Mahathir is really throwing everything — and the kitchen sink — at Anwar to make the 26 July Himpunan Turun Anwar rally a success.
In his recent video, Mahathir starts off by accusing Anwar of “lying every time he opens his mouth,” before proceeding to make an even more outrageous claim — that Malaysians are resorting to suicide, murdering their parents, and murdering their children because of the failures of Anwar’s leadership.
There’s a whole host of criticisms that Mahathir hurls at Anwar in the 3-minute and 44-second video — from excessive taxation, infringing the Constitution, persecuting whistleblowers, and weakening state institutions — Mahathir managed to cram a long list of accusations into a rather short video.
Anyhow, for me, Mahathir lost the plot the moment he blamed Anwar for Malaysians committing suicide or murdering their parents and children.
When an allegation is too extreme, instead of being poignant, it starts sounding comedic.
The jury might still be out on how Anwar is managing the country, but I doubt anyone sees him as mismanaging things so badly — especially compared to previous administrations — that people are becoming so desperate they resort to murder and suicide.
In fact, compared to the previous administrations of Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin, you could even say that Anwar is doing a better job at handling the economy.
Also, the thing that stood out most to me in the video was just how old Mahathir looks.
He was wearing the same shirt he famously wore during his 22-year tenure as Prime Minister — but now, it just makes his frailty and age even more obvious.
Mahathir used to project power and authority in that look. Now, when I see him in it, I’m reminded more of someone whose strength lies in their past reputation rather than their current form.
He does look amazing for a hundred-year-old, but that’s really not saying much. When you’re 100, the fact that you can talk coherently is already impressive. But just being coherent isn’t going to be enough to get an entire nation to put their trust in you.
Anwar, at least on the surface, still looks vigorous and vibrant. Mahathir, on the other hand, looks old and declining.
The accusations Mahathir is throwing at Anwar are also so extreme and excessive that instead of making Anwar look guilty, they make Mahathir look desperate.
And that’s the bigger problem with the rally — the opposition simply doesn’t have strong enough leaders to harvest and focus the frustration of the people.
Even if a sizeable crowd gathers in Kuala Lumpur to demand that Anwar step down — then what?
What happens on the 27th of July?
If the opposition had at least one credible personality who could harvest and channel the people’s discontent into a real alternative, then Anwar would be in trouble.
But the fact that the opposition only has people like Mahathir, Hadi, and Muhyiddin — who are respectively 100 years old, sick, and lethargic — doesn’t bode well for whatever momentum they’re trying to build.
As Sun Tzu said, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
If the opposition was serious about taking down Anwar, they should have first settled the question of leadership. They should have had someone strong and convincing to front the campaign.
That they planned a massive rally without solving the leadership issue tells us one thing: this is likely to be just noise before defeat.
That Mahathir has to resort to blaming Anwar for suicides and murders tells you everything you need to know about the state of the opposition right now.
They don’t look like they know what they’re doing. They don’t look strong. Instead, they look desperate and that they just doing something for the sake of doing something.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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