Daim on Anwar Ibrahim

March 27, 2011

Daim on Anwar: reminds us of the main character in Christopher Marlowes play, Dr Faustus

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin has described Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) as a party that lives because of, and only for, Anwar Ibrahim. He said the opposition pact not only devoid of a strong political foundation, but PKR itself, of which Anwar is the de facto leader, was mired in problems.

Can PKR remain the core of the (opposition) pact and can a pact like this convince the people that it can guarantee a better future for the people and the country compared to UMNO and the BN, which have been building the country over the past 50 years? he said in an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, published today.

Daim, who is a former special functions minister and finance minister, said an opposition that was relevant would be the one that was able to provide a check and balance to the government, one that is not chauvinistic and not having a tunnel vision, and one that is able to unite Malaysians of various races.

Daim said: If we look at the opposition parties now, it is clear that they have not lost their direction. It just that, each of them has their own directions. They are just a marriage of conven! ience, h e said.

Daim also said that the opposition pact was plagiarising the BNs format but they do this only half way, and not in full, and this is not a compelling alternative to the people.

Pakatan Rakyat, like I once said, is only a political conspiracy. I foresee that this group will not be able to reach consensus on important national matters because they are obsessed with their own stands and principles, he said.

He also slammed Anwar as inconsistent. Ask Anwars friends, they say Anwar has been wearing all kinds of masks since he was in the university. When he was the pelampau bahasa Melayu (Malay language extremist), the English language was sidelined and many of our children, who were born after 1969, lost their English language competencies. In the world of globalisation, the Internet and communication technology, lack of proficiency in English is a backwardness, he said.

But it appears that Anwar is now a fighter of multi-culturalism and utopian liberalism, to the extent that some are questioning the positions of the Malay Rulers. This kind of attitude and political action, which forgo all self-esteem, dignity, standings and principles in order to gain support, reminds us of the main character in Christopher Marlowes play, Dr Faustus, Daim said.

Daim also said that Anwars sacking from UMNO was not due to political conspiracy, and said that the conspiracy theory was Anwars own making because he wanted to portray himself as The Fall Guy in order to attract sympa! thy and to cover up the blemishes of his own personality.

He added that without the then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and UMNOs machinery behind him, Anwar would have never become the partys deputy president. To the eyes of the public at large, he said, Anwar did not have any extraordinary capability as an administrator. There was no reform carried out in the ministries he had helmed as a minister then, he said.

He is an orator who has the ability to flare up his audiences emotions even if his speeches contain only political nightmare. Based on this, the people nowadays are no longer convinced that Anwar can be an effective leader even upon the disposal of his court case, he said. BERNAMA