hishammuddin Hussein, Muhyiddin Yassin, Nazri Abdul Aziz, Zaki Azmi and Najib Razak have been forced to step down. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as PM? Yes, I can accept him in the role but my sense of justice prompts me to desire that those who have battled so valiantly and so tirelessly for so long against injustice ought to be rewarded with leadership of the land.
As commented by RPK in one of his articles :-
"..Tengku Razaleigh , the last gentleman from Umno.."
I think it is better to strike Mahathir than Najib, because he is the ancient guard that could repel attacks on the Government.
An excellent encapsulation of the issue, Antares. Thank you for it.
You argued nicely why Anwar, an experienced moderate, is a necessary stepping stone for a possible alternative administration in the future.
Another highlight of your piece is you putting on record the fact that the royalties have tainted their reputation as protectors of public interest by immersing themselves in business with corrupt politicians as associates.
A piece deserving wider attention.
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