Of the cuff, if I were to think of what I have heard from Nurul Izzah in recent times, this is what comes to mind.
1. Nurul Izzah is unhappy that Singapore does not want to negotiate with Iran about the right to use the straits of Hormuz.
2. Nurul Izzah slams a motorcycle convoy by PN
3. Nurul Izzah thinks that the process to hire foreign workers is too complex
3. Nurul Izzah tendered her resignation as the PKR number 2, which she would later deny
The common thread in all the news that has come out about Nurul Izzah in recent days, is that none of it really matters. They are not subjects that the public is much interested or concerned about. The subject that she is featured in or is concerned about , are simply not the subject that has the people's attention.
If you were to ask me why Nurul Izzah does not seem to have the pulse of the nation, my answer is simple ....She doesn't have the pulse of the nation because she is rusty, distant and uninvolved.
In one way, the business of politics is actually similar to the business of content creation - you have to be involved in what you do, or else you will lose touch with the concerns of the public.
If I stop following the news for just a couple of weeks, the public will inevitably stop being interested in the content I am making.
Why ?
Because the content I will be making will be contents that just interest me, not the public.
A big part of politics, as well as content creation, is aligning your interest with that of the public, and the only way you can ensure your interest and the public interest is aligned, is to step into the arena of public affairs and be interested in what is going on.
I don't think that Nurul Izzah has done that, or at least, done that with passion and interest.
That is why the subject that concerns her, that she speaks about, are often subjects that the public finds uninteresting and forgettable.
If there is one word that I will use to describe Nurul Izzah's performance since she became the PKR number a year ago, it is this - disengaged.
In the last one year, Nurul Izzah really doesn't seem like a person who is playing the game of politics. Although she has stepped into the arena, she doesn't look like she wants to be there. She is not chasing after the ball. She is not looking at everybody to figure out what everybody is doing. She is not studying the game. She doesn't look like she is very interested in scoring a goal.
Instead she looks like she is just waiting for the ball to come to her, so that she can kick it halfheartedly to someone else.
Rather than trying to win the match, she looks more like someone who just doesn't want to be blamed for losing the match .
Now, if I were to ask myself, why does Nurul look this way, one answer that I can come up with is that maybe she is just not fit to play the game of politics.
Politics, like any other game, requires talent and aptitude. Without talent and aptitude, it is hard to arouse passion and interest. Without passion and interest, even if you force yourself to put a lot of energy and effort in the game, the best you can be is still just middling. At the highest level of any game, if you are just middling , you will be forgettable and uninspiring . Nobody will even know you are playing. You will be nothing more than an also ran, that will come and go from the game like a short rain on a hot day - you won't be noticed when you come, and when you leave, it will be as if you never came..
Another reason I can think of is that maybe it was not even Nurul Izzah's decision to be in the game. Maybe it is just her father than cajoled her to take part in politics. That is why she seems so reluctant to participate in the game. When you are forced to do something you didn't want to do yourself, you will inevitably drag your feet and half-ass it
Another reason I can think of is that maybe Nurul Izzah is complacent . Maybe she thinks everything will be handed to her on a silver platter. It is an open secret that her path as the number 2 of PKR was paved with her father's favor. Maybe she believes her path to become the PM of that country will also be paved again with her father's favour.
But if Nurul thinks that she can be the next PM as how she became the deputy president of PKR - because of her father's favour - she better think again, because her father's favour giving days are over.
Anwar for all his talk about reforms, is at its core, an old regime politician.
He governs using the "trust me, I will take care of everything" style of governance that all the old regime politicians use, but even though Anwar might be the best practitioner of the "trust me, I will take care of everything" style of governance we have, it still won't matter, because the "trust me, I will take care of everything " style of governance is obsolete.
It has been dying slowly for over two and a half decades, but under Anwar, it might finally kick the bucket and be buried for good.
You see, the "trust me, I will take care of everything" style of governance will only work if you have two thirds of the population strongly in support of you.
Anwar, or any other PM for the last 20 something years, for that matter, does not have two thirds of the population strongly in support of them.
In 2022, Anwar won the election with just one third of seats, while another one third of the seats came from those who were more or less ok with his rule, for as long as he can be trusted to more or less take care of anything .
Today, 3 years after his reign , the number of people who support Anwar might be less than one third. The reformists have left him, the Indians have left him, the Chinese are leaving him and even a number of members in PKR might be leaving him soon to join Rafizi, when Rafizi leaves.
As for the one third of the population who are more or less ok with Anwar as long as they can more or less trust him to take care of anything, well, the economic crisis that we are in will almost certainly cause them to stop believing that Anwar can't be trusted to take care of anything. Once that happens, one third of his support will him faster than Thanos can snap his finger.
When that happens , not only will Anwar not be able to do Nurul Izzah anymore favors, he might not be even able to do himself any favors.
Khairy probably knows that Anwar's days are numbered. That is why he just rejoined Umno recently , to better position himself to be the future PM of Malaysia, when Anwar bites the dust.
Heck , even the market value of everybody from Zahid to Dr Sam to Rafizi has increased, because the market is betting that Anwar is going to fall soon.
When Anwar falls, PKR and PH don't have to fall with him, if it can count on its next in line to deliver what Anwar can't.
And what is that that the next in line in PKR have to deliver which Anwar can't ?
Well, they have to deliver an alternative to the "trust me , I will take care of everything " style of governance that an old regime politician like Anwar offers.
After Anwar falls, it will be a new generation of politicians that the people will look towards to deliver a new style of governance, and the top four names that are likely to emerge in the post-Anwar era are Nurul Izzah, Khairy , Rafizi and Dr Sam.
Even if another old regime politician like Hamzah or Zahid manage to make it to the top, they will likely not last long, because the "trust me , I will take care of everything" politicians simply has no chance of succeeding in the coming economic crisis, when too many things will be breaking down.
Khairy is already making his move.
Rafizi might be making his move in June or July.
Dr Sam is also making his move.
Only Nurul Izzah looks like she has nothing planned yet.
To Nurul Izzah , all I will do before I end is quote the bard : " Some are born great , some are made great while some have greatness thrust upon them."
Even if she is not ready to be in the position she is in, the times and circumstances we are in will demand a lot from the person in the position that she is in.
When the times and circumstances that we are in demands her to answer it's call, she better be ready to take from her father, what he might not be ready to give, because if she doesn't, as sure as night follows day, someone else surely will.
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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