COMMENT | I know many disagree with me, but I still believe that de facto Pakatan Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim deserves his shot at the hot seat. While I may not have liked the "PD gambit", it was a necessary political move for him to make.

The real electoral battle Anwar waged in Port Dickson was not with his six contenders, but with the vox populi of Harapan. While Harapan political operatives eventually jumped on board the Anwar Express, his main problem will always be with a certain segment of the coalition’s base.

With a significant mandate from Port Dickson, we will now discover if Anwar is the reformer he claims to be, or a Trojan horse of religious extremism. There is a lot riding on his return to official political life.

The Harapan base is divided on the issue of Anwar. Indeed, the various factions within PKR, either aligned with him or with other Malay power-brokers, are flashpoints that he has to deal with.

If this infighting prolongs, there will definitely be a split in Harapan. It is pointless telling people that all is well when the political operatives bicker in public, and the base contributes to the narrative that either Anwar is the saviour or destroyer of Harapan. Honestly, he could be both, and only time will tell.

What happens now?

What Anwar needs to do now is rally the PKR base around him. This will, of course, be extremely difficult, because the factions within the party will remain long after the dust of its internal elections has settled. But having said that, Anwar is in a much better position now that he has managed to secure a mandate from the people of Port Dickson.

Beyond that, he needs to convince the Harapan base that he is indeed the reformer his supporters claim he is. The main problem his detractors – friends, fellow columnists, and political operatives of Harapan – have with him is his religious and racial politics. But as I argued in another piece, that the criticisms levelled against Anwar are unfair, because those very criticisms are an indictment against Harapan's religious agenda in general.

“This, of course, is my main concern when it comes to Anwar. Truth be told, it is a concern of mine for most Malay political operatives. The old maverick Dr Mahathir Mohamad has a reputation for coddling but also confronting Islamic extremism in this country. Can we say the same of Anwar?...