Is Najib a closet Anwaristo?

Listen to the way he speaks nowadays.

COMMENT

Listen to the way he speaks nowadays.

It gets harder by the day to tell whether Najib Tun Razak is a detractor or devotee of Anwar Ibrahim.

No amount of political spinning, double talk or waffling can dissuade the discerning observer from a suspicion that the BN manifesto did get some inspiration from its Pakatan equivalent, which was released earlier.

And it was reported recently that the BN chairman has decided on having his own Campaign Bus, just like Anwar, which he would ride to meet voters, again just like Anwar.

But perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this fixation with his number one adversary is his imitation of the latter’s speaking style, which even bitter opponents have admitted is one of the Pakatan leader’s greatest assets. Some have even said that Anwar’s oratory skill is the stuff of legend.

Najib began attempting to copy Anwar’s distinctive intonations some time ago, not as a tribute but in order to mock him.

After a while, he added some of the more familiar gestures, but in caricature form. And then came a further refinement of the tonal qualities, sometimes even achieving a passing grade in his impression of an Arabic twang.

Lately, however, he seems to have internalised the Anwar style so deeply that the mocking tone has virtually disappeared.

He has even managed to achieve near-naturalness in his attempt to affect the Malay dialect spoken in Penang and southern Kedah.

He usually switches into this mode at the climax of his speech, as shown, for example, by NTV at prime time early this week in its coverage of an event in Sabah. Why would anyone speak Penang Malay when addressing Sabahans?

Other examples can be heard in video clips posted in the last few months on YouTube, tonton.com.my and other websites.

Is Najib under the impression that he has to sound like Anwar in order to attract voters more inclined towards the opposition leader? If so, he must be terribly naive. Why would anyone choose a fake product over the original?