YOURSAY | ‘Anwar never gave up on us and we should not either.’

COMMENT | Should Anwar step down?

Anonymous7788: Political analyst Wong Chin Huat is half right, ethnoreligious tensions continue to plague the country.

Anwar Ibrahim and the present leaders should make way to a younger crop of leaders, and so should Lim Guan Eng.

Those in DAP cosying up to Shafie Apdal, who is Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s man, need to also think hard. The ex-PM knows that he and his clan will be decimated if Anwar ever gets into power.

Those who support changing the guards in Pakatan Harapan need to be ready to take two steps back in order to move three steps forward.

If we have the younger ones take over, be prepared to slog it out in the opposition over a long period of time, maybe over two or three general elections.

Just A Voice: I’m surprised that a majority of the comments are bashing the author; his points on removing Anwar from the picture are actually quite valid.

We seem to be grasping at blind hope that Anwar can lead, but so far, what sort of leadership has he shown? Don’t get me wrong, I most definitely want the opposition to put up a strong front, but is Anwar really the face of a strong front?

Yes, there’s no one else at the moment, maybe because of our own problem of just looking at these same folks. Malaysian politics needs a real reset, a new generation of leaders should be allowed to replace the old guards in the opposition.

Ironically, Anwar stepping down would be a display of true leadership.

Multi Racial: Firstly, Anwar failed was because there was no united opposition front. All should not just join hands to support Anwar, but also help to convince MPs who share the same principles to join Harapan.

Instead, the opposition is split between Anwar and Shafie. I believe Shafie could be a potential PM one day but he needs to be reasonable and patient. How could he expect to be PM when he only has eight MPs in his party? He would be a weak PM.

There is also obviously no intention on his part to support Anwar and that mainly came from Dr Mahathir Mohamad. For whatever reason, Shafie is indebted to Mahathir. If he wants to be our nation’s leader, he has to first learn to be his own man and not someone’s lackey.

No doubt, Anwar is not perfect and he has his fair share of mistakes. Among those were when he was in power in Umno. He, together with Mahathir, were primarily responsible for the Islamisation of our country. But he has since changed. He has done a lot in reforming our nation.

Twenty years ago, we would be laughed at if we said the opposition could win the general election. But in GE14, they did it. Many gave credit to Mahathir, which personally, I think is wrong. The person we have to credit is Anwar.

Don’t forget that Mahathir’s party, Bersatu, lost the most seats they contested, and some of them even lost their deposits. Remember, his party was contesting against Umno and PAS.

Malaysians should not be ungrateful. Anwar never gave up on us and we should not either.

In my opinion, Anwar is still capable and should continue to lead us to GE15. I hope many good leaders from all races would join the fight. This includes Shafie.

BlueJaguar0861: Personally, Anwar needs to continue doing what he strongly believes in.

If it is for himself, he needs to step aside and let the young ones take the baton. At the same time, I strongly urge Anwar to continue to fight for “reformasi”. He is the only one left, and there is no one who can match him except Mahathir.

Anwar must lead the leaders of tomorrow and groom them and mentor the young to be better leaders than Mahathir.

A true leader serves the people, not himself or herself.

Kuniyo: For Anwar supporters, being a loser for 23 years is better than 22 years under Mahathir.

PKR is formed to make Anwar PM, Harapan is formed for the same purpose because PKR is not strong enough to do it on its own.

But Malaysia is bigger than Anwar’s personal dream to be PM, and he has already failed for 23 years.

Instead of laughing at Ismail Sabri Yaakob as incompetent deadwood, Harapan should form a shadow cabinet to show that it is better than the current cabinet. It already has the number to do it.

But Anwar doesn’t want it. Forming a shadow cabinet will overshadow him and he doesn’t like to be overshadowed. He and his supporters believe that Anwar is the centre of the universe and all things revolve around him.

Real Truth: Every opposition leader’s aspiration is to lead and be the PM if his or her party wins. This is the norm everywhere in the world.

It is very strange some do not want Anwar to be PM, when there is no capable leader on the horizon, except Mahathir, who still wants to be PM for the third time.

The Wakandan: People may not like this but, frankly speaking, the Anwar of today is not what he was before, perhaps as far back from his BN minister days until somewhere after Sodomy II.

The fire is gone, the fiery speaker who excited us, whom we loved so much was just not there. He seems hollow, without charisma.

The “damaged good” thing was probably a good observation if anything but for want of words. The fall from grace as a rising star during Mahathir’s reign, repeated trials and the jail sentences, have taken their toll on him.

Today, he is a stigma for some people, and to his supporters, it is more out of fidelity to prop up a failed warrior.

The Anwar of today can be both good and bad. Good, he has turned liberal, he has to be, after what Mahathir did to him. It also means, perhaps doing away with the passionate racial and religious fervour.

The bad would be, he just simply lost it – the courage and the fire. There, the word again. There seems to be no fight left. No power, no attraction, no drive. Unfortunately, those are the attributes a leader must have for people to follow.

Quigonbond: In this long-winded tirade against Anwar, at the end of the day, the realpolitik is who can influence the Malay base. You need to win elections first before you can undertake institutional reforms.

Shadow cabinet seems to be a big beef for some commentators, but that is the least of most people's concern - you're just stirring up unnecessary angst between opposition coalition parties. They could try shadow committees instead.

Look at the positive side, Anwar is the only one who has support of a united opposition block, and he is just about seven seats short.

It's really silly to even be talking about replacing him now. The only mistake(s) he made is he should have kept quiet every time he thinks he can secure a parliamentary majority through defections.

Yet there could have been internal pressure for him to say something. Coalition politics and internal party politics are messy affairs, and one should always bear in mind the uneven playing field when you are an opposition in Malaysia where the enforcement agencies can harass and coerce, and political operatives can bribe MPs to change their minds.

Getting rid of Anwar would be a radical move. Succession is more a question of Anwar retiring, or him leading the charge one more time. I doubt it'll go further than this. I also doubt Mahathir will also continue after this. So naturally, in the next few years, they will retire.

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