American novelist William Faulkner is often credited with a wonderfully cruel observation about political loyalty disguised as patience:
A mule will labor ten years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once.
It is hard to think of a quote that better captures what is unfolding around Anwar Ibrahim and Azam Baki this weekend.
On paper, Saturday’s #TangkapAzamBaki rally at Dataran Merdeka is about corruption.
That is, of course, the noble version.
The brochure version.
The version where concerned citizens rise from their beds on a Saturday afternoon, driven purely by civic virtue, armed only with placards, mineral water, and an unshakeable commitment to institutional reform.
And perhaps that version is partly true.
Corruption is a real issue. Questions surrounding Azam’s alleged shareholdings deserve scrutiny. Public institutions should be transparent. No reasonable person would argue otherwise.
But Malaysian politics is rarely powered by a single emotion. It runs on layered motivations — idealism mixed with vengeance, principle mixed with ambition, reform mixed with very personal grudges.
And that is what makes this rally fascinating.
Because standing at the forefront of this “people’s uprising” are not exactly random first-time activists who suddenly discovered corruption last Tuesday.
No — among the loudest voices are individuals who once marched with Anwar, campaigned for Anwar, defended Anwar, and built their careers around the reformist mythology of Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
Take Tian Chua.
Once he was a street-fighting icon of Reformasi. Once he was a part of Anwar’s inner political universe. At his height, he even rose to become the vice-president of PKR.
Then a couple of years ago, dissatisfied that he wasn't offered to contest in the Batu seat in the 2022 election by PKR, he decided to contest as an independent and got himself sacked from the party in the process.
Had Tian Chua managed to retain the Batu constituency seat despite contesting as an independent, perhaps reconciliation with Parti Keadilan Rakyat might still have been possible.
Victory, after all, has a remarkable ability to heal ideological wounds.
But he lost.
And in politics, losing rarely produces humility — it often produces reinvention.
Now, Tian Chua has resurfaced as one of the prominent voices behind the #TangkapAzamBaki rally, which, rightly or wrongly, is increasingly being interpreted by some as less a protest against Azam Baki and more a referendum on the Kerajaan Madani administration led by his former party — and perhaps his former friend — Anwar Ibrahim.
Today, he tells Malaysians that the rally is merely “part of a longer struggle” against corruption.
A noble sentiment.
Though cynics may note that in Malaysian politics, long struggles against corruption often seem to become especially urgent right after shorter struggles for political relevance fail.
And let us not forget, there is also Rafizi Ramli — perhaps the most dramatic subplot of all.
In what feels like the political equivalent of a Netflix character arc written by sleep-deprived scriptwriters, Rafizi has gone from being PKR’s number two and a senior minister in Anwar’s government to one of its sharpest critics in barely a year.
He has now declared that “it is time to speak up.”
Honestly, I didn't really see him speaking up much, or if at all, when he was the PKR number 2 and a high ranking economic minister in the Madani goverment.
But then he lost his number 2 position in last year's PKR election and resigned as the economic minister, after a lackluster tenure, and today not only has he rediscovered his voice, it is like he can stop speaking up against his former party and comrades in goverment.
How fortunate for democracy.
And let us not forget Bersih — an organisation historically intertwined with the broader Reformasi ecosystem that once helped create the very political class it now appears eager to pressure.
Again, this does not mean their criticisms are invalid.
It simply means Malaysians should stop pretending politics is a Disney movie where every protagonist is morally pure and every protest is spiritually enlightened.
Sometimes a protest is exactly what it claims to be.
And sometimes it is also an open-air reunion of disappointed former allies who have suddenly rediscovered revolutionary energy after being excluded from power.
Both things can be true.
That is the uncomfortable reality for Anwar.
When you spend decades building a movement on moral absolutism, you eventually create followers who expect moral perfection.
And when you fail to deliver it — or worse, when you begin looking suspiciously like the establishment you once fought — those same followers do not quietly disappear.
They wait.
Patiently.
Like Faulkner’s mule.
And when the government looks vulnerable?
When racial tensions are rising.
When regional frustrations are growing.
When economic anxieties remain unresolved.
When whispers of snap elections begin circulating.
When every political rival smells weakness.
That is when the kicking begins.
And what exquisite timing this is.
Anwar Ibrahim spent years surviving prisons, betrayals, coups, defections, and character assassinations from enemies.
Yet some of his greatest headaches now seem to come from people who once called him leader.
That is often how revolutions age.
Yesterday’s comrades become today’s critics.
Yesterday’s disciples become tomorrow’s executioners.
Yesterday’s reformers become today’s establishment.
And somewhere in Dataran Merdeka this weekend, amidst chants demanding accountability from Azam Baki, there may be another quieter message directed at Anwar:
We helped carry you here.
And now, finally—
it’s our turn to kick.
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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