August 20, 2o12
Anwar to quit after GE13: A Psychological Ploy
by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com
COMMENT: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has reiterated his intention to quit should Pakatan Rakyat not win the 13th general election.
A few weeks ago, he aired for the first time his intention to retreat to academia should Pakatan not win GE-13. The other day, he again voiced his intention to quit if Pakatan fails to gain Putrajaya at the elections.
Implausible the first time he gave vent to it, the repetition of intention to quit, upon failure to oust BN, has not rendered it less so. In fact, after the second instance of its airing, it is easier to visualise how this quit charade of Anwar’s would pan out.
Should Pakatan not win the general election, a wearied Anwar would follow through on his quit intention, probably offering the rationale that his withdrawal would provide second string leaders in his party, PKR, especially, a chance to step up to the plate.
Anwar would then go off to recharge his batteries at some fairly prestigious 
university where he would teach a course on Third World development strategies besides making a stab at writing his memoirs.
A few years down the road, the second stringers, after doing a fairly good job of manning the opposition fort, would clamour for Anwar’s return to the arena in preparation for the 14th general election on the grounds that the man is indispensable to the Opposition’s cause.
In deference to the ‘people’s will’, Anwar would return to attempt another sortie for the top prize – that of being Prime Minister of Malaysia, something he has had his mind focused on from the time he was in his teens.
Spurious stratagem
The 65-year-old Anwar’s reiteration that he would quit should Pakatan not win the next GE is a psychological ploy to jolt voters to back the coalition he leads to victory or risk losing him to academic life.
It is a spurious stratagem that Anwar should not want to deploy because it trivialises the reformasi agenda by unduly personalising it and renders the serious business of credibly supplanting UMNO-BN at the helm of government dependent on individual volition and temperament rather than collective will and struggle.
No doubt, Anwar is bone-weary and mentally fatigued from the brutal demands of an intensive five-year campaign to unseat UMNO-BN.
In the last six months, he has aged more rapidly than in the previous four years. It was always going to be a Herculean task to weld an opposition coalition of ideologically disparate partners together and get them to wage a battle of attrition against UMNO-BN.
In the process, he has had to weather relentless threats and attacks to his personal liberty and probity by the UMNO apparatus of state power. Those attacks have not stopped; indeed they are intensifying.
That the Pakatan coalition is intact and that Anwar is still free and fighting are by themselves stupendous achievements.
Now, all that stands between Pakatan and Putrajaya are Malaysian society’s vast inertia and a general but definitely receding disinclination to want change as radical as the substitution of a 55-year-old government with a newfangled coalition that has shown in Kelantan, Penang, Selangor, and, if only briefly, in Perak, that it can compose itself frugally, rule benignly, allocate equitably and govern rationally.
Tactical Maneuvering
Pakatan are just one crossed marking on a ballot paper away from owning residency rights to Putrajaya, given that the public’s inertia and distaste for radical change are now less deep seated than it was.
If Pakatan’s residency rights to Putrajaya aren’t conferred on them at the GE-13, would it be difficult to envision that the electorate would not then have allowed Pakatan to run BN so close that the consequent fallout on a narrowly returned ruling coalition would be so fissiparous that it would disintegrate?
In these straits, it’s not hard to visualise a scenario where crossovers would occur from BN to Pakatan, not a good way to make a government but then nobody seriously disputes the pragmatic truth that political goals are only achievable upon the acquisition of power.
Hence Anwar’s repetition of his intention to quit should Pakatan not make it 
to Putrajaya after GE-13 is a decision that smacks more of tactical maneuvering than it is a reflection of considered judgment.
Except for PAS spiritual leader Nik Aiz Nik Mat – who has publicly aired his demurral over it – nobody among the Pakatan leadership cohort has seen it fit to remark substantively on the announcement.
Perhaps they are adept at recognising a psychological ploy when they see one, particularly when deployed by one from their side of the political divide.
Netto is back with another tembak. Keeping on dream, Bro. No man is indispensable. That applies to Anwar as well.
Let us decide on the outcome of GE-13. We want honest, competent and accountable government. Since UMNO-BN is corrupt and inept with a badly tainted Najib at its helm, we should throw it out. We need change.
Whether it is Psychological Ploy or whatever we have enough of BN. Many would agreed that what can be worst that 55 years under BN. If we can kick BN out, we can do so to PK. Gurubachan Singh is right, “No man is indispensable”. BN though they are but it time for us to tell them through our votes that they are not. Well, it can be said that we are choosing the better of two devils. What other choice we have? And for those who think likewise than stand up to be identified, make a different and not just provide lips service like the author, Netto…all talk and no action.
An open letter to Tunku Aziz
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/08/20/an-open-letter-to-tunku/
An open letter to Tunku
CT Ali
| August 20, 2012
Reform-minded CT Ali hopes that former DAP vice-president Tunku Abdul Aziz stays away from the game of political hypocrisy and deception.
COMMENT
I can write about the magnificent par excellence monuments of KLCC, KLIA and Putrajaya that Malaysia has on display for the entire world to see and ignore the massive debts our nation incurred to put up this monstrosity to perpetuate Mahathir’s legacy to this once great nation of ours.
Ignore the hideous and insane profiteering by Umno politicians, their families and their cronies in the building of these monstrosities.
Ignore the dire need for decent housing of our poor, the deplorable lack of proper medical care for the needy, the impossibly high cost of travel on the toll highways and the many other needs of our nations which the costs of building these monuments have deprived us of.
And in the same manner I can go on bashing and whacking Anwar Ibrahim until, like what that contemptible ex-IGP Rahim Nor did to him while he was defenseless, Anwar is left senseless and critically wounded.
Anyone who writes can do this and tell you that the reason he is doing so is in the name of justice, fair play and telling the truth.
No Tunku Abdul Aziz, on whatever level you choose to put yourself on, I fear that what you are doing in calling Anwar the Don Quixote of Malaysian politics is purely for personal gain –for vested interest –your own!
You quote from earlier writings to impress upon us that you have not changed in your thinking on Anwar. Then pray tell me, why did you endure your time in DAP when Anwar is head of Pakatan Rakyat?
Your lack of decorum in mentioning about the goings on in the course of a DAP central executive committee meeting where you said a very senior DAP colleague said of Anwar “Ah, well, you know….”.
Surely a man of honour, integrity and principle would not divulge such comments made not for public consumption? Or are you not a man of honour, integrity and principle anymore?
And Tunku I beg to differ on your comment “I cannot imagine anything baser and more grotesque than attempting to corrupt and seduce perfectly decent and honourable parliamentarians to betray the trust of the voters who have put them there in the first place to represent them in their constituencies”.
Where, Tunku, do you find these “perfectly decent and honourable parliamentarians” who will not betray the trust of the voters? Surely not in Barisan Nasional?
As you said, and I quote you here “I have always said that elections in our country are free but not fair”. Who Tunku do not make them fair? Pakatan Rakayat or Barisan Nasional? Our gripe is this Tunku –if election has been free and fair then maybe Pakatan Rakyat will already be in government and not Barisan Nasional!
Who engineered Perak?
To quote a friend of mine Azam64
“You talked about Anwar trying to engineer a mass defection among MPs in the land below the wind. It did not materialise, maybe Anwar did not have the resources or he did not try hard enough. That it did not happen then does not speak much of any such incident.
What about an incident that really happened? The Perak state government fell because of defections. Somebody engineered it. You did not mention anything about it. This state of selective amnesia is not limited to only one person. How can you talk of anybody losing the moral high ground when you forget a case that is so similar? In case you have also forgotten, the Sabah state govt under the PBS of Pairin Kitingan also fell in 1994 because of defections. Who engineered it? It was the party that you now seems to be in bed with.
Engineering defections is not anything new in Malaysian politics, although undesirable. Always it was the party that you are in love now that gained”
Yes Tunku, politics is a game of political hypocrisy and mutual deception – one that it would seems you want to put yourself above joining.
For these sentiments we will hold you in high regard and reverence. Now please stay at that high and exalted level you have placed yourself at and try to resist the temptation to join us sub-humans in the abyss that is Malaysian politics. You owe yourself that much. Salam!
How nice, Terence, that you can read DSAI mind and predict the future. So what if DSAI’s announcement is calculated to increase PR votes, the other side has done worse to achieve the same ends. It’s interesting that you find “power fascinating and yet find its exercise abhorrent”.
Power can be used wisely as has been shown throughout history. Since you have observed the exercise of power for 4 decades and found its exercise abhorrent, can we take it that you find the practices of the single entity that has been in power in Malaysia for the past 4 decades objectionable?
Whatever lah. Motives, projections and predictions are, John Doone says’s it quite simply:
Terence “Ampu” Netto thinks that it is unthinkable that Anwar will quit active politics if Pakatan Rakyat does not winGE-13. Perhaps he forgets or is not aware that Anwar’s main, if not sole, objective when he entered active politics by becoming an UMNO member 30 years ago was to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia after Mahathir.
Anwar never entered politics for reasons similar to those of people like Lim Kit Siang or Karpal Singh. He is now 65 years old. If PR fails to capture Putrajaya at GE13, Anwar will be 70 years old by GE-14. Does Netto not know that Anwar is smart enough to know that if he cannot be PM this round, his chances will be even more diminished the next round?
” … his withdrawal would provide second string leaders in his party, PKR, especially, a chance to step up to the plate” — Terry Net-O
Never heard of ‘second string leaders’ — the word is ‘echelon’.
It is a spurious stratagem that Anwar should not want to deploy because it trivialises the reformasi agenda by unduly personalising it and renders the serious business of credibly supplanting UMNO-BN at the helm of government dependent on individual volition and temperament rather than collective will and struggle.” — Terry Net-O
Good Lord ! What a mouthful.
If you Net-O were a student of political science (and not English Literature) you’d know that what sets third world apart from the more developed nations is the focus on personalities rather than ideas and values. Malaysia is no exception. It has always been about personalities. Although Anwar Ibrahim was never a political science student in his university days he has the instinct of a political activist and student leader and shows leadership skills early in life – all of which come naturally to him.
The first time I read about the statement by Anwar that this could well be his swan song, I thought it’s an attempt to garner sympathy votes not from fence-sitters or independents but to get his own supporters to go out and vote for him and not think that their votes don’t matter. It is both fact and strategy. Call it a ploy if you want.
In more developed political systems where integrity of the political process is less of an issue the emphasis is focused on ideas, values and policies. Personality and public persona does matter but only as so far it breathes life in ideas and values such personalities are associated with.
But here’s the deal, ladies. Anwar Ibrahim remains damaged goods to many but I think he has salvaged some of the loss in credibility over the years and has emerged a serious player. I believe in second chances.
“For these sentiments we will hold you in high regard and reverence. Now please stay at that high and exalted level you have placed yourself at and try to resist the temptation to join us sub-humans in the abyss that is Malaysian politics. You owe yourself that much. Salam!”
My own sentiment minus the cynicism that heavily lines your summation and assessment of the man. Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim has ony disdain for the ordinary folks of all races – including his own. Those who know him, his friends and family members know that his headlong plunge into politics was sudden and not choreographed in advance. He’s a corporate and not a political animal. It’s so out of character for him.
It’s time to leave the man alone.
“Netto is back with another tembak” — Gurubachan Singh
If he keeps on shooting from the hip, he might end up shooting his own nuts that even his exaggerated skills at camouflaging his true self will not be able to cover.
Seriously no cookies for me even if I win the debate & let alone messages disappeared.
Vic,
So what if it’s a psychological ploy. Anyway Lks has tendered resignation after he lost something, eventually he still stay on.
Clf,
The bible says we must put everything to a test. We can put aside our disagreement for our common but when things over, it’s time to rumble. Just like what the victors of ww2 did to each other after the final capitulation of Japan & Germany.
Geranimo,
How old karpal is right now? Of course, just as what clf says, why bother
Bean,
I got to agree what you say about ideals & issues & not personalities. Tony Blair strategy is lagi more terrer
You sure or not! Us does not practise negative advertisement. Just look at fox news good enough Liao. Its bs la.
As for tunku, you are right. We should leave him alone
”Anwar Ibrahim remains damaged goods to many but I think he has salvaged some of the loss in credibility over the years and has emerged a serious player. I believe in second chances”. – Mr. Bean
I didn’t expect to hear that from you, Mr. Bean!
I am not convinced by Nettos take on this matter, yes it is a fact and strategy; a desperate effort to harness the support of his supporters but not no way a trick.
Which part Reeper? The damage goods, the credibility factor, serious player or second chances? Which? Or all of the above?
Reeper,
I agree with what bean say. I was affected when anwar decided to have non Chinese educated becoming headmaster or headmistress in Chinese schools. Then again like bean says, I also believe in second chances. Unlike clf, I will go in with eyes wide open. Would not hesitate in criticising anwar in any issues.
Trick or strategm any difference. Zhuge liang very good in it. Zhugeliang bad person?
To all those that commented on Anwar here, either pro or con, my question is “if you were in Anwar’s position from being a rebel to becoming the DPM and a whiskers away becoming the PM and the suffering he had to endure after being sacked by Apanama, would you have acted differently?” How would you act different?
Is there anyone in the opposition that will be accepted by all component parties to be PM? Someone who has the experience and the temerity and tenacity to withstand the test and challenges not just political but personal meted out by UMNO/BN?
At every turn I hear anything but ABU, so there’s so much detest for UMNO and the leadership in UMNO, now why not give PR a chance or would you rather take another 50 more years of the same. The parties in PR have mutually agreed to Anwar to be PM if PR comes to power. Surely the likes of LKS, Karpal, TG Nik Aziz and LGE have given this lots of thought before agreeing to let Anwar be the PM. These are veteran politicians, I’m sure they know the risk.
Yes, orang malaya.
It is said that many of us are imbued with the spirit of ABU. Sad to say, there also those who are insistent on APA (Aku Pantang Anwar). The twain cannot meet for reasons of political expediency, the narrow window of opportunity to engender change and wildly fluctuating external environment.
Someone said to ‘test the spirit’. What they lack is the Spirit of precedence. They can’t go forward, as they can’t understand their backwards. Their goals are as multifarious as their wandering hubris of: “What’s in it for me?”. They dabble with arcane warnings of woe, even as we concentrate on the Will to Change. Shafting the carrot/radish down the donkey’s nether orifice before the cart is even ready.
So my next wish after RAHMAN should be ANWAR, if you believe in prophesies.
For once Netto is off his mark. If Anwar says he will retire to academia if PR does not gain Putrajaya, that may the mark of a man who knows his limits. Leadership is not limited to one man. If the next election does not produce change, God help this country.
I believe Netto underestimates the capacity of the ordinary voters who want change. The man in the street has an innate sense of justice and fairplay. This will make the difference. This is reflected in the on-going shift of balance in Sabah. The shift of balance in the Peninsular is clear, which is why Bumno is making desperate noises. The death-knell of Bumno tolling. Najib knows this, Mahafiraun knows this and the Bumno elite know this.
I doubt if Anwar is playing games. Netto’s fancies and bombastic English won’t change that. If PR fail, there will be a crisis and new leader will emerge. That is why Anwar is planning a soft landing! If PR don’t win, there will also be a crisis in the country with a deadlock!
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Welcome back, Si rusa–Din Merican.
OMG! Read This
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/kedah-mca-backs-hudud-tells-dap-to-stop-opposing/
Make up your mind, MCA. Are you for or against Hudud?
_____________
Do you understand what is hudud, not political hudud? If you do, then you will not be horrified.–Din Merican
Orang Malaya,
Nobody say that Anwar should be given a chance. However, Anwar got to be held accountable for all his actions. Past or Present. Especially the sabah aspect. Anwar came out & say that Pakatan is willing to cede seats. Did Anwar discuss with DAP? Which seats to be sacrificed? PKR? Read This by Ktemoc.
RPK is right. We must bury UMNOism once & for all. Anwar is just a leader not a dictator. PKR can’t dictate the direction of Pakatan Rakyat.
PKR destroying Pakatan in Sarawak
The Sarawak State Assembly has 71 representatives, and thus 71 state seats to be contested during a state election. In its 2006 state election, DAP, PKR, PAS and SNAP contested and respectively won the following number of seats:
DAP contested 12, won 6
PKR contested 25, won 1
SNAP contested 28, won 1
PAS contested 1, did not win any.
In the pending state election, PKR, without so much as a nod from its Pakatan allies, made a preemptive strike by unilaterally declaring it will contest 52 seats out of the 71 available. I’m surprised by its most generous nature that it didn’t say it’ll contest all 71 wakakaka.
But then that’s the same old PKR in 2007 when it tried the same old dirty trick of attempting to cheat DAP by presenting the latter with (hopeful) fait accompli through its unilateral media releases even before the Pakatan 2008 seat allocation exercise was completed. It made the same (as the Sarawak) preemptive ambit claim for several seats traditionally contested (and even some already won) by DAP.
Anwar Ibrahim had originally agreed to some seats as DAP’s traditional domain, but (I suspect, under the influence of a certain someone) reneged on his agreement when PKR through its sickening unilateral media releases staked claims on DAP’s seats the latter had planned to contest (with Anwar’s full knowledge), albeit temporarily before he came to his senses and got his party to back off from claiming, for example, Kula’s seat in Ipoh Timor (or was it Barat?).
In this recent outrageous, preemptive, selfish, arrogant and unrealistic claim (through its usual unilateral media release) for 52 seats in Sarawak, leaving only 19 to be shared between DAP, PAS and SNAP, it either believes it is the ‘boss’ of Pakatan and the world revolves around it, or hopes to win 2 seats by doubling its 2006 efforts (25 got 1, maybe 52 will get 2?)
It even has the unmitigated arrogance to talk down on SNAP, stating it can only have 3 seats to contest (implying DAP and PAS have to share 16 seats). Who the F* did it think it was?
Sometimes PKR leaders have forgotten who has done well in the last State election, and what will be its likely chances in the land of Ibans-Dayaks?
What is far more annoying than its unrealistic greed and selfishness has been its overbearing arrogant presumption it can dictate terms to the others, DAP, PAS and especially SNAP. And the anwaristas naturally see no wrong in their leader’s pseudo-imperious high-handedness, even chiding SNAP for not being (that UMNO word) ‘grateful’ and accepting the crumbs cast down by Azmin Ali the Great.
I do not see much future for Pakatan’s likelihood of winning in the next general election with such an insolent overbearing group of PKR leaders like Azmin Ali. It’s little wonder that Gobala and Zaid left, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised when dissatisfied Chegubard, Mustaffa Kamal, Jonson Chong and various others, who are all fed up with the blue-eyed lil’ Napoleon and his coterie, follow soon.
Thus I don’t blame SNAP for just giving PKR the two fingers flick by declaring it will contest in at least 40 seats. SNAP made a point in stating its grievance is only with PKR and not DAP or PAS.
Much as I like peh-mor Taib and cronies to be chucked out by the forthcoming ballot box, I doubt very much that will happen, thanks to PKR unbelievable greed, selfishness, inability to cooperate, arrogance to its Pakatan mates and its unrealistic fantasy of winning more than its current 1-seat worth.
You can take some PKR members out of UMNO but you sure can’t take UMNO out of them.
________________
We are not talking about PKR. Focus on Pakatan Rakyat and the good things they have done in Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor. There are a lot of good, talented, smart and committed people in PKR as well, especially people like Nurul Izzah, Sim Tze-Sin, Nik Nazmi, Rafizi Ramli, Lawyer and PKR VP Surendran, Che Gu Bard,et.al.–Din Merican
Which part Reeper? The damage goods, the credibility factor, serious player or second chances? Which? Or all of the above? – Bean
yes, all of the above, but especially the second chance part Mr. Bean, because he has managed to salvage himself from the damaged goods level and won back some of his credibility. your comments are mostly critical of Anwar/PKR and therefore I see your above statement as positive towards him, therefore unexpected from you.
on the other hand I don’t share your pessimism about Anwar and PR not having a chance at the polls and becoming PM.
is there really no chance?
Anwar can repeat his swan-song tactics many more times but many will not believe his words which can easily be “un-spinned” later to justify his remaining in politics. For him, the mission is still not yet accomplished. So, don’t be fooled.