The magician spellbinds his audience

Love him or loathe him. The undeniable fact is that when given a microphone, Anwar Ibrahim transforms into a magician. And in Shah Alam last night, he cast a spell on the crowd.

SHAH ALAM: Business was roaring at the Nasi Kandar restaurant. Its waiters, unaccustomed to such large crowds, appeared flustered.

Amid the clatter of tea glasses and orders being shouted from across the floor, a stream of anti-Barisan Nasional propaganda poured out of the speakers put up next door.

The lower-middle class neighbourhood of Sri Muda was enveloped in excitement and the rain did not deter a sea of people from turning up for the ceramah.

Umbrellas, newspapers and plastic bags shielded the crowd from the droplets. The people had gathered for two reasons – Anwar Ibrahim and S Ambiga.

The Bersih co-chairperson’s presence at these opposition ceramah has cast aspersion on her claim of being neutral. But then again, BN leaders have never invited her to speak at their events on the importance of clean and fair elections.

When it was announced that Ambiga had arrived, the predominantly Malaysian Indian crowd surged forward to catch a closer glimpse of the woman responsible for the two mammoth rallies that rattled the Najib administration.

Hundreds of mobile phones and cameras were raised into the air to snap photos as the mother of two, draped in a saree, was led towards the makeshift stage, wearing a garland.

Despite her poor grasp of the Tamil language and her affluent background, the Bersih co-chairperson has become a venerated figure among Malaysian Indians of all classes.

This was evident when the crowd mobbed her as she left, hugging her, shaking her hand and posing for photographs.

In her speech, the former Bar Council president stressed that she was not telling the people who to vote for but reminded them to cast their ballots for the right leaders.

Ambiga, who was likened to India’s former prime minister Indra Gandhi, also spoke on the importance of exercising the democratic right to vote and the need to ensure that the election was free and fair.

‘Here comes the seventh prime minister’

But the night belonged to Anwar.

As soon as the emcee announced the arrival of the nation’s “seventh prime minister”, the crowd erupted into a thunderous cheer and a famous old Tamil song started blaring.

The song “Naan Annai Yittal” was from a MGR movie and spoke of how the hero would end the suffering of the poor.

MGR was an actor with a demigod status who later became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. His movies often revolved around defending the downtrodden and helping the poor.

What unravelled in the next few minutes once again stamped Anwar’s mark as the most entertaining politician in the nation, whose stage presence turns his rivals green with covetousness.

Love him or loathe him. The undeniable fact is that when given a microphone, Anwar transforms into a magician. And in Shah Alam last night, he cast a spell on the crowd.

Lip-syncing the lyrics, the opposition leader ploughed through the audience and then, much to the delight of those present, mimicked the trademark dance steps of MGR. Even Ambiga, who until then managed to keep a straight face, found it difficult to contain her laughter.

Despite his age and hectic schedule, Anwar showed little signs of fatigue as he paced the length and breadth of the stage, switching his tone and expression from humorous to serious, holding the crowd in awe until past midnight.

‘Don’t exploit Lahad Datu bloodbath’

Training his guns on the bloodbath in Lahad Datu, he cautioned Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak not to exploit the issue for political mileage following reports which implicated Anwar in the crisis.

“I am accused of being a US agent, they also claim I support the Arabs, the Indonesians and Turkey, and now the latest… I support Lahad Datu,” he said.

Touching on Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remark that if BN had two-thirds majority, the coalition would strip Ambiga of her citizenship and the former premier’s suggestion that the granting of citizenship to the Chinese and Indians be probed as well, Anwar lambasted Najib for not defending his people.

“When Mahathir questioned this, the leaders of MIC, MCA and Umno kept quiet… look at our younger generation of Chinese and Indians here, how do they feel when after 50 years of Independence, their citizenship and loyalty are being questioned.

“What sort of country? What sort of leadership? Where in the world can citizens tolerate a leader questioning the citizenship of his own people? But in Malaysia it is tolerated because we have a very weak prime minister,” he said to a round of applause.

Anwar also criticised Najib and his cousin, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, for not voicing out against Perkasa’s threat to torch Malay Bibles containing the word Allah.

He argued that the country’s leadership was weak because the top level’s focus was centred on contracts and how to enrich themselves.

The opposition leader also spoke about the corruption in BN and the criticisms levelled against Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto.

“When we speak about free education, abolishing PTPN and reducing oil prices [the critics claim], the nation would go bankrupt, but the RM500 million commission in the Scorpene deal profits the nation, AES and stealing cows also profit the nation,” he said sarcastically.

Criticising Najib’s estimates which the premier used in his argument that Pakatan’s pledges would brankrupt the nation, Anwar said the former’s estimates were wrong and that was because he learnt Mathematics from his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Targeting the practice of cronyism, Anwar zeroed in on business tycoons such as T Ananda Krishnan, whom he said Pakatan would force to reduce the charges of Astro should the opposition coalition form the government.

Also in his crosshairs was Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary, who the opposition leader claimed was poised to expand his business empire through the take over of MAS if BN won the next general election.

‘Next, they’ll say I did it with a cow’

No Anwar ceramah would be complete without him narrating his ordeal when he was sacked from office, arrested, beaten, stripped and humiliated.

He claimed that even Nelson Mandela sympathised with him, saying that while he had spent a longer time in prison, he was never subjected to such degradation.

On the sexual related charges against him, Anwar quipped: “They claim I do it with men, they claim I do it with women… next, they would claim I have done it with a cow.”

“When I go back to the kampung, I am worried about the cows there, I am worried that Perkasa or Umno Youth would… plant a strand of my hair on the cow and cry ‘DNA’!” he added.

Anwar said while the next government was bound to continue with the agreements inked by its predecessor, he however added that the provisions of these agreements would be re-looked at if the projects did not benefit or were harmful to the people.

As for Mahathir, Anwar said he had forgiven his nemesis and would not arrest him should Pakatan seize control of Putrajaya.

However, he stressed that the new government would go after the contracts issued to Mahathir’s sons.

Whether or not the applause and roars of support turn into votes in the coming general election, one thing was certain. Anwar gave the people of Sri Muda a night to remember, one that was bound to crop up during the coffeeshop talks there for weeks to come.

And that is the magic touch of this man.