“With enemies like this, who needs friends?” Anwar Ibrahim must be saying to himself — perhaps even smiling — as he watches his opponents tear one another apart at the very moment when he should be most vulnerable.
By any objective measure, Anwar is weak now. Malaysia’s stint as ASEAN chair has come to an end, bringing with it the closing of one of the brightest chapters of his administration — foreign policy. For months, diplomacy provided Anwar with statesmanlike cover, insulating him from domestic failures. That shield is now gone.
At home, his reformist credentials are in tatters. The accusations linked to Albert Tei, the resignation of his senior political secretary, and the subsequent arrest have collectively damaged the carefully curated image of Anwar as a clean, transformative leader. The man who once promised to change the system now looks trapped by it — or worse, compromised by it.
Then there is Sabah. In a desperate attempt to shore up support ahead of the state election, Anwar agreed to return 40 percent of Sabah’s revenue. It was a move born not of conviction but of necessity — and it placed him in a political “die if you do, die if you don’t” position. Honour the agreement, and Putrajaya risks weakening itself while setting a precedent that could further erode federal power. Break it, and Anwar confirms the cynic’s belief that his word is not worth the paper it is written on.
Yet even after conceding the 40 percent, Anwar was wiped out in Sabah. Worse still, the rejection by Sabah’s Chinese voters — once among Pakatan Harapan’s most loyal supporters — has created momentum for a broader erosion of non-Malay support, not just in Sarawak but potentially across Peninsular Malaysia as well.
In this condition, a competent opposition should be feasting. Even a modestly coordinated assault could cause Anwar serious damage. A gentle hit would hurt. A hard blow might cause collapse.
And yet, fortune still smiles on Anwar.
Not because he is strong — but because his enemies are astonishingly weak.
Instead of striking while the iron is hot, instead of concentrating fire on a government that is visibly wobbling, the opposition has chosen to fight itself. Energy that should have been directed at Putrajaya is being squandered on internal vendettas, leadership struggles, and public displays of dysfunction.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Bersatu.
Rather than projecting unity, Bersatu is consumed by open revolt against its own president. Muhyiddin Yassin is no longer under pressure merely from the courts or political rivals; he is being openly challenged from within.
Right after its losses in the Sabah election, Bersatu Sabah called on Muhyiddin to take full responsibility for the failure and resign.
Right after Bersatu Sabah had spoken, Bersatu perak also chimed in, when the party's Pasir Salak chairman and supreme council member Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharudin. said Muhyiddin, as president, should put the interests of Bersatu first before anything else and step down.
That so many people are calling for Muhyiddin to step down after Bersatu's failure in the Sabah campaign, and that too following numerous calls by Bersatu for Muhyiddin to step down for years, it is not just dissent — it is an admission of institutional decay.
The reasons given are damning: personal issues becoming a liability, mockery inside and outside Parliament, and growing fear that voters will reject Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional altogether. These are precisely the vulnerabilities the opposition should be exploiting in Anwar. Instead, they are being mirrored internally.
As if that were not enough, the opposition has gifted the public a second spectacle — an ugly, unnecessary feud between Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin. At a time when discipline and clarity are essential, Mahathir accused Muhyiddin of stealing party funds — an allegation Muhyiddin has categorically denied.
“I firmly deny the allegation made by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a viral video that I had stolen party funds and kept them in my house.
“This is a baseless accusation made purely on speculation.
“I have never stolen party funds. All contributions to the party are deposited into the party’s accounts, which are managed transparently by the Treasurer-General.
“As a statesman, he should have sought clarification from me first before making any accusation against me.
"In our many meetings, he had never raised this matter with me directly.
“Therefore, it is my responsibility to clarify this issue to prevent slander against me.
“Nevertheless, I continue to respect Tun Mahathir as an elder. I have personally supported his efforts to foster Malay unity, and our relationship has been close.
“For that reason, I do not intend to take legal action against him,” Muhyiddin said, and sounded weak - almost like he was a weeping like a little child, with every word that he said.
What followed was predictable and pathetic : accusations, denials, wounded pride, and moral posturing. The opposition’s elder statesman fires the shot; its leader scrambles to defend himself; party youth claim manipulation; leaders argue over procedure. Dirty linen is aired not by enemies, but by allies.
And through it all, Anwar watches.
This is the great irony of the moment. Anwar is weak — weakened by controversy, broken promises, electoral rejection, and moral contradiction. Any halfway competent opposition should be able to cause him enormous trouble. Yet the opposition cannot even agree on who should lead it, let alone articulate a credible alternative vision for the country.
So one must ask: is the opposition’s failure to capitalise on Anwar’s misfortune the result of Anwar’s political brilliance? Has he masterfully sown dissension among his enemies, fracturing them before they could unite against him?
My answer is far less flattering to the opposition.
As the saying goes, never attribute to malice what can be easily explained by incompetence.
This is not the story of Anwar as a Machiavellian genius. It is the story of an opposition that is intrinsically weak — organisationally fragile, strategically incoherent, and psychologically inclined toward self-destruction.
They are not losing because Anwar is unbeatable.
They are losing because they are incapable of winning.
If fate and fortune favour us, not only will we be strong, but our opponents will be weak. Even if we are strong, the heavens cannot be said to favour us if our enemies are stronger still.
By that measure, the heavens still favour Anwar.
The heavens still likely favour Anwar, because as weak as his rule may be, his enemies are much much much weaker.
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