Some people are saying that Anwar Ibrahim acted servile when Donald Trump came to our shores.
When I heard that, I think that some people just can't help but hate Anwar dogmatically — their hatred is coloring everything they see, and that is why they have gone so mad, that even the right things that Anwar does appears wrong to them.
To me, the way that our prime minister went out of his way to please Trump, was not servile - it is just a fact of life. Trump and America are more powerful than Malaysia and Anwar, and the way that Anwar treated trump is proper, in the manner that someone who is less powerful ought to treat someone that is more powerful than them.
To us, Anwar might be the most powerful person in our country, just in the way that to a child, their father is the most powerful person they know. But the real world is much bigger than what a child knows. In the real world, there are other people that is more powerful than the the child's father, and if the child's father truly loves the child, he will know his place and bend to the extent that he must to those who are more powerful than him, in order to not only provide a roof over the child's head and food on their table, but to protect the child from unnecessary harm.
When a father bends in such a manner, that is not the father acting servile. That is the father acting in tune with the way of the world.
It’s easy for a man who has nothing to lose to say that a one should stand by his principles even if the heavens fall. But if you have a family — or a nation — to care for, one should learn to bend ones principles rather than let ones family or nation suffer.
If you can't do it, why have a family or lead a nation in the first place ?
And that is exactly the position Anwar found himself in when Trump — the face of American might and arrogance — stepped onto Malaysian soil.
Between Principle and Pragmatism
Some Malaysians seems to be displeased by the images of Anwar dancing with Trump, laughing, joking, and even comparing his prison time to Trump’s legal troubles. Some said it was unbecoming of a leader who once symbolised moral defiance. Others accused him of selling Malaysia’s dignity.
But before we rush to condemn, we should ask: what does real strength look like when you’re dealing with a superpower?
Trump did not come to Malaysia as an equal. He came as a man representing a nation whose reach extends into every ocean, every market, and every battlefield.
To those who argue that even if America is a superpower and Malaysia is just a middling nation, in the assembly of nations, we are all equal, and thus Anwar should have held himself as Trump's equal, all I will say is: why don't you practise what you preach then ?
Why don't you waltz in to your workplace tomorrow and conduct yourself as your boss's equal, when you know it will offend them, and you know that you need them more than they need you ?
If you can't do it, or can't make a difference even if you do it, why expect Anwar to do it?
As Sun Tzu once said:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
I think it is only fools that have no idea as to who they are or who they are dealing with that will expect Anwar to take a more confrontational or less felicitating position against Trump.
When I look at how Anwar felicitated Trump on the other hand, rather than see someone servile, I saw someone who knows himself and knows who he is dealing with, and came out with the best course of action to yield the best possible result, in a difficult situation.
If his critics can't see that, I think the problem is with them, rather than with Anwar.
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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