Anwar Need Not Apologise...

Recently, Opposition Leader apologized to his audience during one of the ceramah. It is very rare to hear Anwar apologise to his supporters or the Malaysian Public. He never apologized for his Sept 16 Opera, which destablised the country for months. He also never apologized for all his conflicting statements and also his corrupt past when he was in BN.

Now all of a sudden he apologises for something petty such as selecting the wrong candidates for the past general elections. His hard core supporters will definitely forgive him, as Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’.

I think Dr Mahathir is the one who should apologise. He did the country no favours when he first invited Anwar to UMNO and as a result, the country political situation has always been unstable ever since Anwar was sacked in 1998.

No opposition leader has inflicted such damage to the country’s image as Anwar did. He criss-crossed the globe saying nothing nice about the country and its leaders. Never mind that he himself got elected by very same undemocratic election system. Never mind that for 16 years, he did nothing to reform the government’s various institutions, never mind that for the same number of years, he controlled the press and helped to build a ‘racist’ newspaper.

Never mind that using the same patronage system, he, his family and friends became rich. Never mind that he defended malay rights to the hilt, BTN, all the repressive laws and the NEP. Has he ever apologized, never. He just reformed himself overnight, just because he was sacked and could not achieve his ambition to become the Prime Minister. He would have never changed anything that was favorable to him if he eventually became the Prime Minister.

The weak opposition then took advantage to befriend him, knowing well Anwar has got substantial grassroots Malay support. Never mind that the first person to accuse Anwar of sodomy and abuse of power is none other than Anwar’s lead counsel for the current trial, Karpal ‘the lion’ Singh. For political power, anything goes. Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’, so Malaysian politicians can change their colours, minds and parties whenever they want.

Apart from Mahathir, the voters who blindly voted for PKR candidates should apologise. You deserve the candidates you voted for. Why ask him/her to step down now. Why no one demanded that the Bota assemblyman to quit when he first crossed over to PKR. Such hypocrisy in Pakatan Rakyat. Elected representative shall remain just that. If people vote for the party, then we don’t need candidates, just vote for the party symbol and let the political party place any representative and have options to change them as and when they like. With this, even by elections will become unnecessary and we can save loads of money.

Malaysia deserves a better opposition leader. There are many within Pakatan Rakyat but I think many talented leaders simply can’t talk and act dramatically like Anwar, hence they are sidelined. Some of them are doing impressive work in their constituency but as they say, in politics, perception matters, not facts. If one were to compile all the facts and track record, rather than rhetoric, Anwar’s achievement as Opposition leader is nothing but a disappointment.

He would probably get some Oscars or Anugerah Seri Angkasa for his stage play, dialogue and (mis)direction, but records show he has not done much since he became the opposition leader. Every state that is governed by Pakatan Rakyat has nothing significant to show eg The same system of political patronage is in place, local councils are filled by mostly local party leaders and race based.

Like Karpal Singh said (telling the truth, emotionally) Anwar should just step down and make way for others. Pakatan Leaders always ask government officials to quit even when they are just being investigated for something. Perhaps, they should ask Anwar to step down until his trial is over. Lim Kit Siang would have done a better job, of course if he avoids calling for Royal Commission of Inquiry for almost everything that goes wrong, everyday and if he can brush up his verbal communication skills.

Or rather, Pakatan Rakyat should emulate BN, where their leaders are replaced (except for Samy Velu) and more importantly, inclusion of young leaders. Except for Guan Eng, we are tired, forced to see and hear from the same old faces in Pakatan Rakyat.

In summary, Anwar need not apologise, Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’ voters should!, Pakatan Rakyat leaders should apologise, for accepting and supporting him all these years, knowing well his track record in BN and current performance and failures in Sept 16 project and losing Perak state government.