Will Anwar bite his fingers again?
By Kazi Mahmood and Isa Selamat
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has to quickly change course if he wants to win GE 15 or else he risks biting his fingers, again.
He needs to understand the conscience of the Malay voters, particularly those who want him to be too friendly with the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
It is because the current state of the political mess is presenting the best opportunity for him to win hearts among the Malay community, a community that is fed up with UMNO on many fronts.
If Anwar is too late, he is not only risking his future, he is also going to miss a thin window of opportunity that may not appear again in the future.
We suggest that he continues with the national agenda, which separates Pakatan Harapan from others, but he must strengthen the pro-Malay agenda altogether within the PH.
We believe that Malaysia needs a figure like Anwar but the community still has not accepted Pakatan Harapan or even the Parti Keadilan Rakyat as an alternate political force.
Many of the younger generation, particularly in the remaining rural areas, hate Anwar because of the simple reason that the previous governments used him as a scapegoat with various court cases to embarrass him. This has been going on for 22 years with what we believe are various false accusations.
On the other hand, the younger generation is not asking why all the Governments, then and now, are so afraid of Anwar’s political struggle?
They should ask why is he the target of the government? Does the younger generation now know little about him? It appears so. Did they know that he is the father of the reform movement and is also among the politicians to go against kleptocracy and he also opposed authoritarianism?
The younger generation does not know Anwar’s story and how through the Asian youth leadership he was one of the top Asian youth leaders and he generated a lot of admiration in Indonesia in the early 1970s.
For that matter, the younger generation does not know that then Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was on a mission to find young Muslim figures who were impacting their world and was helping in the development of Islam. Anwar was then a chosen one.
The youngsters do not know that Anwar rode a kapcai motorcycle on that gloomy day in September 1998 right before he was summarily arrested at his house.
They are not aware that the DS Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was still working at the Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya (PPUM) until the early 2000s until she retired to join politics full time.
Do they know that the prison authorities at the Kamuntin, Taiping detention centre provided Anwar and Syed Husin Ali with tables and books as well as writing pads etc?
Families and friends could visit them but the younger generation has no idea who were the visitors.
What we want to convey is that whoever would love to see this country reformed, should keep writing to tell the story of the reform movement in Malaysia. They should also keep the story of Anwar Ibrahim alive on all forums because this is how Malaysia will eventually see reforms.
Don’t just linger on Facebook, TikTok to feel good.
Don’t let the story of the reformasi movement lose its fervour because Anwar is the only one who represents the people’s hope for reform.
Isa Selamat is an Editor at Worldfuturetv.com and Kazi Mahmood is an Editor at Business Today
Article first appeared in FocusMalaysia