Anwar to Step Down

TIME TO GO

It is yet unconfirmed (but we have it on good authority) that Anwar Ibrahim has been in discussions with his colleagues in the Pakatan Rakyat over his future with the party. It had been widely rumoured previously that Anwar for his public embarrassments of the party is now considered to have put himself and the party in an untenable situation. That situation and the questions concern the never ending scandals in Anwar’s private life and the quality of his leadership of the party.

Anwar’s credibility as a politician and as an individual, the numerous leaks about in fighting within Pakatan because of it and the bilious back chatter about his leadership style, the scandals is said by many in the party to be the cause of much disquiet over the party’s current poor standing in the community.

Party apparatchiks contend that as long as he remains at the helm, all of the attributes of Anwar the person and the leader are contributors to instability within the party. In short Anwar is no longer the asset to Pakatan he once was. He is in the view of at least Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan ‘a liability’ to the Pakatan and its support organizations as Bersih.

A source from within the party has admitted to us that although no one is game enough to confirm the discussions about Anwar’s position within the party, that the various statements by Karpal Singh, Ambiga Sreenivasan and the DAP party machinery echoed in the press in various form at various forums and in private, make it impossible for the party to hold together and to present a united front to the people before the upcoming general elections.

WHITE ANTING WITHIN THE PAKATAN-DAMAGING LIES- A BLOWBACK

A London based writer for the Malaysian Review (www.malaysianreview.net) David McLaren is understood to have met up with a prominent Malaysian lawyer close to Anwar Ibrahim. McLaren is known to have also met up with  members of the Pakatan’s central committee at least two of who confirm veracity of the the story.

McLaren recently arrived in the region to investigate the source of the Benjamin Bowling story, a hoax suspected to have been authored by Malaysia’s opposition political parties. The story was confirmed as a fraud with a letter from Dr. Bowling categorically denying his alleged authorship of a document attributed to him. That document amongst other things concluded Dr. Bowling wrote a paper that concluded Malaysia is a racist state governed by racist government policies. The document then goes on  to claimed that the US senate acting on Dr. Bowling’s ‘paper’ has blacklisted Malaysia as a racist proposing wide sanctions against it.

With that document’s genesis traced to the Malaysian Pakatan camp, Anwar has been made out to be the sentient mind behind the hoax by some of his colleagues. Responsibility for the hoax has been apportioned to his leadership of the Pakatan by Pakatan insiders connected to the Ambiga and Karpal Singh factions of the opposition.

Anwar is also being blamed for the irreparable damage caused to the  to Pakatan by Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s excesses in his blogs. It is said that Raja Petra Kamaruddin was able to engage in publishing widespread hoaxes about government and individuals with his far fetched claims because he felt protected by his close personal relationship to Anwar.

When confronted with proof  of Dr. Bowling’s letter denying his connection to the hoax, Anwar’s leadership failures was put up as the reason for the stories spawned by the oppositions campaign teams appearing on various blogs. It was explained to McLaren and to our writer that Anwar has long failed to rein in bloggers and spammers circulating anti government stories that are baseless and without foundation.

DIAMONDS-ALTANTUYA AND FRENCH SUBMARINES

McLaren is also in the region investigating another of the Pakatam’s hoaxes. This time their campaign against Datin Rosmah (the prime ministers wife). This story by the opposition is  a fictition about an alleged shopping binge by Datin Rosmah whilst she was in Australia with the PM during the commonwealth heads of government meeting there in 2012.

The source of the Rosmah hoax has been identified as a Chinese Malaysian living in Western Australia linked to the Pakatan. McLaren’s investigation also delves into the Altantuya and French submarines affairs which appear to be coming apart at the seams for the opposition.

Two Australian News papers named as source of the Datin Rosmah story by the Malaysian opposition are believed to have engaged lawyers to look  into that matter.

Nurul Izzah Ibrahim (who goes by the name Nurul Izzah Anwar for convenience) regardless continued to push the unsubstantiated submarine story on a recent Australian ABC television interview with its host Jim Middleton. Jim himself like many at the ABC Australia is an unapologetic Anwar supporter.

Emerging from the Benjamin Bowling circular is a slew of possible actions in defamation against some of the Pakatan’s ‘followers’ operating behind various blogs. It is believed that Anwar sanctioned some of these circulars and stories. Anwar is being blamed by his detractors within the PR for having failed to have reined in over zealous party spin doctors in this regard.

In an effort to distance themselves from the damaging fall out from their disinformation campaigns, Anwar is being targeted by members of the Pakatan who seek to topple him. His daughter Nurul Izzah is seen as a possible successor to the leadership role in Pakatan although the DAP and PAS ( Islamist coaltion party in Anwar’s camp) appear to rule out her chances for now.

Damage to the opposition ‘s standing and credibility internationally appears to have taken a  hit because of the unabated litany of hoaxes that  the opposition have engaged in as part of  a wider campaign against government. Further damage appears to stem from Anwar’s confession to VS Naipaul that he would turn Malaysia into an Islamic state using the Ayatollah’s model in Iran as a template for the purpose.

The professor Bowling and University of London hoax appears to have been the last straw. A spokesman for the University of London commented that:

‘after the Seif Al Islam scandal (Seif  the son of late Muammar Ghadafi is reputed to have paid the University 1.5 million pounds to obtain his Phd from the university) the University could do without the Malaysian oppositions defamatory hoaxes likely to further erode its reputation‘

McLaren confirms his discussions with  ‘a Pakatan lawyer’ in Kuala Lumpur and later with Pakatan insiders in Penang over a range of domestic political issues. McLaren re asserts that his sources (whom he considers reliable) and his discussions with them on the subject of Anwar’s shaky position in Pakatan confirm and corroborate the story that Anwar Ibrahim may resign as the party’s leader before the next general elections in Malaysia.

SELF SERVING INTERESTS AND LEAKING LIKE A SIEVE

GRK has previously reported several leaks about Datuk Ambiga’s privately stated views on Anwar Ibrahim. In it she is credited with using words to the effect that:

‘Anwar Ibrahim is an unsuitable candidate for the position of leader of any party that would assume the role of government in Malaysia‘, and that ‘If the Pakatan wins Anwar will not be PM‘.

Sreenivasan who is also rumoured to be seeking a safe seat for herself at the next general elections in Malaysia is widely believed to harbour larger than life political ambitions for herself. Sreenivasan is believed to be shopping for a suitable anti government political platform to catapult herself to parliament.

Ambiga Sreenivasan is known to have extensive Chinese backing for her political ambitions. Indian backing for her political career is very thin. Ambiga is on record as having marginalised the Indians, in particular Hindraf and Makkal Sakti from her agenda and is also believed to be isolated from PAS. PAS does not trust her firstly for being a woman (theological reasons) and secondly for being an Indian with no clout or influence within her own community.

THE ANTI ANWAR CAMP WITHIN

Those same sentiments expressed by Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan about Anwar Ibrahim have also been echoed by Karpal Singh and members of the DAP and PAS often enough. Although the comments of the latter have not been in quite similar language. The damage to Anwar and to the Pakatan though as long as he remains at the helm of the opposition appears to be untenable and irreversible according to members of the Pakatan.

An attempt to speak with members of PAS has been met with silence. Although the views of PAS with respect to their membership of the Pakatan are being made quite clear by their conduct and public statements which are quite clearly at variance with that of the Pakatan.