An evening with Anwar Ibrahim

By Baradan Kuppusamy

It is incredible that with just one seat in the dissolved parliament and himself not a candidate, Anwar Ibrahim can tell voters in his campaign rallies that "after we win on March 8, I will reduce the price of petrol." But in the Kuala Lumpur's constituencies of Wangsa Maju, Bandar Tun Razak and Lembah Pantai, Anwar drew loud cheers and applause. "Who says petrol price cannot be reduced. I was finance minister for eight years, I never raised petrol price." For this promise to be taken seriously, the combined DAP-PKR-PAS opposition must win government on polling day - which is near impossible - then appoints Anwar as senator and names him the new prime minister. Equally incredible, voters at Anwar's rallies roared in approval. "I will abolish toll charges, fix minimum wages at RM1,500 and provide free education until university level," he said to loud applause. "I don't see why we have to raise petrol price when we are a net petroleum exporter, and when we earn over RM100 billion from oil export. What is wrong with using this income to subsidise petrol to help poor?" Going by the enthusiastic response, the promise to cut fuel price is having the desired impact on voters. Along with toll charges, the rise in fuel prices is the ordinary voter's No 1 fear. The roads around Malay-majority Wangsa Maju and Bandar Tun Razak, where people live in crowded high-rise buildings, was packed bumper to bumper with cars, mostly cheap Kancils and Protons. "Nearly everyone here owns a car, sometimes two cars," said former army driver, Azman Halim, who now drives for Nikko Hotel. "A car is not a luxury but a necessity. If fuel price rises, we all suffer." Hard sell by the government Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who raised fuel prices three times in the last four years, is on the defensive to explain why there will be another hike after the election. The issue is not whether oil price in Malaysia is lower then in Singapore. Voters are in no mood to compare prices with our neighbours - they simply cannot accept, and rightly too, as to why Malaysia, a net oil exporter, is raising oil prices. "There is no logic in raising petrol prices... we sell oil to the world. It should be cheaper lah!" said Samuel Lim, a Sabahan living in Wangsa Maju. It is a logic the government finds it hard to fight. Anwar ended his speech, "If you vote them, they will raise the petrol price. You vote us, we will reduce the price. The choice is yours." A master orator who understands the emotive power of silence, Anwar paused, waited as the crowd went silent, expectant. "Now is the time to change - on March 8!" he rammed home as crowd erupted into cheers and claps. Critical mass missing He waded into the crowd, hugged, shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. He recognised some old faces as former reformasi warriors. He then got into the car and drove off to the next ceramah in Brickfields as the crowd dispersed to shouts of `reformasi'. To change a government you need critical mass. But this appeared to be missing in the two Malay-majority areas on Thursday night - an ominous sign that Anwar, once a firebrand promoter of Islam and later a Malay nationalist par excellence, is not winning the Malays in numbers large enough to see change. In an area where about 30,000 Malays live, only 500 turned up at Bandar Tun Razak. It was the same in Wangsa Maju, about 600 people of mostly Malays came to lend Anwar their ears. Some, from their Arabic-style costumes, were presumably PAS members while others were younger, upwardly-mobile Malays, the reformasi types who always travel with Anwar and take up the front-row seats. The rest were local residents. I asked a well-dressed Malay man hanging around, "What do you think?" "Well, fuel prices always go up, it is a question of how much and how well it is explained. Anwar can't get voters to change government but he can at least help get his daughter, Nurul Izzah, elected," said the man, who turned out to be a lawyer. He gave me his name card, but it was ruined by the washing machine. In Makkal Shakthi territory Later that night, Brickfields was like a madhouse. Thousands of people, mostly Indians, packed like sardines in a small field where a stage had been set up and some Hindraf and PKR `small fries' were warming the mike for Anwar. This is clearly Makkal Shakthi (people's power) territory - the new rallying cry that has united disenchanted Indians, the big majority of whom are Tamil youths holding low-paid, semi-skilled jobs like drivers, dispatch boys and office clerks. One after another, the speakers went to the rostrum to lambast MIC president S Samy Vellu, who is now the favourite whipping boy of PKR Indian leaders. They all started their speech with some invocation probably in Sanskrit. Suddenly the air was punctuated with shouts of Makkal Sakthi. There was a stir in the crowd. Nurul Izzah Anwar had arrived and was being escorted to the stage to the lively and stirring tunes of live Indian drums and nadhaswaram (wind instrument) music. Dressed in a red kebaya and with large floral patterns and a grey tudung, the fresh-faced 27-year-old still looks fresh, politically that is. She kicked off her speech with the Makkal Shakthi slogan to the approval of the crowd, and spoke in careful measured tones with precise hand gestures. She did not criticise her opponent. She spoke about rising crime, about money wasted on a space tourist and promised to work hard if elected. The security around her was also tight with several UTK-types in black leather jackets, their mouths always working like toman fish munching chewing gums. Commanding performance Anwar finally arrived about 11pm and was again accompanied with Indian music. He began his speech with his now familiar, "On March 9, I will reduce petrol prices!" and went on to give the audience, estimated at 5,000, a commanding performance. He attacked both Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his old nemesis, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The Makkal Sakthi crowd lapped it up. Some old Anwarites tried to get the crowd to chant reformasi but failed. The crowd preferred Makkal Shakthi. However, `Anwar car stickers' sold like hot cakes at RM4 a piece. After the speech, Anwar stood on the stage and had a difficult time receiving the cash that the sea of humanity was pushing into his hands. Finally someone found a discarded plastic to hold the cash. As in Bandar Tun Razak and Wangsa Maju, there were few Malays and Chinese, another ominous sign that Anwar is not winning the middle ground but is sliding to the fringe where the anger is palpable but the votes are not enough to create a critical mass for national change. Petrol price is unlikely to be slashed come March 9 but the chances for Nurul Izzah to enter Parliament is improving.