A putative PM must have nerves of steel

Did Nurul Izzah Anwar resign of her own volition?

Is her decision an attempt to distract the rakyat from the upheavals in PKR?

She must have seen the post of prime minister slowly sliding from the grasp of her father, Anwar, the prime-minister-in-waiting.

By this drastic course of action, she probably hopes to influence public opinion against Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has allowed former Umno members to shore up his party, PPBM.

If she is alarmed by this betrayal, then she should also question the bombshell dropped by former tourism and culture minister Nazri Aziz. It is alleged that a “unity government” or a “working relationship” between Anwar and Umno had been proposed, in exchange for loyalty to Anwar if he becomes PM.

Everything in PH is as clear as mud. The only certainty is that having secured Putrajaya, the rakyat and the election manifesto have been forgotten. Everyone is promoting their own party and perhaps their own personal agenda.

Former PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said Mahathir’s ratings had dropped by 20%. He should provide the same poll rating for Anwar, the deputy prime minister and the entire Cabinet. We can then compare his findings with our own observations of the Cabinet’s performance.

Nurul Izzah is the dutiful Malay daughter. When most girls of her age should be clubbing and doing all the normal things which teenage girls are wont to do, Nurul Izzah was precluded from all that.

Her first objective was to lend moral support to her mother, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and the other members of her family. She had to propel herself into the limelight to try and free her father, who had been jailed by the then (and ironically current) PM, Mahathir.

She cut her political teeth in the Reformasi movement, and having graduated, did short stints in rights group Suaram and the Muslim Youth Movement or Abim, which her father once led.

She then followed the path of most career politicians and entered politics. Her exposure to Malaysian life was from the perspective of the injustice suffered by her father and the concerns that the electorate related to her.

Effective politicians only enter politics after they have spent decades working in industry or after they have built up their own companies. They are not career politicians. They know about the trials and tribulations of earning a living, of having a mortgage, of having to save and scrimp to make ends meet.

After making themselves visible in the community, they enter politics to help advance the community.

The difference is that in Malaysia, many people see politics as a route to riches. They enter politics as paupers and quickly become multi-millionaires.

Nurul Izzah is known as the giant slayer, who dethroned Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to become Lembah Pantai MP in Kuala Lumpur.

Shahrizat’s family was linked to a cattle-farming project. Perhaps, Nurul Izzah can devote her time to ensuring that the cattle farmers get the justice and money they deserve.

Others wonder if her decision had been prompted by the allegations of nepotism and cronyism by PKR’s Latheefa Koya, a vocal critic from her own party.

If Nurul Izzah resigned because she was hurt by these criticisms, then she does not possess the steely armour which most politicians must wear. This would be especially important as she has been touted as a potential female PM.

She should have stood her ground and contradicted Latheefa, instead of sulking off and resigning.

Perhaps, this is one way to gain sympathy votes for herself.

Remember how the public reacted to the young, newly-minted politician Najib Razak, on the death of his father and prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein?

Remember the same sympathy which was reserved for the widows of Umno politicians who were persuaded to take part in the by-elections for the seats left vacant by their dead husbands?

The daggers are now out for Latheefa, because Nurul Izzah, the “Puteri Reformasi”, was forced to bow out; but Latheefa did not do anything wrong.

If we are to continue rebuilding the nation, in the era known as Malaysia Baru, then constructive criticism is needed so that we do not emulate Umno.

For decades, Umno members, their senior politicians and the rakyat kept quiet whenever our leaders broke the law.

If Nurul Izzah had any principles, she appeared to have forsaken them when she met Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin, the man who once accused her father of sodomy and went on a roadshow with Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, in a series of talks, which bordered on soft porn, fuelled by a vivid imagination.

Did Khairy make a public apology to Anwar for his moment of madness? Nurul Izzah should show some integrity and demand that KJ apologise for the slur on her father’s character. Unless she knows something that we don’t. -FMT