Anwar on the road to Putrajaya?
Sep 1, 05 1:05pm
Some men are born great. Yet others achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them - William Shakespeare
In a matter of a month, Malaysias most celebrated cause celebre has gone from being a virtual political outcast to folk hero.
Released from jail a year ago, the speed at which former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahims rehabilitation is taking place is almost breathtaking. Since then, he has received an apology from ex-police chief Rahim Noor for the injuries he suffered while in custody - symbolised internationally by the infamous black eye.
And only last week, he turned the tables on the author of the infamous book chronicling his character defects, which not only earned him his vindication but also made him richer by a few million ringgit.
Anwar, therefore has returned or is at least returning! And who
can blame him whenever he smiles thinking about this?
With destiny now on his side, is it any wonder if he chooses to declare his aspirations to be prime minister one day?
Is it also any wonder that this whole episode is placing him straight in the mould of Shakespeares dictum - that the events beginning from September 1998 onwards is somewhat taking him to the path of greatness - by default?
Maybe yes, may be not But what does not need reassuring is that these are, indeed, interesting times in Malaysias history. And rather, ironically, if anybody had missed a parallel, Anwars comeback bears an uncanny resemblance to what his own nemesis, Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself went through decades ago.
Castigated and banished into the political wilderness for his strident views
stemming partly from his book titled, The Malay Dilemma, the former premier uncovered the very same path to stardom that his once deputy is now discovering.
So it is indeed interesting, to know that ones food cannot after all be another mans poison.
Food, is food all the same. Now that both Anwar and Mahathir have eaten from the same political plates metaphorically said, nothing beats saying that the man Mahathir wanted rid off, has risen from his political grave.
And how that has been gaining currency is evidenced by the innumerable times he has been courted by local and the foreign media for commentaries.
So he is Malaysias comeback kid to what former US president, Bill Clinton was to his people.
Moral dimension
And like the greatness he is seeking through his relentless campaign of redress, what is unmistakable is the moral dimension of his return.
By reversing history
and rewriting the way it accurately reflects reality, Anwar is the person to watch from now onwards.
Be on the lookout for the strategies he is deploying to win back what he must have privately mused as being robbed off the premiership.
And by giving every one of his actions a moral stamp, he is also doing what Clinton did 13 years ago, over the moral quandary triggered by the Vietnam War.
Instead of serving in it, the former president avoided conscription citing the wars illegitimacy which history later vindicated. And what happened next, as they used to say, was history. History by the election of a one-time draft dodger to his nations highest office.
So it is probably the same with Anwar. From the high pedestal of deputy premiership to the dungeons of Bukit Aman, Anwar is more than a cause celebre. He is a political force, clearly for the
present and the future.
The court rulings and apologies have corroborated that he is a proven victim of injustice. Apart from the moral victories he is securing apace, the battles he is waging can be akin to what Malaysias famous general of the anti communist insurgency, General Gerald Templar, did, winning the hearts and minds of his people.
That he is steadily on his way back to stardom bears scrutiny to yet another of Shakespeares verses, "They say best men are moulded out of faults and for most, become much more the better for being a little bad."
That should aptly describe Anwar as he now is or appropriately his mood. More wronged than being wrong, the present climate of slow and steady vindication cannot make him any better for the faults and escapades he once stood wrongly accused of.
JAYA PRAKASH lectures in journalism in Singapore.
Author who helped trigger Anwar's sacking dies in hospital
Aug 29, 05 12:07pm
The author of a book which helped trigger the 1998 sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim died Monday of diabetes, the official Bernama news agency said.
Bernama said Khalid Jafri, 65, would be buried Tuesday in the town of Port Dickson. He leaves a wife and four children.
Khalid, the author of "50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be PM", had been sentenced in July to one year in jail for accusing Anwar of sodomy, corruption and an extra-marital affair that resulted in an illegitimate daughter.
Khalid was free on bail pending an appeal. However, early this month he was admitted to hospital for treatment for diabetes. His right leg was amputated and he was put on a life support machine.
On Aug 18 a court awarded Anwar RM4.5 million in damages over the book.
"The defendants' main purpose in publishing the book was to destroy the plaintiff's reputation and political career," said High Court judge Mohamad Hishamudin Mohamad Yunus in a strongly-worded decision.
Khalid's wife Rozihan was named as the second defendant in the libel case, in her role as publisher of the book.
The judge noted that the book was distributed to delegates at the general assembly of the ruling Umno in May 1998.
Anwar, heir apparent to then-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was sacked in September 1998 and subsequently convicted on corruption and sodomy charges which he said were engineered to prevent him challenging Mahathir for the leadership.
He was released from jail in September last year after the sodomy charges were overturned.
- AFP
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