Malaysia Today

26 December 2005

Give me a sign Anwar

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, one-time Prime Minister of Malaysia, swore (sort of) that Anwar Ibrahim is his anointed successor. What does he need to do to prove this? Does he need to hug and kiss Anwar in public to convince everyone? The rumours that he is about to sack Anwar are totally unfounded and were created by people jealous of Anwar.This was how convincing Dr Mahathir was in August 1998. Then, barely a few days later, Anwar was sacked on allegations of sexual misconduct. And Dr Mahathir said he had known for years about Anwar’s sexcapades and there was no way he would allow a homosexual become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Yes, that’s right: can we take anything politicians say at face value?

Many others have made ‘binding’ pledges, promises, or declarations; some even taking an oath in public. Some have said that if they died and got reborn they would never rejoin Umno. Some swore (sumpah keramat) that their struggle is with the Reformasi Movement and they toured the length and breadth of Malaysia swearing so, in full view of tens of thousands of supporters.Later on, most of these people abandoned the Reformasi Movement and rejoined Umno in spite of invoking God’s name in convincing the people they would never do so.

Yes, that’s right: even a promise to God can be broken if it is for political purposes.

On Friday, 23 December 2005, at the Istana Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar declared he would never rejoin Umno. This was not the first time he made this public pledge. The question of him rejoining Umno, said Anwar, had been raised so many times but his answer was still the same: no way!“I have many friends in Umno, especially at the divisional level. They meet me to talk and discuss issues. I have never at any time refused to meet them. In discussions with them, they have always asked me if I could rejoin Umno and my answer has always been a ‘no’,” Anwar reiterated.

When pressed further on why he would not rejoin Umno, Anwar replied, ‘The corrupt practices in Umno made it not possible for me to join Umno now.”Anwar added that although the Umno President and Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was fighting corruption, other party leaders had yet to endorse this battle. Asked if he would rejoin Umno if it underwent a change, Anwar replied that this was unlikely to happen in the near future.Unfortunately, although Anwar may sound very convincing, as convincing as Dr Mahathir was in August 1998, somehow many still harbour doubts and are convinced that Anwar would rejoin Umno if given just half a chance. And the only reason he is not rejoining Umno is because the party does not want him back and not for all those other reasons mentioned above.

Take Anwar’s reply to the question whether he would rejoin Umno if it underwent change. The sceptics point out to his reply ‘this was unlikely to happen in the near future’.This can be interpreted many ways. One would be: it would never happen in the near future, but it could happen in the distant future. This means he would eventually rejoin Umno. It is just that it would not happen too soon. But it would happen some time down the road.

The second way of interpreting this would be: he would rejoin Umno if it underwent change. But then he does not see Umno changing in the near future so he would certainly not be able to rejoin Umno even if he wanted to and even if Umno wanted him back. The issue here is not that he does not want to rejoin Umno but that Umno would not change, thereby making it impossible for him to rejoin the party.Malaysians always read between the lines. They never take anything at face value. They always try to spot the hidden message rather than the stated message. And this is because history has shown that the hidden messages have been the ones that have turned out to be the eventual scenario.

One of Anwar’s most loyal and trusted aides’ statement at last week’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat Annual Congress in the Istana Hotel too has added fuel to the fire of rumours. Ezam Mohd Noor, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Youth Leader, announced that he is backing out from the party to concentrate on his Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) work.Ezam had recently launched his NGO called Gerak which will focus on combating corruption. In Malaysia, that would tantamount to King Canute ordering the tide to recede. King Canute failed and most likely so will Ezam.

And every Malaysian knows this. You cannot fight corruption from outside the government. You cannot even do it when you are in the government, or heading the government. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has learnt this the hard way. And so did Anwar back in the days when he was an idealistic Prime-Minister-in-waiting. So how can you succeed in the opposition ranks when you cannot do it at the pinnacle of political power?

“What, therefore, is Ezam’s real motive?” everyone is asking. They do not for one minute buy this fighting corruption through an NGO story. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi can’t do it though he is Prime Minister. Anwar Ibrahim could not do it when he was Acting Prime Minister. Ezam could not do it as Youth Leader of a political party (in fact, they put him in jail when in November 1999 he exposed corrupt acts of certain ministers). Can he do it as head of an NGO?That is what the sceptics are saying. And they are justified in saying so, for this is reality and idealism has no place in Malaysian politics.

Ezam then said his first choice is Umno. He does not deny this. And he joined Umno because of Anwar Ibrahim. He would never have joined Umno if not because of Anwar Ibrahim. His love, therefore, is not for Umno but for Anwar. But it is not Anwar the man that he loves but Anwar’s struggle. He is in love with what Anwar stands for: change, reformation, or reformasi.

The message is crystal clear, from both Anwar and Ezam. There is no confusion as to what they are saying. Point well taken! But the people still want to read between the lines. They do not want to take the statements at face value. They are trying to interpret the hidden message behind all these many statements.That is Malaysia for you.Anwar would need more than mere rhetoric for the people to believe him. They all know he wants to become Prime Minister. No one would dare swear otherwise. And they all know, as the opposition leader, he would at best become the opposition leader in Parliament, never the Prime Minister -- for they just do not see the opposition ever winning the general election and forming the next government; at least not in this generation.

Anwar would have to do more than just talk, give press conferences, and deliver addresses. There has already been too much talk as it is. The time for talk is over and it is now time to act. Anwar needs to do something very drastic and revolutionary for the people to believe that he is committed to the Reformasi cause (and we will talk about this in more details next week).Well, we may not have that long to wait. Maybe in three months or so we will see the silver lining in that ever so dark cloud that we are begging for Anwar to show us. Maybe in about three months or so Malaysians will once and for all rest easy in knowing that Anwar is reviving Reformasi and giving it a new image and identity, while retaining its original ideals. But of course the powers-that-be would not be resting easy though.

They would be wishing they had brought Anwar back to Umno super-fast to keep him out of the hands of the opposition.Hold your breath the next few months and make sure you do not turn blue.