We are now four months into Anwar Ibrahim’s tenure as prime minister. We are only now beginning to see what aspects of our perceptions of him are myth or reality.
Anwar has a very strong personal following, 2.5 million on Facebook alone. Many see him as a messiah, and will not listen to any criticism, even if constructive, an effect similar to that enjoyed by Barack Obama before and after he became the president of the United Status.
Paradoxically, however, Anwar did not enjoy any honeymoon period with the electorate.
We are now also witnessing a clandestine campaign by pro-Anwar writers, bloggers, and journalists “talking up” Anwar in the media, writing headlines such as Malaysian PM vows to help Thailand solve southern violence.
Talking up Anwar through the media is potentially a counterproductive strategy, and damages his long-term popularity. Such hype just builds up unachievable expectations, setting the scene for disappointment and loss of support in the future, and increasing his unpopularity.
Let’s look at some of Anwar’s strengths, weaknesses, and style that can be observed in office.
Strengths
Anwar’s biggest strength and asset is his unending determination and persistence. Anwar had an ambition to become prime minister and in pursuit of his ambition he put up with two jail terms, countless political betrayals, and other personal setbacks.
Many others would have taken the easy way out and accepted offers to be a professor abroad, or head of a think tank.
On many occasions, over the past three years, it looked like Anwar had no chance of becoming prime minister. It looked like he was finished, but he came through.
Anwar has shown he is a symbol for people to focus upon. A symbol of hope. Put the right forces behind him, and Anwar will be able to achieve great things for Malaysia. Put the wrong forces behind him, and the Anwar brand would be tarnished.
The second Anwar strength is his ability to gather people around him, and form alliances. If it wasn’t for Anwar, there would be no reformasi, meaning there would be no aspirations for a better Malaysia, just depression. There would have been no Pakatan Rakyat, that brought the impossible together, and there would be no Pakatan Harapan, which delivered a ‘unity’ government in GE15.
The bottom line is Anwar is the epitome of hope for the nation.
Anwar has tremendous personal energy. At 75 years old, it appears he doesn’t sleep. He has a 24/7 drive, which many can’t keep up with.
Weaknesses
Like any human, Anwar has strengths, and also has weaknesses.
On the flipside of Anwar’s ability to bring people together is his propensity, as we have seen many times, to have falling outs with his closest confidants. This has been part of Anwar’s plight, all through his career, which almost destroyed his PKR party, more than one time.
As to why these falling outs occur can only be speculated, but it appears Anwar has trusted the wrong people on some occasions.
Anwar also lacks the “wow” factor. This could go some way to explain why he isn’t popular in the Malay heartlands. Anwar is one of the best public speakers in the nation. He draws crowds, but this doesn’t equate to any “wow’ factor. This is something his minders must really look into and analyse, as they have been doing.
Style will be critical to perception of Anwar
What people observe on a daily basis is Anwar’s style. This is ultimately what he will be judged upon.
Anwar is no micro-manager, unlike some past prime ministers. He acts like a chairman of the board, except his board is the Cabinet. If Anwar has a tight knit and coordinated cabinet, then he will become an incredibly successful prime minister. However, at this time it’s not the case. His cabinet is stumbling upon itself.
If the cabinet can grow through this learning curve, then there is still time for Anwar.
Anwar will live or die by the performance of his cabinet.
Through four months of observation, we see Anwar performing as a manager, rather than a visionary. Managers don’t make good reformers. Anwar is not running his government upon a visionary platform. He is running the government by making decisions, which he thinks are the best, at the time.
As a pragmatic operator, Anwar really needs an agile group of advisers, who can quickly put up options that can be weighed up in front of him, in order to make good decisions.
This is Anwar’s situational audit. There are many trajectories Anwar can go from here. Most of Anwar’s supporters are hoping for what blogger Hussein Hamid recently wrote:
“Be the prime minister you can be Datuk Seri….anything less will make Malaysians wonder if high public office will change the Anwar that we have known all these years…the Anwar of Refomasi days, the Anwar whose courage, commitment, and focus under fire and duress, has never wavered from doing what is best for Malaysia and Malaysians…and the Anwar we know you can be in the times that we are now living in”. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.