Can Anwar make it?

By Megat Jittendran

After nearly 20 months since the 12th general election, glaring weaknesses have emerged among the Pakatan partners – PKR, DAP and PAS.

PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘buck up or pack out’ ultimatum to party top brass and elected representatives would be seen as a warning for members to toe the party line.

For some, such an ultimatum from the party icon would be the resonation of a desperate man trying to pull together his errant comrades.

But all could and should agree that it is a timely warning from the parliamentary opposition leader.

It is time for him to take control of not only PKR but also the warring and unflattering opposition block – the Pakatan Rakyat.

When Pakatan won 82 parliamentary seats, captured four new state governments and retained the north-eastern state of Kelantan in the last general election, many Pakatan leaders thought, and are claiming until today, that the swing was for them.

Little do they realise that Pakatan won by default.

It was Barisan Nasional, which lost.

In the March 2008 polls, people had no other alternative to turn to other than Pakatan.

So, many Pakatan elected representatives cannot realise, and failed to acknowledge, that they are haughtily sitting in a political comfort zone today because the people were fed up and wanted to teach BN, especially Umno, a lesson.

These Pakatan representatives have refused to accept reality hence their egos are growing by the day.

Thus, after nearly 20 months since the 12th general election, glaring weaknesses have emerged among the Pakatan partners – PKR, DAP and PAS.

PAS leaders are living in a dreamland, fantasizing that non-Muslims voted for the party because they have accepted the party Islamic credentials and principles.

They are hallucinating that they have support across all communities on their own political ground.

PAS leaders even thought of actualizing the unthinkable – a unity government with arch-enemy Umno.

They forgot that PAS gained at Umno’s expense because the people wanted it that way.

PAS leaders such as Abdul Hadi Awang, Nasharuddin and Mustafa Ali had conveniently forgotten that they would not have received strong public support on their own.

The leaders have also abandoned their ‘PAS for All’ slogan.

Now it seems like they are not keen to pick up non-Malay, non-Muslim issues.

Surely Islam did not teach them that speaking against the brutal killings carried out by the police against Indians was forbidden or ‘haram’ for instance!

PAS claims to be for all but they championed segregation among Malaysians by forcing a ban on beer sales in so-called Muslim neighbourhoods in Selangor.

Why should PAS force a ban on beer sales?

Why can’t PAS just allow the market forces of supply and demand to decide the sale of beer anywhere?

Why should PAS ‘for all’ classify Malaysian neighbourhoods as Muslim and non-Muslim areas?

DAP, especially the Penang government under Kapitan Lim Guan Eng, believes that it needed only to consolidate its position as the number one Chinese-based party in the country.

DAP leaders, especially Kapitan Lim, are increasingly exposing their true colours that they were uninterested in the fate of non-Chinese, especially in Penang.

Perhaps they believe in the myth that the voting pattern of non-Chinese, especially Indians, will not switch back to BN … not now, not so soon.

Perhaps the party believes that PKR and PAS would win over the Malays.

Kapitan Lim’s pro-Chinese capitalist policies are proof to justify this claim.

The demolition of Kampung Buah Pala, once famously known as the Indian High Chaparral among locals who cherished the state historical value, surely undermined Lim’s credibility as ‘a fair and just leader for all’ among the Indians.

His frequent lies during the village crisis further eroded public confidence in his administration.

The frustration of Indians could well boil over to the ballot box in the next election.

They may not support BN, but may not cast their vote for Pakatan either.

Or perhaps the Indians would gang up again under Hindraf to vote against DAP, not against PKR and PAS.

One should realise that when Hindraf criticised Kapitan Lim’s mishandling of the Kampung Buah Pala crisis, the human rights leaders and activists refrained from criticising PKR or PAS.

They condemned only Kapitan Lim for cheating the Indians.

Kapitan Lim’s lack of transparency in several land conversion issues did not augur well for his CAT principles based on competency, accountability and transparency.

This has caused discontentment among civil rights groups.

He claims to be travelling in economy class.

But truth is, he has become the most travelled Chief Minister of Penang in such a short period.

Many are whispering that the PAP-ruled Singapore has become Kapitan Lim’s second home now.

Of course, DAP leaders and cyber troopers would deny all these allegations.

They would chant that DAP has quality Indians leaders such as DCM 2 Ramasamy, Sivanesan, Kulasegaran, Karpal Singh and even Sanisvara Rayer.

But Indians have realized that these so-called Indian leaders are actually mandores used by DAP to smother and tame the community.

Many Pakatan elected representatives were heard talking that Kapitan Lim had destroyed High Chaparral merely for personal gain.

Lim is said to have told certain Pakatan MPs who went to see him to seek solution for the village crisis, that he was not in the least bothered about Pakatan losing Indian votes.

He has stressed that he is only keen to safeguard his party’s Chinese vote bank.

He has also told these MPs that it was Anwar’s problem, not his, for any loss of Indian votes.

Although the Bagan Pinang by-election was a wake-up call, Kapitan Lim and his Indian mandores are still living in denial that Kampung Buah Pala had no impact on Indian voters in the constituency.

However, Anwar seems to have realised this.

A switch of Indian votes to BN or against Pakatan in the next election would be detrimental to his chances to become the Prime Minister.

This was the major reason behind Anwar dispatching Zaid Ibrahim to hold talks with Hindraf’s ultimate leader, Waythamoorthy, in Singapore for a possible pact.

Anwar knows that a strong Pakatan political block would not have emerged today if not for aggressive activism and sacrifices made by Hindraf activists.

DAP had conveniently forgotten this but Anwar didn’t.

This is the difference between political opportunists and a true leader.

He wants to embrace all his friends in his rough and tough journey to Putrajaya.

Unlike Kapitan Lim, Anwar knows he would not lay his hands on the coveted Holy Grail – for the premiership – without the support of all.

He also knows that he has got to put his own house in order and take control of Pakatan’s political direction.

Although he espouses democracy, at times he should exercise some form of dictatorship within PKR and Pakatan to maintain peace, discipline and order.

He is duty bound to execute order over chaos.

The voters are looking up to him to provide a viable, dynamic and cohesive united political front as the alternate to the ailing and overstaying BN.

Anwar needs to thwart the rapidly deteriorating public confidence in PKR and Pakatan.

He must swiftly address the downslide in Indian and Malay support to the coalition and his leadership.

He must first get rid of many under-performing current PKR elected representatives and replace them with credible candidates the next round.

Kulim, Batu Uban, Kebun Bunga and Batu Maung are among constituencies in the northern region that need better candidates.

Even DAP and PAS need major surgery on their respective candidature lists.

The common agenda being worked by Zaid now and the imminent registration of Pakatan as an official entity are positive steps.

Anwar must act aggressively from now to put PKR and Pakatan in order because BN is clearly after his head with a sodomy charge.

He must make sure that there would be no crisis in public confidence over Pakatan leadership if the BN-directed ‘Saiful case’ puts him behind bars again.

Anwar’s ultimatum to party top brass, grassroots leaders and elected representatives is just the beginning.

He seems determined to wipe out all these white ants in his party and Pakatan to reconsolidate his position and popularity, and regain public support to capture his Holy Grail.

For the sake of Malaysians, Anwar must do it.

He must make it.