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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright May 2023
PMX is back on his allegation trails again.
This time, he is alleging that his political rivals pocketed billions when they were in power. Also, he said they ought to share half of what they took to help the poor deserving Malays whom they claim they were fighting for.
Anyway, billions sound phenomenal, and if true it is more like "squandering" rather than simply pocketing a small amount of cash that could easily fit into your top pocket.
Our discussion here is based upon a report published by Malay Mail and other publications released recently.
If the allegations were indeed true, it is very worrying because it implies that our former leaders seem to have used their positions of power for personal gains.
However, Anwar said not only that they took the billions but did not even share the money with the poor Malays although they claimed to be championing for the rights of that ethnic group.
Here, I could not help but agree with Anwar and think of Robin Hood my favourite folk hero who robbed from the rich to help the poor as opposed to his nemesis the Sheriff of Nottingham who only exploited the poor folks for personal gains.
Coming back to PMX, he said these politicians whom he subsequently named as Tun Mahathir and Tun Daim, used Malay rights merely for political expediency. In other words, my interpretation is that they could have done so to advance themselves politically.
The term is often used when you want "to hint that a particular solution or strategy has certain benefits and advantages but is not completely fair." The adjective expedient describes an action that provides "an easy way to achieve a goal or result, but it's not necessarily a moral solution."
Think of this term carefully when you read what PMX said next about his nemeses and judge for yourself whether it was really political expediency.
Anyway, Anwar named Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin as those who benefited from the rule of Barisan Nasional for six-decades. Could they then be part of the political expediency that Anwar talks about?
He did not stop at just sounding off their names but calls upon these wealthy folks saying, "I want to tell them, Tun, Tan Sri, who are super rich, if you really want to help the Malays when you took billions of ringgit [when in power], give half of them to the Malays [people].
"Tun Daim or Tun Mahathir, I don't care. No matter how much wealth you own, RM10 billion or RM15 billion, if you want to say long live the Malays and fight for their rights, whatever it is you hoarded, return it [back] to the Malay people," Anwar added.
Anwar made the above statement at an Aidilfitri celebration in Permatang Pauh, Penang (his former constituency) and was reported by Astro Awani soon after he was served a legal letter demanding he apologise and retract all his allegations towards Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who has filed a RM150 million defamation suit at the Shah Alam High Court.
"Dr Mahathir claimed Anwar had alleged that he purportedly discussed issues concerning Malaysians only after losing power, also listing Anwar's other allegations as purportedly including suggestions that he was racist and encouraging racial division."
Malay Mail reported that the defamation suit was issued soon after Tun Mahathir held a meeting with PAS leaders who signed the "Malay Proclamation", to mark the launch of a campaign to "restore Malay political dominance" initiated by the former prime minister himself.
The meeting with PAS leaders and the signing of the "Malay Proclamation" speculates that there is a plot to topple Anwar's administration.
But Anwar has rubbished these rumours and is sure that his administration would last a full term. In fact, he later suggested that his detractors should try to remove him from Parliament.
On the other hand, be reminded that Tun Mahathir has been successful in the ouster of several leaders in the past, including his own successor like Najib Razak who is now serving a 12-year jail sentence for corruption. Anwar could be his next target and what you see now is perhaps a slow manifestation of that attempt.
So, for leaders be they Malay or otherwise, do us a favour and return the money they took "unfairly" from the country and give them back to all the poor in the country. Not just the poor and deserving Malays.
Be like Robbin Hood of Nottingham who robbed the rich to help the poor. Don't be like Najib who studied at Nottingham but left the campus without embracing the spirit of the folk hero from the same county.
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