Behold, the chosen one!

Single-handedly holding the Pakatan Rakyat coalition together is no mean feat which makes him a very dangerous man to those who lurks in the corridors of power.

COMMENT

Yes, once in a lifetime, when the land has been raped and pillaged, devastated and laid desolate by years of evil and tyrannical rule, its people dying of hunger and thirst and wallowing in the depths of despair, a special child will be born who is destined to become the saviour of a nation.

“A Chosen One” who will lead the people out of its misery and plight. A multi-faceted character oozing with charisma, talent and emitting an aura around him.

His enemies would shiver in fear at the mere mention of his name and he would give them sleepless nights filled with nightmares only to awake drenched in cold sweat. His enemies would spend every waking moment to plot his demise. They would see him as a grave threat to their way of life and brings out the demented guilt in them.

Everyone once thought it might have been the great… Ibrahim Ali of the NGO Perkasa. A controversial character who has declared himself as the undisputed champion of the Malays, the royalty and the religion. He has been in the limelight of Malaysian politics, creating ripples and waves.

The Malays were awed by his larger than life silhouette. Former prime ministers paid tribute to him, while current leaders trip head over heels to be photographed with him. He was immune to prosecution and in his earnestness to unite the Malays, he had to push aside the non-Malays, earning him “new-found” reputation.

Chandra Muzaffar’s recent statement that PKR lacks any prime minister material cannot be any truer, as Ibrahim was seen by Malays as the logical choice for prime minister.

But not for long, as the Malays who hero-worshipped him lost patience with his unfulfilled promises. Like Hindraf and the Indians who looked to their leaders for salvation and the promise of million-ringgit bounties, Malays who looked to Perkasa to salvage their pride and honour wounded by years of Barisan Nasional’s gross misrule have grown disillusioned.

Single-handedly shoving the non-Malays into a corner, he has effectively isolated BN against itself which is a boon for PKR.

Malaysians first looked onto his high-handed antics with fear and apprehension, which was followed by wide-eyed amazement, and finally with comical ridicule.

Meanwhile, the Malays turned their faces away in embarrassment at the way he continues to make a fool of himself at their expense.

His fetish to rekindle the black spectre of the May 13 riots and his hostility towards the Chinese and the Christians has made him the butt of jokes.

Only some diehards in the BN coalition like the former prime minister, still believes that he has what it takes to be the saviour of the nation.

So if it is not Ibrahim, then who can it be?

Blame Anwar for the ills of the country

But among us is one unassuming hero. A man who has been vilified for his beliefs, beaten to a pulp, jailed and charged with committing the vilest and unspeakable acts; yet today, he stands tall, courageous and unafraid to speak out for the people.

His untiring efforts to unite the people, giving them a shred of hope and a brighter future are shining through like a beacon of light in a dark tunnel.

He was blamed for everything under the Malaysian sun. Even the neighbour’s stuck toilet bowl was blamed on Anwar Ibrahim.

Unable to charge him with corruption, they resorted to sex and moral values to debase his character.

Even a former US ambassador (John Malott) has disclosed that there was a high-level conspiracy to annihilate Anwar by piling charges upon charges against him, effectively neutralising his political career.

About 10,000 cyber troopers along with the mainstream media join in a collective effort to manufacture subversive propaganda to discredit him and to brand him as a Jewish apologist. More sexual scandals are about to surface and they may even hold him responsible for the Lahad Datu fiasco.

Many of his trusted friends continue to deny him in public, denouncing him as a fraud and shaming him without blinking an eye, yet these so-called friends seem hardly to be of good character.

His endearing traits

Today, many Malaysians look up to Anwar with a new sense of hope. They believe that the mainstream media has made a mincemeat of his character. It is the mouth-to-mouth testament that has convinced many to give him the benefit of the doubt.

There are hardly any credible politicians left in the BN coalition. If Anwar was even half of what the government accuses him of, the people would have packed him off ages ago.

He is not a saint but the fact that he is human and prone to mistakes makes the people endear themselves to him. His image seems to improve day by day and he is starting to look like the angel Dr Mahathir Mohamad spoke about.

Single-handedly holding the Pakatan Rakyat coalition together is no mean feat, which makes him a very dangerous man to those who lurks in the corridors of power.

Anwar wants to make this country a better place for its citizens. Is there any wrong with that? He acts like a politician, talks like one and sounds very promising. He has the credentials, the flair, the ideas and the solution. His humility strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies.

He is a natural leader with the charisma to draw in the crowd. People are drawn to his simple, yet honest message. It is hard for ordinary folk to ignore him, especially when the media spotlight is continuously fixated upon him with subversive propaganda.

He comes across as a pious and religious man who won’t fail to move the crowd every time he speaks. And it is this intelligence on religious matters that gives him the wisdom to speak on behalf of Malaysians. It is also the reason why a religious party like PAS looks up to him to lead the coalition.

Unlike political frogs, people think that Anwar cannot be bought at any price and many are sure that he will not let them down. There is an air of honesty about him. He is polite, endearing and comes across as an intelligent character who does not resort to gutter politics or abuse religion for political mileage in his campaign to woo the crowds. He is an icon of hope and his message is consistent.

However, he has a dire warning for us. He will retire if PKR fails to capture Putrajaya. If Malaysians continue to be fickle-minded, even the Chosen One may not be able to perform any miracles.

So the Chosen One has been handed to us on a silver platter. But knowing Malaysians for their past history, they would probably hand it back to BN-Umno like they always do for the last 55 years.

Tour consultant, sports pilot and naturalist Iskandar Dzulkarnain has been writing a few years now. He is a FMT columnist.