Anwar should adopt ‘elegant silence’ as stratagem against Dr M

FMT:

Anwar should adopt ‘elegant silence’ as stratagem against Dr M

Mahathir Mohamad is not going to let-up so Anwar has to ignore him and carry on with his reforms.




From Terence Netto


Dr Mahathir Mohamad won’t let-up on Anwar Ibrahim.

He paused briefly after he suffered a second cancellation of his Malay Proclamation event before returning to the warpath – this time with more scorn.

Mahathir demanded Anwar furnish proof he had enriched himself and his family in his first stint of 22 years as prime minister (1981 -2003), as Anwar had claimed in a combative speech at a PKR convention.


Anwar did not single out Mahathir but there could be no mistaking who he meant when he attacked leaders who showed concern for Malay poverty when out of power but not otherwise.

Mahathir blamed Anwar for the cancellations of his proclamation event but gave no evidence Anwar was behind them. Mahathir argued that only someone with prime ministerial powers could have caused the two cancellations.

Could it be that the only way he would have known that was from past experience as prime minister?

Be that as it may, from the tenor of his most recent remarks, Mahathir is clearly shifting gears in baiting Anwar to duel with him.

Would it not be better for Anwar to ignore the bait and continue with his work much as Malaysia’s fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (2003 – 2009) had done when he came under attack by Mahathir towards the later phase of his premiership?

Abdullah was troubled by Mahathir’s attacks but chose to maintain what some commenters described as an “elegant silence”.

His dignified demeanour played nicely into Malay political culture which values graceful deportment.

However, Abdullah’s demerits turned out to be self-defeating, his indecisiveness putting the skids under his administration.

Further, unfavourable events – the Hindraf mass demonstration, in particular – and Abdullah’s vacillations on police reform, combined to undermine him.

Anwar has neither Abdullah’s supine ways nor the defect of nepotism: he quickly backed away from a bad decision in appointing daughter Nurul Izzah as a financial adviser which saw the matter recede into insignificance.

Laser-like concentration on fighting corruption, waste and administrative inefficiency will enable his government to deliver where its predecessors have been flat and flabby.

This will be welcomed by a populace feeling the continuing effects of economic stringency imposed by the fight against Covid-19.

A national supremo intent on getting the country off and running would command more respect and popularity compared with has-beens like Mahathir who will be seen as nothing more than tub-thumping demagogues.

Against a background of corruption cases, especially when these eventuate in successful prosecutions, an overall scenario would play out in favour of the long-time Pied Piper of reform, egalitarianism and inclusiveness.

To top it all, an attitude of elegant silence in the face of carping critics would allow the country to be freed of the obsessions of race and religion that have held it in thrall for so long.

Anwar could then be renowned not just as a reformer but as a liberator.



Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.