Anwar is a winner

 

Anwar Ibrahim is a winner. Once we understand that, everything else about him will make sense.

Those who do not see him as a winner, make the mistake that his detractors do. They call him a chameleon, a liar, an untrustworthy person.

His die-hard supporters on the other hand, are often too eager to celebrate him with epithets like “reformer” or “champion of the poor” or “advocate for multiculturalism”, but it would be wrong for us to think of him in that light.

No, his primary identity is that of a winner.

And because his primary identity is that of a winner, Anwar will likely choose to sacrifice almost every other identity he possesses – be it as a reformer or a champion of multiculturalism or whatnot – in order to maintain his primary identity as a winner.

He possesses a wide array of secondary identities – reformer, graft-buster, Islamist, liberal, secularist, conservative, etc.

Every politician needs a wide range of secondary identities to win in politics. Anwar’s range of secondary identities is so wide he can appear to hold opposing identities simultaneously.

Anwar’s ability to do this, has – rather unfairly – earned him the reputation of being a chameleon.

But Anwar has always maintained his integrity.

Anwar’s detractors are right to call him a chameleon but that is because he changes his secondary identity like the clothes he wears without forsaking his integrity or his primary identity.

If Anwar “betrays” a cause – a particular reform or multicultural stance or pro-working-class movement, it is not because he is scheming or plotting against it.

It is because he needs to keep winning.

That means that we can trust him to stick with his agenda for reform or multiculturalism or as advocate for the working class, but only for so long as it helps him remain a winner.

For those who choose Anwar as their leader, this is a good thing, because so long as he believes in the cause and can see a path to victory, he will lead it with the single-mindedness needed to achieve the goal.

It only falls on them to ensure that he sees a path to victory for their cause.

The most recent example has involved the MIC. Staring straight ahead at the political scrapheap, the party needs a leader to drag them and the Indian community out of the doldrums and back on the pathway to success.

They have cleverly latched on to Anwar.

By listening to them, Anwar has moved to secure the Indian vote for his coalition. The party in turn gets a chance at survival and maybe some small, but immediate, successes.

Anwar is a winner. Once you understand that about him, everything else about him will make sense. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.