COMMENT | How Anwar Ibrahim must wish he had what the poet John Keats described as “negative capability.”

This is the ability, despite doubts and uncertainties, to persist in one's path and create something where there was none.

Most of the good and the great in history had something of this trait in their journey to the top; it is indispensable for the forging of lasting achievement.

Doubts have long gnawed at Anwar about whether Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will hand power over to him.

An understanding on the handover – not so much its timing as its necessity – was crucial to obtaining agreement among principals in the presidential leadership council of Pakatan Harapan in the immediate prelude to GE14 on May 9, 2018.

The understanding was Mahathir would be Harapan's PM-designate for an unspecified period before Anwar takes over as PM should Harapan win GE14.

The understanding was critical to disparate components of the Harapan coalition coalescing behind a final push to eject the long-decayed BN...