LETTER | Anwar fails because he imagines that people love him

LETTER | Dr Mahathir Mohamad once remarked that Anwar repeatedly fails because “He imagines that the people love him.”

I suspect that former prime minister Mahathir is right.

Mahathir is right because many things that Anwar has done since he became the prime minister indicate that he assumes too conveniently that people will just accept whatever it is that he says or does, simply because they love him.

In May for example, when the courts ruled that the non-Muslims are free to use the term “Allah”, Anwar declared that non-Muslims are only free to do so in Sabah and Sarawak, despite the fact that the court ruling did not say anything to that tune.

It is as if Anwar simply believed that people will just do as he wants them to do, even if they don’t want to or are not required to, simply because they love him and wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Prior to the six state elections last August, Anwar also on a whim, decided to say that he wants Tamil to be taught as an additional language in public schools.

He was speaking at the 11th International Tamil Research Conference at Universiti Malaya to a Tamil crowd, and I suppose he just got carried away by the moment to say what he said, to win some applause.

I think he just said it on a whim because after he said it, I don’t think anything has been done on the matter.

A couple of weeks ago, during a speech at the National Language Decade Carnival and National Reading Decade, Anwar suddenly and unexpectedly said that letters that are not written to government agencies in Bahasa Melayu will not be entertained.

He said it like the idea came to him in a dream the night before because everybody was caught unaware by what he said.

The Sarawak state government was not only caught unaware, it probably even took umbrage at the fact that it was not informed of the matter because it came out quickly to declare that it was not going to entertain the request or order, whichever it is, by Anwar.

In the same speech, Anwar would also bizarrely claim that he was threatened by European lawmakers for his support of the Palestinian cause. The claim was so ridiculous, that PAS could not help but laugh at it.

When pressed to justify his accusation, Anwar would yet again fail to substantiate his claim. As proof that he was indeed threatened, Anwar would provide a démarche, or a diplomatic notice, that was delivered to him by the United States embassy.

How European MP’s became the American embassy or how a diplomatic notice became a threat is something that only Anwar and God know, because no one else does.

All these arbitrary things that Anwar says, where he will suddenly burst out to exclaim something like “kita jadi kerajaan hari ini, besok harga minyak turun”, just to win the cheers and applause of a crowd, without having any desire to own up to his words, indicates that Mahathir is right.

Anwar just wants to be loved by the people.

He will tell the Muslims in the peninsula one thing, the non-Muslims in east Malaysia another thing, the Tamils one thing, the Malays another thing, so long as everybody cheers for him and says what a jolly good fellow he is.

If Anwar was just a celebrity and not a leader, no one would have taken offence to what he said.

If he is a celebrity, we wouldn’t mind hearing whatever he has to say, even if we know that he doesn’t mean a thing that he is saying, for as long as he says it with the intention to entertain or felicitate us.

But since he is a leader, the fact that he just says things just for the sake of cheers and applause, is gut-wrenchingly disappointing.

A leader is someone you can count on. How can you count on somebody who cannot even resist the temptation to just say things without meaning it just because they can’t control their desire to be loved by the crowd? 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.