The troublemakers of Port Dickson

I never thought I would hear Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's name again, the man the late Karpal Singh branded a liar. In the Sodomy II trial, Karpal did not accept a single cent from Anwar Ibrahim as his defence lawyer because he believed that Saiful and the BN cohort behind him were orchestrating a grand conspiracy.

In the trial, Saiful contradicted himself multiple times, made numerous inconsistent statements, and had given rise to grave doubts against the prosecution’s allegations. Despite being a college dropout, Saiful could breeze through the then-deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s house before the incident willy-nilly, and get in touch with the top police of the country with ease.

And now he's running against Anwar in Port Dickson.

The only other candidate of note is former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, whose tenure as Felda chairperson saw the company bleeding money at the expense of rural poor settlers.

The candidates standing against Anwar have two things in common. One, they are launching an anti-Anwar hate campaign targeting his character. Two, they are taking this by-election as an opportunity to obtain 14 days personal glory in the guise of democracy.

On the face of it, the seven-cornered fight could be seen as a celebration of democracy. But while democracy means defending your fellow citizen’s right to contest at the by-election, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you must support them.

This is because the opposition against Anwar in this particular by-election is fraught with the two elements: hatred and opportunism. All in the guise of 'democracy'.

Undemocratic?

They say that Anwar’s decision to contest in the Port Dickson by-election is undemocratic because voters are being betrayed. They say people did not vote Pakatan Harapan in to see this; that this was a severing the people’s trust.

But this argument is unsustainable. The democratic impulse is not forgone.

One, the people of Port Dickson are not deprived of the most fundamental democratic component: choice. Democracy is only ruined if incumbent Danyal Balagopal Abdullah switched places with Anwar without an election, and Anwar is appointed MP internally without the consent of the people. Here, there is an election, there is a choice.

Two, Danyal was not coerced into any arrangements beyond his preference. He stated many times his decision was voluntary.

Three, even if we assume that this was undemocratic under normal circumstances, Anwar’s situation is highly exceptional. The key event was the conspiratorial, politically-motivated imprisonment that suspended democracy in 2015.

By saying Anwar cannot contest now in the false name of democracy is to give power, validity, and recognition to the undemocratic practice of jailing him and preventing him from running in the first place. 

Nepotistic?

They say their opposition against Anwar in Port Dickson is a sign of protest. They say Anwar should have contested in Pandan or Permatang Pauh to take the place of Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or Nurul Izzah Anwar.

But the claim of nepotism is valid only when the person could not have obtained the position without the favour of family or relatives.

In this case, we can all agree that individually and collectively, the Anwar family won most of what they have now on their own merits. You can call her a seat-warmer, but Wan Azizah has helped make PKR the largest party in the country in terms of representation in Parliament. 

Nurul Izzah has also long walked out of her father’s shadow into becoming one of the most intelligent, eloquent, and progressive politicians Malaysia has in her own right. Her rejection of a ministerial post she was more than qualified for is testament to her resolve to separate family from power.

Collectively, however, they are also made examples of with the usual shiftless claims of nepotism. The family of Lim Kit Siang, with Guan Eng, and Hui Ying, and the family of Karpal, with Gobind Singh, Ramkarpal Singh, Jagdeep Singh and Sangeet Kaur, are no different.

There is a struggle behind their participation in politics that cannot be simply dismissed by idle claims of nepotism. We must bear in mind that these families have seen their forbears go through jail, vilification, and failure in the name of the struggle.

Their initial participation was not in the hope of power and glory – there was, at the time, none to be had – but it was forced against the unsettling face of injustice. If we observe it this way, we would no longer see them as a burden, but an addition to our collective consciousness infused with righteousness and honest conviction.

Impatient?

They say Anwar is too impatient, that he should have waited two years. And in any case, he is too untrustworthy to become prime minister since he is too cosy with Umno lawmakers.

But this argument is unsubstantiated. Anwar and Mahathir have repeated a million times that Mahathir will remain prime minister only for two years from May 2018, and Anwar will be his one and only successor.

Anwar has repeated time and again that he will adhere to the succession plan and provide support and room for the latter to govern. Besides, if everyone already expects Anwar to assume the premiership at two years, a by-election is required in any event.

The claim of impatience is in actuality informed by a personal hatred for Anwar. They think that Anwar cannot be prime minister because he is untrustworthy. However, there is no basis to substantiate how, why, and when Anwar has shown signs of betrayal.

It was Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi himself who said he didn’t meet Anwar, but instead met Mahathir twice. It was Anwar himself that said a unity government with Umno is not in the works. It was the people who relied on the backs of a Reformasi machinery that promised to pardon Anwar and making him the eighth prime minister that saw BN deposed for the first time.

And now of course, like his whole life, there are many who will embark on variegated tactics to stop Anwar in his tracks. Even when Anwar had not done anything to warrant such treatment.

My guess is that these are planned by troublemakers intent on splitting apart the Harapan government.

You do this by making sure the Mahathir-Anwar succession is broken. You do this by making sure Anwar doesn’t win the by-election. And you do this by standing against him.

Throw the government into instability, and voters will start to distrust a government who cannot fulfil their promises.

I may be proven wrong. Maybe some of the candidates in Port Dickson are sincere in their desire to serve the constituents and can make good MPs. But as things stand, it is hard to see anything else but an opportunistic, orchestrated hate campaign against Anwar.

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JAMES CHAI works at a law firm. His voyage in life is made less lonely with a family of deep love, friends of good humour and teachers of selfless giving. This affirms his conviction in the common good of people: the better angels of our nature. He tweets at @JamesJSChai. - Mkini