Anwar should not contest in Permatang Pauh
Malaysiakini.com
Mar 21, 2008
Aman Shah

Congratulations to all the opposition parties in their concentrated effort of capturing five states in this election. You have proved that you can do it. Now the BN can sit up and take note. Reminiscing back, what had caused the Barisan defeat? MCPX

I will blame the defeat solely on the choice of successor to the then outgoing prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Had he left the Golden Boy Anwar Ibrahim, to become the next PM after him, the BN would not be in the state it is in now. For fear of repercussions to all his wrong doings while in the cabinet previously, Mahathir opted for the quiet and decent Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Clearly there is no such thing as a nice guy in politics! Being too decent for politics embroiled the current PM into the mess he is in now.

So what now for the opposition? Mahathir himself had commented just recently, the opposition will never take over the country, The opposition had not fielded enough candidates and even if they win huge, it is still not enough to secure the government. Thus, what is the master plan for the opposition? Go all out in the next election and secure the country? Yes, but you must prime your leader first. You must also let the rakyat witness his magic first hand. Only then they will be convinced.

In April, Anwar will be eligible to contest in an election. The PKR plans to have its president, Wan Azizah to vacate her parliamentary seat at Permatang Pauh for Anwar to contest for it in a by election. The plan is for Anwar to win it and go on to represent the people in the parliament.

That is all well and good, but how do you showcase your mettle while serving as an MP? What policies can you implement? What changes can you bring to delight the masses? Practically none! But if you championed a state, now that is whole different matter.

So here is my proposal to the PKR. Be assertive! Sometime in April this year, have one of your PKR representatives for the state seat in Selangor to casually vacate his seat. Then have Anwar to contest for that vacated seat. He will surely win that seat hands down. Now he’ll be in contention for the Menteri Besar post of Selangor. At that moment, have the recently PKR selected candidate for the MB post step down graciously and have Anwar to ascend to it gallantly.

Is this possible? Why not? Look back to the politics in Turkey for guidance. Abdullah Gul was the then prime minister of Turkey for a few short months before the de facto Prime Minister Racip Erdogan ascended to it. Abdullah Gul stepped aside graciously for his boss, who due to a technicality could not become PM sooner. Abdullah Gul was then offered the foreign minister’s post and currently is the elected president of Turkey.

Once Anwar is elected as the MB of Selangor, he then has 4-5 years to showcase his talent. If the people are impressed by his state leadership, then in the next election the opposition should go all out to capture the country. Thus Anwar will be the next PM of Malaysia and the rest will be history. 

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