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Breaking the mould

BRICKFIELDS, IN THE BUKIT Bintang parliamentary constituency in Kuala Lumpur, witnessed a small miracle on Sunday, Dec 5: for the first time in living memory, a politician came acalling for no reason other than he wanted to.

The former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, came to celebrate Deepavali with the people of Brickfields, a rare gesture from any politician, as few could remember a similar function there in the past two decades.

There is one reason for this: it is so electorally docile that the election commission, in its wisdom, redrew it as an adjunct to several parliamentary constituencies in every constituency delineation over 30 years: Damansara, Siputeh, Lembah Pantai, Bukit Bintang.

We know why: to ensure a BN win. That did not always work that way: we now have a DAP MP.

The only time we see politicians, if at all, is during elections, the opposition candidates a little less aloof than the National Front (BN) candidates. It is in the view of opposition party theoreticians a marginal constituency of Indians can be written off since they follow the herd and vote for the BN candidate. It was true once, but not now.

When the local boy, the now-disabled and ill V. David, was member of parliament here, he was always around, visiting constituents when there was a death in the family, or helping out after a calamity.

Since there were may squatter settlements in the area, suspicious fires were all too common; but whatever time of the day or night, he was there to console and help. I have not seen my MP, BN or DAP, in the constituency outside of election time before or since.

One, who rose to be deputy minister, did not bother about his constituents although his portfolio included his constituency.

?So when Parti Keadilan Rakyat hosted a Deepavali open house at the Girl Guides' Hall in Brickfields, with its eminence grace, Anwar Ibrahim on hand, the hall was packed to capacity, perhaps 5,000 turned up, in a continuous flow of people, with the hall packed at all times with about 2,000.

It was, make no mistake, a capacity crowd. But in a country where attendances are inflated according to the status of who came, that would inflate to 20,000 inside and perhaps 100,000 in all if the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been there, but half that if it was a BN party president, and no crowd at all for an opposition leader.

Often BN leaders will not turn up for the inflated crowd figures are an insult to their dignity. More people turn up for a wedding at the hall than for a chance to hear the Umno, MCA or MIC president speak. But not on Sunday: weddings could not have attracted the crowds it did that morning.

The turnout was more than the organisers had hoped for. Indians from outlying areas wanted to come, indeed a few hundred did make their way from afar as Klang, Batang Berjuntai, Rawang and Betong. Pak Sheikh did not disappoint.

He has not fully recovered from his surgery in Munich, and had to helped to the stage. But once in front of a microphone, he was unchallengeable.

Appealing to the crowd

I had not seen him address a crowd for more than a decade, but he has not lost his rabble-rousing crowd style, such that the targets of his attack, if they were present, would have slunk away in disgrace.

He spared no one. He attacked the leaders of the marginalised Indian community for ignoring their current plight, whilst acquiring wealth beyond greed.

He also had a few harsh words on how the Vivekananda Ashram, there since 1905, was sold for a pittance and without the knowledge of the residents of Brickfields. An alternate site is given tens of miles away, though what purpose that would serve the people of Brickfields is not mentioned. When money meets principle, money always wins.

Anwar, expressing his concerns about the continuing irrelevance of Indians in Malaysian society and politics, had no qualms in addressing the need to get the people, long ignored, to demand their rights when they are denied them. He called on all and sundry to work for a better tomorrow.

He had a plan for pulling the Indian community from out of the morass it is in, where descent into gangsterism is seen as a career move to an eventual future in politics. There was nothing new in what he said, but the seeming sincerity with which he spoke often roused the crowds to foot-stomping, clapping and cheers.

Whether he can deliver what he promised is, at the moment, problematic. He is an opposition leader, after all, without a political constituency. But he has punched his way into the front rank of Malaysian politicians after the courts ordered his release from prison.

International profile

He has picked up from where he left when he fell in 1998. He travels the world as a plenipotentiary with a mind of his own, exuding a persona to the world that he is a man to reckon with.

He has so succeeded in this that the prime minister, Pak Lah, had to caution foreign governments not to receive Anwar. He is an opposition politician, Malaysia does not entertain foreign politicians of foreign countries, and it would improve bilateral ties if they didn't either.

This week the deputy prime minister, Najib Razak and Anwar are in Jakarta as guests of the Indonesian vice president, Yusof Kalla. Each is there for different reasons, yet it is not Anwar who shivers at this prospect.

Much play has been made of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono not receiving him. Why should he? Anwar is there for a private visit. Now if Najib was not received, then there is cause to worry.

In Brickfields, he spoke to the press. What he said was not controversial, but it was clear it was form not substance that mattered. The Tamil and Chinese papers did cover the event, but not the Malay and English press.

But they should have. If only to remind the BN of what it fails to do. This is BN's worry, when he articulates it in a way that gets the crowd to agree with him, he inevitably gets the support once reserved for the MIC leader.

The BN is a headless hydra, caught in its petty squabbles, with no thought of how to proceed. Most of the opposition is no better: they highlight issues with an eye to the newspaper headline, not what is pressing.

Anwar, it appears by the day, breaks the mould to upset both government and opposition. Malaysian politics has a new lease of life as a result, and the people new hope. It does not matter now if he can deliver what he promises: he cannot yet.

However, it is clear in his mind what needs to be done. Which is more than can be said for his detractors. What he does is to quietly galvanise the masses. This frightens the status quo no end, and is one reason why he is all but barred from the Malaysian media.

He cannot be written off yet. Anwar has played his cards shrewdly, he knows what he wants, what he believes now is no different that what he believed two decades ago. This frightens his opponents, in BN and opposition. His core beliefs remain intact, he has a plan, he works towards it.

His detractors insist he is a chameleon, a charlatan. If he was, how could he climb up the Umno ladder to be within spitting distance of being prime minister after Dr Mahathir Mohamed?

When all is said and done, he raised the standards of political involvement in Brickfields, when he dares the BN and opposition to do better for the larger interests of those in whose name they deign to serve.

M.G.G. Pillai

pillai@streamxy.com