KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - Three hot stories are flying about Malaysia's hyperactive political scene - the biggest and most fiery is of course the claim by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that the Opposition already has 120 statutory declarations of support, sufficient to overthrow Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's ineffective government.
Another is the comment by fast-rising Pas leader and Kedah chief minister Sanusi Nor, which backs up RPK's claim although it does not mention the magic number, that the opposition does indeed have "enough" firepower to gun down Anwar's 'Madani' government - which would leave Anwar with the embarrassing legacy of being the PM with the shortest tenure and the least legacy.
Not surprisingly, and miffed or not, Anwar has refused to respond to these claims.
"It's okay. No need to comment. If there is a bigger issue then I will comment," Malaysiakini reported Anwar as saying.
The third rumor appears to be 'spin' intended to counter the first two stories - aimed to soothe the narcissistic Anwar's ego and save him some face.
According to pro-Anwar media, at least eight opposition MPs will soon declare their support for Anwar. If true, this would mean Anwar would have snared a total of 13 lawmakers from the main PN opposition bloc.
"I am very confident that no more PN MPs will switch their allegiance to the Prime Minister because PN has moved on," Razali Idris, the Bersatu information chief, hotly denied the claim.
WHO STRIKES LAST, NOT WHO STRIKE FIRST
So which of the three stories will turn out to be true - all three or none? Or some permutation and combination of them?
"Given the terrible treachery in Malaysia's political system, who can tell? But it does look like Anwar is running scared. You can see he is becoming more cautious instead of shooting from the hip. The pro-government media is also spinning left and right to save his face and giving all types of reasons why he can't be toppled, which is ridiculous because no one is invincible or indispensable. For example, some say Sarawak's GPS would never work with PN and Pas because they are racist bigots, yet GPS was part and parcel of the PN government and it even wanted to support Muhyiddin Yassin (the Bersatu chief) as PM rather than Anwar before there was the alleged royal interference after the 2022 general election failed to produce a clear winner," a political analyst told Politics Now!
"The thing is, at this level with control of the government at stake, it doesn't matter who strikes first. Who strikes last will be the final victor. Team Anwar is very immature as usual and playing for his ego. Anwar's rivals - and many are saying they include Mahathir Mohamad and Daim Zainuddin - don't play for fun. They strike only when the time is right."
The 98-year-old Mahathir is a controversial two-time former prime minister while the 85-year-old Daim, a former two-time finance minister. Both are extremely established and powerful men despite their age. Also lined up against Anwar are two other former prime ministers - Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri.
Indeed, it does look like 'spring chicken' Anwar, 'only' aged 76, does have his work cut out to stay in power.
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
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