That I didn’t start this article by saying whether Anwar will be dictator, but went straight away to wondering whether he will be a good dictator, is not a mistake.
As I have mentioned in a previous article, I think the fundamental cause of instability in Malaysian politics is because we have a superchinese party on one end of the political divide and a supermalay coalition on the other end.
The superchinese party I am referring to is DAP, and I refer to it as a superchinese party because DAP has an overwhelming majority of Chinese are behind it, while the supermalay coalition I am referring to is PN, because a significant majority of Malay votes is concentrated behind the PN coalition.
Like it or not, as a long as Malaysia is mired in this imbalance, our political crisis will not cease.
I think there are only three ways to overcome this fundamental divide – the first is to merge PKR and UMNO, the second is to split dap and the third is to do away with the democratic process and revert to a dictatorship.
Of the three, at this stage, I think it is the third, or the emergence of a dictatorship, that is most likely to happen.
Now before I continue with this line of thinking, I would first of all like to say that I do not have a negative view of dictatorship.
I actually think that dictatorship might be a practical and realistic way to not only run our society, but many of the societies in Southeast Asia.
I consider leaders like Duterte and Lee Kuan Yew as dictators, but I don’t see them in a negative light. I actually see them in a positive light.
If the term dictator displeases some of you, then just think of the euphemism authoritarian leader or benevolent despot whenever I use the term dictator.
In essence, whether dictator, authoritarian leader or benevolent despot, what I am referring to is a leader who is given the right to distribute the resources of the country according to their discretion and use the instrument of the state in the manner that they see fitting.
From the way that some politicians are getting controversial DNAA’s while others are getting whipped, and from the way that opposition leaders are being slapped with court cases while a number of opposition MPs have been lured to switch support to the government in a short period of time, I feel that Anwar too might have already decided that becoming a dictator is probably the most practical way of stabilizing the country’s politics.
I agree with this view. I also think having a dictator might likely be the most realistic and practical way of stabilizing the country’s politics too.
No one likes to say it out loud, but the fact that we have had 4 prime ministers in the last four years is not a good sign.
The fact that of our 6 living prime ministers, one used to be in jail, one is currently in jail while another two are facing court cases, is also not a good sign. This kind of record, mind you, is the sort of record that only Triad and Mafia organizations can rival.
I have not hidden my disdain for the unity government – I think it is about as good an idea as getting a kid to throw a bunch of things in the wok, and hoping that the result will be a Michelin star meal – I don’t think it knows where it is going or has the capability to pursue anything - but regardless of my personal disdain for the unity government, I also believe that if the unity government, like the governments before it, collapses before its time, a writing will appear on the wall, and just like in the biblical story, ours will also likely say that we have been measured and found wanting.
At a gut level, I truly believe that if another one of our administrations collapses before its time, the end of the Malaysian Experiment will begin.
To prevent the end of the Malaysian experiment, I do feel that it might be necessary and inevitable that Anwar assumes dictatorial powers.
Even if I cannot deny that he might just be doing it for the sake of his self-interest, the fact remains that I still believe that it is the most practical and realistic way to ensure the continuity of the federation.
As to the question of whether Anwar will be able to assume dictatorial powers legally, I think the answer is yes.
He would need the backing of the parliament and the Agong to obtain the legal rights, and I feel that he probably has the former even as we speak while he will likely secure the latter by the end of January.
I honestly suspect that the only reason why he had to debase the parliament by getting 4 opposition MPs to sleep with the government while being married to the opposition, is because he will likely need a two-thirds majority in the parliament to legally procure dictatorial powers.
But securing the support of the royalty and the parliament is only the legal means of obtaining dictatorial powers.
Substantially, Anwar will also have to win the consent of the people to obtain it, and this is where I think the pickle lies.
If Anwar fails to secure the consent of the people, even if has a two-thirds majority in the parliament and the approval of the king, it will waver. At the end of the day, it is the will of the people that is the source of all power in the land. The powers of the Kings or the Parliament or the government or the courts only stand for so long as it is not challenged by the will of the people.
It is not the nature of people, especially in modern societies, to abide by dictatorial powers without questions.
While an aspiring dictator might believe that the fact that the Malaysians are deeply divided means that we will not be able to manifest the will of the people to challenge their position once they assume dictatorial powers, and there is grounds to believe that this assumption is not without merit, it would also be wise for an aspiring dictator to be aware that even if a divided people are unable to manifest the will to challenge the position of the dictator, to abide a dictator without question will sap the vitality of the nation, and without vitality, the dictator will be forced to rule over a basket case nation.
What glory is there in ruling over a basket-case nation? To seek dictatorship is only a worthwhile exercise if it leads to one being hailed as the saviour of the nation. If it leads to one being accused by one’s own people that one is the cause of the decline or break up of the nation, what is the point of the exercise?
The problem with Anwar getting the consent of the people lies in the fact that we don’t have a good reason to support him as our dictator.
Lee Kuan Yew won the consent of Singaporeans because Singaporeans understood that he wanted to ensure the survivability and progress of Singapore.
Duterte won the consent of the Filipinos because Filipinos understood that he wanted to cleanse the Philippines and imbue it with dignity and self-respect.
But why should Malaysians support Anwar as our dictator, that is the question? I believe that we should support him to ensure the continuation of the Malaysian experiment, but this is just a private belief of mine. No other Malaysians that I know of see the link between the continuity of Anwar’s reign and the continuity of the nation.
Whatever his justifications are, Anwar better find a good one, because if he doesn’t have, his ascension into becoming a dictator will be dangerous not only for the nation, but for him.
And please, like Lee Kuan Yew or Duterte, do try to come up with some genuine justification.
There is no point in coming up with a cockamamie justification like how Muhyiddin did when he tried to assume emergency powers. Only fools rush in where the wise fear to tread.
Anybody who aspires to be a dictator, should at least possess the minimum humility to realise that you can fool some people for some time, but nobody is that smart that they can fool all the people all the time.
For the sake of the continuation of the Malaysian experiment, and also to be more brutally honest, for the sake of his own rule in Putrajaya, I do hope that Anwar will come up with a justification that will match, if not exceed, the reasons of Duterte or Lee Kuan Yew had to legitimise their rule as a dictator.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is the author of “While Waiting for the World to end”. He was a columnist at FMT, a frequent contributor to the South China Morning Post, MalaysiaNow, Malaysia-Today and Focus Malaysia.
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