Sodomy roadshow: Is Umno fumbling again?

The programme will serve to keep Anwar's memory alive among his sympathisers, says Shahbudin Husin

PETALING JAYA: If Umno intends to erode support for Anwar Ibrahim with its roadshow about his sodomy case, then the party may have fumbled again in plotting a political strategy, according to an analyst of Umno politics.

Not only will the roadshow keep the memory of Anwar alive, it may even deepen the pity that the public feels for the jailed opposition leader, Shahbudin Husin says in a blog entry.

In fact, he adds, there have been suggestions that it is precisely to keep Anwar’s memory alive and to enhance public sympathy with him that Umno Youth has decided on the roadshow.

Shahbudin does not identify his sources, but he quotes them as saying that Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin and other leaders in the movement are well aware of the failure of PKR defectors and other Anwar detractors to cause indignation against him through the anti-Anwar programmes they have been involved in through the years.

“S Nallakaruppin, Umi Hafilda, Zulkifli Noordin and the NGO Tibai are among the names associated with these attempts, but where are they today? How successful have they been? Have Anwar, PKR and Pakatan Rakyat become weaker or stronger?

“So what is behind Khairy’s and Umno Youth’s decision to copy a failed approach?”

Khairy, in announcing the roadshow, said the purpose was to counter arguments that the case against Anwar was a political conspiracy. He said lawyer Shafee Abdullah, who prosecuted the case, would be the featured speaker at the events.

Shahbudin says the roadshow may well turn out to be a wildly hilarious programme with Shafee projecting himself as a sore winner.

“This is truly hilarious,” he writes. “It’s even funnier than the Maharaja Lawak (TV) programme.

“This may well turn out to be the strangest court case in the world. The accused is already in prison, but the winner in the case is going around the country to try to convince the public of the correctness of the verdict.

“Not only are law professors in universities scratching their heads in wonderment, the apes and monkeys of the jungle are puzzled as well.

“Anwar, who will be attacked and battered in the roadshow, will not be in the position to fight back.

“In the culture of fighting, if an adversary is no longer able to fight, it would be shameful to continue beating him up. Only sissy gangsters would have the heart to bash up an opponent whose hands or feet are tied.”