Anwar's first defining speech

 

THE right speech can define a leader, an era, or even an entire generation.

Think of Barack Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention where he spoke of the "audacity of hope"; John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address where he said "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"; or Winston Churchill's 1940 declaration that "We shall fight them on the beaches".

These words make our hair stand on end – even today.

There's a funny meme that's been going around. It features various texts of people trying to meditate or express great restraint, and its text reads: "Menahan diri dari impressed dan dituduh pentaksub DSAI". This translates to: "Resisting being impressed, and accused of being an obsessive Anwar Ibrahim fan."

All these men had their bad and their good – Anwar is no different. Critics have pointed to his management style, taken issue with political compromises he has made and raised questions about some of the company he keeps.

Now that I've gotten my meme duties out of the way, let's take a look at the speech that Anwar delivered on Dec 11, 2022, at a small event held in Seri Perdana, where he hosted representatives from Islamic NGOs, the ulama and asatizah (which is the plural form of ustadz and ustadzah).

I stumbled on the live stream of the speech completely by accident.

I thought I would tune in for a short while and maybe look to see if I could spot my friends in the crowd.

I ended up listening for almost an hour.

For context, my attention span nowadays is so short that I can barely watch a movie without taking breaks.

As a communications strategist, I have always taken to the adage: "They may forget what you said –but they will never forget how you made them feel."

(This adage is often inaccurately attributed to Maya Angelou. It is more accurately attributed to Carl W. Buehner).

So instead of a headline-grabber, the angle I'd like to dive a little deeper into is: how did Anwar's speech make people feel – and why?

Based on the many reactions to a short thread I wrote on Twitter covering the speech, I would say that Anwar made a lot of people feel a new sense of hope.

Instilling this kind of hope was not achieved by words alone. Many other politicians have tried saying all the right things, but they failed on two accounts – being convincing, and backing up their words with action. The latter is, of course, far more important.

We all have a highly sophisticated internal algorithm and matrix that helps us determine who is convincing, trustworthy, and sincere.

Sitting through almost one hour of that speech, my personal algorithm concluded: sincere.

There were two things that stood out to me the most: Anwar's ideas about governance that is informed by true Islamic principles, and the question of the poor in Malaysia.

For the former, Anwar has a long history of trying to walk the middle path here - by developing strong, credible Islamic credentials on the one hand, while being accessible and taking positions that are still palatable to non-Muslims.

A cynical interpretation is of course that this is all political opportunism. A more generous interpretation is that Anwar actually represents the middle majority in Malaysia – one happy to have Islam play an important role in public life but without any animosity towards, or trampling on, the rights of non-Muslims.

In his speech, Anwar conveyed great fervour for using his stint as prime minister to prove for once that a government informed by true Islamic principles is one that is compassionate, clean and fair to all.

I found that I could relate to this.

Have you ever had that feeling where you just wanted with all your heart and soul to prove that a certain something could be done?

Perhaps you work in an office where they have always insisted on only using Method A to solve a problem, while you know deep inside that if they only tried Method B instead, things would be so much better?

All you want is a chance to implement Method B and show everyone just how much better it is than Method A. This eagerness and frustration grows inside you like an unquenchable fire, so much so that you would be willing to work overtime for no extra pay just for a chance to demonstrate Method B, because that's how badly you want to prove that it's better.

That's the sense I got from listening to Anwar speak on how Islam can positively inform governance.

I don't believe he intends to completely blur the lines between mosque and state in any way, but I got the sense that he is bursting at the seams to finally prove (after so many years on the sidelines) that he knows exactly how to find the balance, and show what true, exemplary Muslim leadership is supposed to look like – an example to both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

On this, I can only wish him bon courage.

The other topic that Anwar spoke of with great passion was on poverty.

He bemoaned how after decades of being led by a party that constantly boasted about championing the Malay cause, the vast majority of the poor in Malaysia were still Malays.

Anwar also acknowledged multiple times that as poor as many Malays were, there were also many even poorer Indians and Orang Asli in the peninsula.

The situation is of course similar in many parts of Sabah and Sarawak.

The issue of poverty goes back all the way to the very start of Anwar's public life as a student activist.

In 1974, Anwar was arrested under the ISA for joining mass protests against the extreme poverty faced by farmers in Baling, Kedah following the collapse of rubber prices.

Almost half a century later, Anwar does not seem to have lost his passion where the plight of the poor is concerned.

We see this in how less than a week in office, Anwar called Bernas owner Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar and secured RM10mil for poor farmers, with a promise for another RM50mil next year – an almost immediate effort to share massive corporate profits with those who need it the most.

Hearing Anwar talking straightforwardly about poverty in this small setting, I couldn't help but be reminded of this scene from American TV series The West Wing.

This speech suggests that there is plenty the new government can use to build a new narrative and completely capture the national imagination. All they need now is a professional communications team to forge that narrative, instead of letting all this first-class material fade away like morning mist.

The phrase "strong, formidable, convincing" has been used multiple times to deride and taunt Anwar and the manner in which he always seemed not to have the numbers he said he did. I won't lie – I may have indulged in a jab or two myself over the years.

This time, though, just sitting at home watching a simple livestream of an event with little fanfare, I couldn't help but think: we may be looking at the beginning of one of Malaysia's most strong, formidable, and convincing governments ever.

Only time will tell for sure, but this writer is feeling a new sense of hope. - Star

Nathaniel Tan is a freelance strategic communications consultant who also works with Projek #BangsaMalaysia. Twitter: @NatAsasi, Email: nat@engage.my.

Opinions expressed are the writer's own.