BOMBSHELL – ‘ANWAR HAS LEARNT YOU CANNOT BE NAÏVE WITH YOUR ENEMIES’ – KUDOS & SUPPORT POUR IN FOR ANWAR AFTER TOUGH WARNING HE WON’T HESISTATE TO USE FORCE TO CRACKDOWN ON EXTREMISTS – ‘HARAPAN’S FAILURE IN NOT COUNTERING RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM LED TO THE DEMISE OF THE GOVT THEN’ – BUT ONE BRAVE SPEECH IS NOT ENOUGH – HAS ANWAR GOT CRACKING YET ON SECURING THE LOYALTY OF HIS OWN SECURITY FORCES? – DESPERADOS LIKE MAHATHIR, HADI & MUHYIDDIN WON’T STOP TRYING TO DESTABILISE THE COUNTRY – TIPS FROM HIS OWN PARTYMATE TO BE ‘DIPLOMATIC, NEGOTIATE & ENGAGE’ MUST BE THE STUPIDEST ADVICE – WHILE OPS LALANG & DETENTION UNDER SOSMA SHOULD AVOIDED, THESE ARE THE LAST CARDS ANWAR MUST BE READY TO USE OR LOSE CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY & ECONOMY – MEANWHILE, ‘NORMAL’ ARRESTS & PROSECUTION FOR THOSE WHO INCITE RACIAL HATRED MUST TAKE PLACE WITHOUT FAIL, OR ANWAR WILL BE SEEN AGAIN AS A ‘TIN KOSONG’
For S Arutchelvan, the prime minister has drawn an important lesson from Pakatan Harapan’s 22-month rise and fall after the 2018 general election.
“Anwar has learnt that you cannot be naïve with your enemies.
“Harapan’s failure in not countering right-wing extremism led to the demise of the government then,” the PSM deputy chairperson told Malaysiakini.
Therefore, Arutchelvan said Anwar should be supported as his nascent government is confronted with a similar conundrum, involving the same forces that orchestrated Harapan’s downfall.
“His hard-hitting speech was targeted at his base and the international community. His position in talking for all Malaysians against those who speak for one-race politics will be well received, especially in the Borneo states, west coast, and southern states of Peninsular Malaysia.
“In recent weeks, there has been some fear among the Harapan base, especially the non-Malays, that Anwar is bending too much to accommodate the ‘green wave’. His message at the PKR congress is to reassure his base and consolidate his grip on power,” he added.
Zahid his ‘biggest weakness’
However, Arutchelvan said while Perikatan Nasional is his “biggest foe on paper”, it is his close friend and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is his “biggest weakness”.
Given the deluge of corruption cases against him, the PSM leader said Zahid is a “tainted figure” and this would impact Anwar’s position in the upcoming election for six states, which PN is touting as a referendum on his premiership with regard to Malay-Muslim votes.
“(PN president) Muhyiddin (Yassin), with people like Azmin Ali and (Bersatu member) Chegu Bard (Badrul Hisham Shaharin) on his side, will build a wave to portray him as a victim,” he said.
Muhyiddin, who became prime minister after spearheading a political coup against the Harapan government, has been slapped with multiple corruption and money laundering charges.
The PN leader, however, claims to be a victim of “selective prosecution” which the government has denied.
Meanwhile, Arutchelvan urged Anwar and those aligned with him to “rebuild a real reformasi movement” from the ground up involving all Malaysians.
“Empowering people at the grassroots based on class-based policies will enhance and build people’s power from below.
“But if those close to Anwar choose to be just ‘lackeys’, hoping to parrot what he says and retweet his messages to win the polls, then I am afraid Anwar will lose momentum,” he added. MKINI
Hassan backs Anwar’s warning, but cautions against Dr M tactics
PKR lawmaker Hassan Karim has backed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in taking a stern stance against those fanning racial and religious tensions.
He said such action was wise to preserve the peace.
“Anwar’s advice is very apt, for the government to act sternly against anyone who irresponsibly tries to fan religious and racial sentiments and causes tensions and threats to public orders and national security,” Hassan (above) said in a statement today.
However, the outspoken MP cautioned that Anwar must not repeat past wrongs by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, particularly Ops Lalang.
Ops Lalang was a crackdown in 1987 – ostensibly to prevent racial riots – which saw over 100 political leaders and activists arrested without detention under the now-defunct Internal Security Act.
The action was deemed politically motivated as Mahathir was both prime minister and the home minister then.
However, he denied being responsible for the crackdown, saying it was independently carried out by the police.
Anwar – who was then education minister – has also been accused by some of being a catalyst to the events leading up to Ops Lalang.
Mahathir is among those peddling this narrative.
On Friday, Anwar said there will be zero tolerance towards any attempts to incite racial or religious sentiments in the country, and urged the authorities to be on the lookout for provocateurs.
Hassan hoped that Anwar would avoid using draconian laws such as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) to tackle the situation, and would instead find alternatives.
“As an alternative, use a more prudent approach, be diplomatic, negotiate, and engage with the leaders of opposition parties and civil society groups which are now openly opposing Anwar’s government.
“Use negotiation tactics, not war,” the PKR lawmaker said.
His statement was in response to Mahathir’s latest swipe at Anwar, where the nonagenarian accused the latter of being more oppressive to Malays than British colonials.
This came after a “Malay proclamation” event the former premier was supposed to attend had to repeatedly be called off due to venue cancellations.
Race card
Hassan lamented Mahathir’s remarks, saying he did not know how Anwar had wronged the former premier.
However, he said it was not uncharacteristic for the Putra advisor to resort to the race card when he is on the back foot.
“Why talk about defending Malays now, when a long opportunity (to help the Malays) was given to him as prime minister for over two decades?
“Anwar has been prime minister for four months. What Malay interests has he sold? The answer is none,” he added.
Hassan said Malay rights in the Federal Constitution, the Malay language, Islam, and the Malay rulers all remained under Anwar, even while the premier championed the rights of other races.
Earlier today, DAP chairperson Anthony Loke also lamented Mahathir resorting to racial tactics and said the former premier should be playing a more productive role instead.
“He is supposed to use his influence to unite the people of various races, and help to attract more investors to develop the country, not play up fictitious racial sentiments,” he had said during a press conference in Penang. MKINI
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