Well played Anwar, very well played

Well played Anwar, very well played


2 Apr 2025 • 8:00 AM MYT


TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher

Image credit: Buletin Malaysia


On March 24th, I had written that if the government doesn’t do anything in regards to what Zamri Vinoth had said to the Indian community, then the Indians will be forced to retract their support for the government, simply because we will not be able to look at ourselves in the mirror if we don’t.


If the government doesn’t take any action against Zamri Vinoth when it is clear as daylight that he is deliberately trying to do his level best to offend the community, although the government has taken action against others who offend other communities, although their offense if far less than the offense that Zamri Vinoth is giving the Indian community, if the Indian community continues to support the unity government, it will be as if we have no self-respect or dignity whatsoever.


Today ( 27th March), I had put on my realpolitik hat, and predicted that the realpolitik strategist in the country might have raised the Pathrakaliamman Temple relocation issue in KL deliberately, to use it as a means to solve the problem that Zamri Vinoth is causing the government.


To the uninitiated, the reason that the government is hesitant on taking action against Zamri before this,although nearly 900 police reports have lodged against him by the aggrieved Indian community nationwide, is likely because Zamri has put them in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” position.


On one hand, if the government doesn’t take action against Zamri, it might lose the Hindu community’s support. For various reasons, the Hindu community in Malaysia are already feeling a grievance against the unity government. From being one of the biggest supporters of Anwar and PH, the Hindu community’s support for the unity government has been steadily eroding in the last two years.


However, on the other hand, if the government takes action against Zamri Vinoth, it might aggravate the Malay Muslim community, who are already feeling that they are losing their potency, under Anwar’s reign.


So what can the government do to solve this unresolvable problem?


Well, in my realpolitik estimation, if you are presented with a problem that you can’t solve, the way only way to resolve it is by creating a problem that you have already solved.


The problem which the government had created which it had already solved, to solve the unsolvable problem that Zamri Vinoth had put before it, might be the Pathrakaliamman temple relocation issue, which cropped right after the catch 22 that Zamri Vinoth had placed the government in.


Although at the onset, the issue of relocating the temple to build a mosque over it, looked like it had a potential of causing a massive problem to the unity government, the problem might have actually already been resolved by the government, before it was raised.


It was because the problem had already been resolved after it was raised, that the great attention that the temple relocation issue had gained across the nation in the last few days, actually worked in favour of the government.


It is likely because the problem had already been resolved before it was raised, that rather than deal with a massive fallout from issue, the government was not only able to solve the issue in such a way that it won the confidence of the Muslim community without losing the support of the Hindu community, it was able to use the issue to arrest Zamri Vinoth.


The government in other words, has successfully killed not just two birds, but three birds, with one stone.


Firstly, it has managed to pacify both Hindu and Muslim communities, who were on the brink of quarrelling due to action of Zamri Vinoth, who had used the misunderstanding caused by a trio of radio DJ’s to set the grounds for a deeper conflict to form between the two communities, by deflecting everyone’s attention to the temple relocation issue.


After it deflected the attention to the temple relocation issue, it has managed to come out looking like a champion to both the Muslim and Hindu community, by settling the issue amicably.


Thirdly, it has also succeeded in using the temple relocation issue to arrest Zamri, the very person who had earlier put it in a “ head I win, tail you lose” situation.


Mind you, if the government had arrested Zamri before the temple relocation issue cropped up, it would have likely lost either the support of the Muslim community or the Hindu community or both.


But by arresting him only after the temple relocation issue has been raised, it has not only satisfied both the Hindu and Muslim community, it has likely come out looking like the only government in the country that will be able to handle the rising religious and racial tension in the country.


Of course, I cannot say whether these developments were planned or occurred by accident, but either way, I will say this - how everything developed was certainly fortunate for the unity government and Anwar’s leadership.


If it is accidental, then Fate and Fortune look like they are certainly in favour of Anwar reign.


If it is planned, then it is a stroke of genius, that only a very capable, strong albeit Machiavellian leader, could have come up with to turn a potential disaster into a resounding success.


Considering everything, I think I will have to take hats off to Anwar in the way that he handled this entire issue.


The way that he has handled it is reassuring me that after Mahathir, Anwar is likely the first strong leader we have had in more than 2 decades, and this might bode well for the federation, because it is likely only a strong leader – or what some would call a dictator or authoritarian leader or a benevolent despot, by another name – that federation needs to hold it together in this particular juncture of its evolution.