The 50-Year-Long Chess Game Finally Ends

Today, it is game over for both Mahathir and Anwar. Mahathir’s only victory is to win the game by denying Anwar the post of PM8. However, in that same process, Mahathir, too, has lost the game. So, both Mahathir and Anwar, after 50 years of moving their pieces all over the chessboard, ended up with nothing more than the billions they stole from the rakyat. And, today, a new chess game starts, without Mahathir and Anwar.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It started in 1970 and ended 50 years later in 2020, the greatest chess game the world has ever seen.

The opening move was made Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he made his move to oust the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Under extreme pressure from Mahathir and what was then known as the Young Turks (a term made famous by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the young officers of the Turkish military), the Tunku resigned on 22nd September 1970.

The next move was made by Anwar Ibrahim in 1971 when he joined Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM), which was established by Ustaz Abdul Wahab Zakaria. Anwar was then the President of the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students and the President of the University of Malaya Malay Language Society — and was labelled an “Islamist Firebrand” by the western media.

Now the foundation had been set for the challenge to become Malaysia’s Prime Minister sometime in the future. But before that, both Mahathir and Anwar would need to make many more moves to checkmate each other.

Fate played a hand when Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, Tun Razak Hussein, died on 14th January 1976 and Tun Hussein Onn took over as Malaysia’s third Prime Minister. Meanwhile, in 1974, Anwar was arrested and spent 20 months under detention for trying to destabilise the government.

It is game over for both Mahathir and Anwar and today a new game starts without them

The chess game gained momentum in 1981 when Mahathir made his next move and pressured Tun Hussein into resigning. Anwar realised he was going to lose the game unless he is able to jump into Umno, so he quickly made his move to join Umno. It was not until 1982 that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was able to persuade Mahathir to allow Anwar into Umno.

From 1981 to 1987, Umno went through a series of power struggles and Anwar allied himself to Mahathir since he did not have any strength of his own. After all the obstacles and possible threats had been eliminated, Anwar made his move to become Mahathir’s number two in 1993.

In 1997, Anwar made his move to checkmate Mahathir and win the game. But the checkmate failed, and in 1998 Mahathir checkmated Anwar instead and ended Anwar’s game once and for all.

Anwar tried to get back into the game by requesting the court to declare his sacking from Umno as null and illegal. Ten years later, the court ruled against Anwar and upheld his sacking.

Meanwhile, Anwar formed a new party, Party Keadilan Nasional, to try to get back into the game through the backdoor in the event the front door through Umno remains closed. And for 21 years Anwar has been knocking on Putrajaya’s door but it still would not open to let him in.

Today, it is game over for both Mahathir and Anwar. Mahathir’s only victory is to win the game by denying Anwar the post of PM8. However, in that same process, Mahathir, too, has lost the game. So, both Mahathir and Anwar, after 50 years of moving their pieces all over the chessboard, ended up with nothing more than the billions they stole from the rakyat.

And, today, a new chess game starts, without Mahathir and Anwar. Menang jadi arang, kalah jadi abu.