Is Anwar “The One”?

Is Anwar “The One”? By Wong Chin Huat 22 Aug 08 - The NutGraph FOR some, the Permatang Pauh by-election is a “presidential” by-election. Granted, you can’t have a president unless Malaysia were a republic; but what is meant by this is, the battle will decide not only the parliamentarian for the constituency in Penang, but also the Prime Minister of Malaysia. In other words, this is a national election to decide the Chief Executive. Empirically, if Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sustains or even increases the 13,388 margin his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail won five months ago, his plan to bring down the federal government through defections will receive a boost. Such a victory will have multiple meanings. Firstly, it will be a resounding “No” to the “Sodomy I” conviction in 1999 that barred him from politics for 10 years, and the “Sodomy II” case now that aims to terminate his political life. It will be a judgment on the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and the police, who are all being tried in the court of public opinion. It will also be a triumph for the “new politics” experimented by the Pakatan Rakyat. It will boost PKR’s conviction to do away with the New Economic Policy and replace it with a National Economic Agenda. And it will strengthen the support for the pro-Pakatan faction within PAS that is rejecting the talks with Umno on Malay/Muslim unity that apparently came with the lucrative offer of deputy premiership. Even DAP can then claim that the Penang Malays accept the Pakatan Rakyat state government under its helm, since Permatang Pauh is a 69.4% Malay constituency, and one of its state seats is held by PKR’s number one in the state government, Deputy Chief Minister (I) Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin. Without a doubt, these would be big bonuses for the democratisation of Malaysia. ...more