24 - Time for Anwar to Accept Mahathir's Olive Branch?

Summary

Malaysia's former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, surprised his countrymen by turning up at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday to shake the hand of his former deputy and protégé and (perhaps former) political foe, Anwar Ibrahim.

This is a highly significant event and their short meeting sent a strong impulse through the Malaysian political landscape. Since Dr Mahathir launched a campaign to unseat Prime Minister Najib Razak many months ago, including a national tour that succeeded in collecting beyond its target of a million signatures calling for the removal of the Prime Minister, it had been unclear how far his movement would take him. Or how far he would actually go in getting what he wants.

Strange twists in Malaysian politics now see the two figures who were once the two most powerful men in the country becoming fellow travellers with the common ambition of toppling the Prime Minister. The deep animosity between the two camps had loomed as the biggest hurdle to their forces mounting a concerted campaign against the federal government, and threatened to divide the opposition into those who would embrace Dr Mahathir into their camp, and those who refused.

It was an understandable divide, given that while Anwar's supporters wished to topple UMNO and not only Mr Najib, Dr Mahathir's supporters were only out to get rid of the Prime Minister.

The opposition parties, though having trouble working with each other, are largely faithful to Anwar and his agenda of national political reformation. No doubt, the grief that the former deputy prime minister and his family had had to suffer since his sacking on 2 September 1998 and eventual imprisonment accounts a lot for the sense of loyalty his supporters continue to feel for him.

His Reformasi Movement has after all been the inspiration for the generation of Malaysians from all ethnic backgrounds that now forms the backbone of the opposition.

In his dramatic move, Dr Mahathir appeared on neutral ground and over an issue that he and Anwar could agree upon, namely opposition to the National Security Committee (NSC) Act that they both claim gives unlimited powers to the Prime Minister.