If Anwar Ibrahim goes to jail the opposition will have to find a leader 'sufficiently credible and respectable' to become the rallying point. Who will this be?
Anwar Ibrahim behind bars is as much a problem as he is outside. It will still cause Barisan Nasional so many seats.
So the question is, how do we deal with Anwar?
Anwar’s good fortune is brought about by Umno’s incompetence. It mishandled the sex video clip issue.
It should not have given a semblance of involvement in the video. We should have let this Shazryl Eskay Abdullah chap do it by himself.
But the Umno president (Najib Tun Razak) felt compelled to meet up with Rahim Tamby Chik and Shuib Lazim, thereby giving the impression that Umno is involved.
Umno has implied knowledge about it then, if not direct. Umno multiplied its stupidity by releasing the clips involving Mat Sabu and the latest about Johari Abdul (who watched the sex video implicating Anwar).
Who are the ignoramuses surrounding the Umno president?
The proximity of sequential releases of the clips would now suggest that only an organisation with sufficient clout and resources can muster all the sideshows.
All 20 fingers and toes point toward Umno.
Best solution
How do we deal with Anwar? It’s not about doing something to save Umno. It’s about doing something to save the country.
Anwar and all interested parties have to think about placing the country in capable hands now.
The irony is, the answer in dealing with Anwar for the purpose of saving the country lies with Anwar himself.
Unfortunately, Anwar has no place in the equation for now at least.
The best solution is for him to give up the de facto leadership of the opposition in preference to someone else with the respectable clout.
I wrote some time ago, and I wasn’t joking about it, that perhaps the best way for Anwar to hasten the downfall of the Barisan Nasional government is to allow himself to be jailed.
Then the government will fall and if he is jailed before the downfall, he will be out in no time.
By mid-July, Anwar will know his fate. Judging from the case being built up against him, he is likely to be the government’s “special guest”.
What will happen then?
There will be a leadership vacuum in the opposition group. Anwar has been the unifying factor. He is a crowd puller but not necessarily a vote puller.
If that happens, the opposition parties will have to look for a leadership material sufficiently credible and respectable to become the rallying point.
That person has to step up to assume the mantle of leadership to save this country from gross mismanagement, fraudulent management, corruption, widening income disparities, re-organise institutions of governance, dispensing justice, stemming corruption and all that.
Who can that be?
