All this fuss between Badawi and Anwar comes down to two BIG mistakes they each made.
Badawi's BIG mistake was to ignore Mahathir's advice to keep Anwar behind bars. He probably thought that now that he is PM, it is safe enough to be magnanimous and release Anwar (who he probably hope will turn on Mahathir for revenge and therefore keep Mahathir in line), but Badawi miscalculated. He thought revenge against Mahathir will be foremost in Anwar's agenda....but Anwar's agenda had always been to be PM... to get back from Badawi what he had lost to Mahathir. Anwar had always thought of the PM post as rightfully his.
Anwar's BIG mistake and one that he still hasn't learned from is, he is a very impatient man. He was very close to being a PM until he lost his patience and step on Mahathir's toes. That got him thrown in jail. Now that he has his second chance again, he is impatient again. He is not content with just a good win in the election for his party, he wants to be PM straight away. Since his re-election to parliment, he has done nothing for the rakyat.. only pursuing his personal agenda to be PM.
A piece of advice for both of these leaders.
Badawi - in order to keep the corrupted in line, you must yourself be more corrupted and conniving than them. I think you have good intentions for the people but your good intentions will be nought if you are unable to play their game using their own rule. You are PM and there is enormous power in your hand. If you use it well, it will turn out to be to your benefit.
The problems you are facing now all stem from your lack of control over the corrupted ones. There is good corruption and bad corruption - good corruption to help the people is good, bad corruption to cause trouble, death and pain to the people is bad. Be a good corrupter. In politics, the means DO justify the ends.
Anwar - sabar, sabar. You are playing your cards right by using people power to get what you want... but you must be patient. First, demonstrate to the people you meant what you said by being a good representative to the people in the parliment. Discard useless attics such as walking off parlimentary sessions etc.. those tactics only work for when you are a protestor in the streets or a student. Now that you are a rakyat rep, please do your job.
With such a good majority behind you, you are in a powerful position to finally question and challenge for change certain policies that have burdened the rakyat for decades. Once you had proven your worth to the rakyat and make the opposition MPs look bad, your turn to be PM will come very soon. Perhaps, in the next election, BN will be voted out of government by the people. Again, use people power to do the job for you.
Do not sully your hard won "I'm for the people" image you had built for so many years now by fighting to be PM when it is still not yet given to you by the people. All this business about defecting ppl will only make the rakyat more sceptical of your agenda and will not be good for the next election.
The fact that the rakyat has given your allied parties enough power to talk louder for them but not yet enough power to be the new ruling government tells you that this period is a testing period for you all. The rakyat is still sceptical of handling over the government to opposition parties as this is something that has not happened in our history...as such, we are threading carefully, just look and see first. So, Anwar choose what type of message you want to give us for the next election: "I want to be PM" message or "I am fighting for the rakyat's rights" message?
source: A Story of Mistakes Malaysia Star,
