Hell hath no fury as ......

When I am challenged about my sympathetic comments for Zaid Ibrahim against his current sniping at Anwar Ibrahim I would think of the idiom ‘don’t get mad, get even’.

Anwar Ibrahim, due perhaps to his mystical support of and very obvious and invincible allegiance to Azmin Ali, has offended, upset and made enemies of many of his erstwhile supporters - Nallakarupan, once partner in tennis and various other activities, Gobalakrishnan, once chief bodek-er and an anwarista fanatic, Ezam once right-hand man of the so-called Great Reformer, and of course Zaid Ibrahim, the comparatively less intimate colleague but nonetheless one who left his ministerial post to be Anwar's supporter, and many others.

I’ll talk of three only to arrive at what I believe might explain Zaid’s recent conduct against Anwar, whether he is working directly for BN against Anwar, as he has been naturally accused of.

We know that years ago prior to a PKR party election, Nalla was instructed directly by Anwar to stay out of the contest for a VP post. The quite credible story was that Anwar wanted to ensure his blue-eyed boy, Azmin Ali, secure an unimpeded place among the VPs, which was essential to Azmin’s climb to the deputy president post and eventually the No 1 position in PKR.

Poor Nalla was once threatened with a walk to the gallows because of his closed relationship with Anwar. One can imagine how betrayed he would have felt when his so-called ‘best friend’ instructed him to stay out of the VP race in which he was certain to win the contest, given the large Indian membership in PKR at that time. He realized he wasn’t all that valued by Anwar after all.

Gobala’s case was slightly different. While he wasn’t instructed to stay out of the party’s election, he like many others contesting in the last PKR party election felt cheated by the many still-unexplained unaccountable irregularities in the polling process. To add insult to injury, post party election, when the consolation prizes were handed out, he was dumped in favour of newcomer Surendran. The final stab into his once-loyal (bodek-Anwar) heart was when he was issued a show cause letter, to be replied within 7 days.

How does one get even when one’s mad or even broken hearted, deserted by a man they had idolized, who betrayed them for a lang chai (pretty boy)?

Nalla formed his own half-past-six party but really with the real aim of moving into and using BN to get at Anwar.

Gobala remained as an independent but no doubt is fully aware his political life as an independent has a shorter lifespan than a Mayfly. He lashes out as much as he can at Anwar while he still has the public attention, before he fades off into obscurity as one line in history’s footnotes.

Then we come to Zaid Ibrahim – just read my post Zaid Ibrahim - suffers no fool gladly to appreciate his disgust with Anwar Ibrahim and PKR.

But unlike Nalla and Gobala, Zaid is wealthy and has a leadership persona that Azmin Ali worried deeply about when he was in PKR. Worse, unlike Indians Nalla and Gobala, Zaid is a Melayu and more likely to be listened to, even as the head of a newly formed kutu-ish (mite-like) party.

So Zaid could afford to form his own party to get at Anwar. Of course it’s all about getting even. Call it spite or sweet revenge, whatever. It’s a very human nature, no doubt a weakness but nonetheless a natural human nature. Zaid gleefully snipes at Anwar.

However, to be fair to Zaid, in the latest of Anwar's series of headaches, the sex video a la CSL's escapade, Zaid has been fairly reasonable and fair - please read Malaysiakini's Zaid: I saw the sex video too.

I once lamented Nalla’s use of the BN platform to rail at his betrayer Anwar, but unless Nalla has the wealth and more authoritative Melayu-ness of Zaid Ibrahim, as a virtually unknown individual what could he do to have a sweet-sour go at Anwar Ibrahim? Nalla's outrage at his betrayal was such he was even prepared to enter into a Faustian pact, and he did.

Of course the anwaristas do not see these. They dismiss the expressions of dissatisfactions against and outrage at being betrayed by their leader and lang chai, conveniently and self-deceptively as nothing more than the avarice and weakness of the frogs, or that those who left were moles. Alas, it's true that none are so blind as those who refuse to see.

Related:
(1) Gobalakrishnan leaves the poison behind
(2) The Poison within PKR - Part III