Sanusi's 'lawan Anwar' hand raise a viral campaign trend

 STATE POLLS | Caretaker Kedah menteri besar Mohammad Sanusi Md Nor’s pose with his arm raised at the courthouse before he was charged with sedition last month may have been a snide take by the controversial politician.

But the move - reminiscent of political foe and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s iconic pose during the Reformasi era - has now become a viral meme.

A voice clip of Sanusi saying “saya angkat tangan lawan Anwar Ibrahim” (I raise my hand to fight Anwar Ibrahim) has been used as a background track in more than 8,300 TikTok videos showing support for the Kedah leader.

In those videos, TikTok users also raise their hands in the same fashion, with many also lauding the Jeneri candidate as a “hero” and dubbing the viral trend as a “Refornusi”.

Interestingly, a sub-meme trend has also emerged, with construction workers uploading videos of them raising the arm of their backhoes to the same soundtrack. Some attach PAS flags on their tractors.

The first video was uploaded by TikTok user Roti_Titab, who took published photos of individuals with their arms raised and captioned them “Femonena Angkat Tangan Sanusi” (Sanusi's Raised Arm Phenomenon).

The videos also took on a celebratory mood, because the sound used in this viral trend is also spliced with an upbeat dangdut beat.

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Some of the videos also feature young children while others jokingly jump on the trend with videos of their cats with their paws up.

One social media influencer, who jumped on the bandwagon, received 35,500 likes on her video.

“Vote with me. #PN,” she said.

Sanusi has also capitalised on this trend by raising his arm in the same way when stumping for votes, to cheers from supporters.

At PAS rallies, the sound clip is also a rallying call for ceramah-goers to raise their arms in support.

The iconic pose was first seen in 1998, when Anwar was brought to the Kuala Lumpur court with a black eye.

It became the poster of a biopic about him, which hit cinemas earlier this year.- Mkini