Karim Raslan
Thu, Jul 17, 2008
The Straits Times
I HAD a very animated interview with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last week. His answers were delivered with his signature charm.
Having last met him over a decade ago, I was struck by how little he appeared to have aged. Despite having reached his 60s, he was trim and energetic - darting in and out of the conference room to field telephone calls from his lawyers. Still, he seemed remarkably calm despite the looming storms and I couldn't shake a sense of deja vu, albeit with a significant difference: He used to be a young man in a hurry. Now, he was just in a hurry.
The encounter crystallised many of my thoughts about him. Writing about a figure so divisive and yet charismatic is a venture fraught with pitfalls. You cannot help but be enthralled by his intellectual dexterity and sheer style.
The myths swirling around him obscure the reality. Which of the various images is closer to the truth: the street-fighter activist that many in the Malay establishment appear to fear more than fear itself, or the showy but enlightened Muslim statesman jetting between global capitals sprinkling his speeches with quotes from Ibn Khaldun?
The truth, no doubt, lies somewhere in between but, whatever we may think about him, we must commend him for one remarkable achievement which will earn him an esteemed place in Malaysia's political history.
On March 8 at the helm of the Pakatan Rakyat, he shook the nation's political foundations. Upending the stale status quo, he showed that there was an alternative to 50 years of Umno.
Malaysians - including diehard Umno supporters - owe him a debt of gratitude for his endeavours in this respect. He has forced the party of Merdeka into a measure of self-doubt and opened up Malaysia's rotten political system to a degree of reassessment and possible reform. His multiracial formulation of ketuanan rakyat remains a high point of the past few years' political rhetoric.
There are very few men and women of his brilliance in Malaysian public life and his continued presence will ensure that the Barisan government will have to reform.
If, for any reason he should be taken out of the equation, there would be no pressing need to carry on with the desperately needed changes: Umno will remain mired in money politics and destructive ethno-centric ideas; the security apparatus and judicial system will languish; the administration will be inefficient, unresponsive and sluggish; and improved civil liberties will remain a distant mirage.
Nonetheless, his wrongheaded quest to be Malaysian premier doesn't help in achieving any of the above. Indeed, his assertions that there will be parliamentary crossovers by Sept 16 are planned to stoke the political temperature while also distracting him from the real task of coalition-building.
Still, his return to the centre stage has led to an unprecedented reconfiguration of power - a shift that has forced the Malaysian elite to address glaring weaknesses in governance and politics. Whatever happens with the Saiful Bukhari scandal and the crossovers, without Mr Anwar's energy and continuous political legwork, there would be no Pakatan, no opposition pact and, therefore, no dramatic victories along the west coast of the peninsula.
Only he could have hammered out some measure of trust and cooperation between forces as disparate as Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Mr Lim Kit Siang and Mr Karpal Singh. Love him or loathe him, he prompted and then benefited from the tectonic activity that resulted in the March 8 tsunami.
No one had thought that it was possible. This Herculean achievement may be his enduring legacy, even if the grouping is still fragile and prone to fragmentation. He admitted to 'minor rumblings on the ground', but I'm afraid my conversations with Pakatan figures indicate a serious lack of cross-party communication.
It may sound strange to be talking about Mr Anwar's 'enduring legacy' when he himself - at least according to our meeting - is fully planning to secure the premiership by mid-September. But the Pakatan, with its fraying internal linkages, may be unsustainable as long as he remains distracted by his quest to seize power. I think he has lost the plot, unduly eager to occupy the top spot before it is too late.
He insisted that he would be friendlier to Malaysia's neighbours if he succeeded: 'I don't have Singapore phobia - I give them credit where it's due unlike a lot of other Malay leaders. We should exploit the trade and investment synergy.'
But that won't come to pass unless he focuses his energies on building the coalition and strengthening the bonds between the three parties. The limited interaction between the Democratic Action Party and Parti Islam SeMalaysia is a particular concern. Only he can bridge the gap between the predominantly ethnic Chinese socialists and the Islamists. If he can't be bothered, the net result will be failure.
It is as if the former deputy prime minister and global thought-leader can't bring himself to discuss, negotiate and then hammer out solutions to issues in Ipoh, Alor Star, Shah Alam, Kota Baru and Georgetown. Is politics in small-town Malaysia beneath him? The egoism of the man, while understandable, is also disturbing.
Malaysians voted for Pakatan for a better and more responsive form of government, especially at the state level. While the people are tired of Barisan's high-handedness and corruption, they definitely don't want instability and political tightrope-walking on a daily basis.
Mr Anwar is in danger of forgetting that the mandate he received from the Malaysian people is 'qualified'. They entrusted him to help lead five states and to build a genuine and workable consensus within Pakatan. This was supposed to lead, in turn, to an administration that was fairer, less corrupt and more attuned to the needs of all Malaysians.
For now, he has not been given the mandate to occupy the premiership. However, if he does a good job over the next few years, maybe Malaysians may make him prime minister.
The writer is a Malaysian columnist.
TO HIS CREDIT
On March 8 at the helm of the Pakatan Rakyat, he shook the nation's political foundations. Upending the stale status quo, he showed that there was an alternative to 50 years of Umno.
No comments:
Post a Comment