Anwar Ibrahim: Strengths, weaknesses, and style
Anwar Ibrahim: Strengths, weaknesses, and style
He is a charismatic leader who can rope in allies, but lacks the ‘wow’ factor. The prime minister’s fate hinges on the performance of his Cabinet.
We are now four months into Anwar Ibrahim’s tenure as prime minister of Malaysia. We are only just now beginning to see what aspects of our perceptions of him, are myth and realty.
Anwar has a very strong personal following, 2.5 million on Facebook alone. Many see him as a messiah, and wont listen to any criticism, even if it is constructive. This is a very similar effect that Barak Obama enjoyed, before and after he became the president of the United States. However, paradoxically, Anwar didn’t enjoy any honeymoon period with the electorate, after he became prime minister.
We are also witnessing a clandestine campaign by pro-Anwar writers, bloggers, and journalists ‘talking up’ Anwar in the media. They are writing headlines like ‘Malaysian PM vows to help Thailand solve southern violence’ that is just building up unachievable expectations, that could create disappointment and loss of support in the future, and increase his unpopularity.
Talking up Anwar through the media is potentially a counterproductive strategy, and damage his long-term popularity.
Let’s look at some of Anwar’s strengths, weaknesses, and style that can be observed in office.
Strengths
Anwar’s biggest strength and asset is his unending determination and persistence. Anwar had an ambition to become prime minister and put up with two jail terms, countless political betrayals, and other personal setbacks. Most others would have taken the easy way out and taken up offers abroad as a professor, or head of a think tank.
On many occasions, over the past three years, it looked like Anwar had no chance of becoming prime minister. It looked like he was finished, but he came through.
Anwar has shown he is a symbol for people to focus upon. A symbol of hope. Put the right forces behind him, and Anwar will be able to achieve great things for Malaysia. Put the wrong forces behind him, and the Anwar brand would be tarnished.
The second Anwar strength is his ability to gather people around him, and form alliances. If it wasn’t for Anwar, there would be no reformasi, meaning there would be no aspirations for a better Malaysia, just depression. There would have been no Pakatan Rakyat, that brought the impossible together, and there would be no Pakatan Harapan, which delivered a ‘unity’ government in GE15.
The bottom line is Anwar is the epitome of hope for the nation.
Anwar has tremendous personal energy. At 75 years old, it appears he doesn’t sleep. He has a 24/7 drive, which many can’t keep up with.
Weaknesses
Like any human, Anwar has strengths, and also has weaknesses.
On the flipside of Anwar being able to bring people together, is his propensity, as we have seen many times, is to have falling outs with his closest confidents. This has been part of Anwar’s plight, all through his career, which almost destroyed his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, more than one time.
As to why these falling outs occur can only be speculated, but it appears Anwar has trusted the wrong people on some occasions.
Anwar lacks the ‘WOW’ factor. This could go someway to explain why he isn’t popular in the Malay heartlands. Anwar is one of the best public speakers in the nation. He draws crowds, but this doesn’t equate to any “WOW’ factor. This is something his minders must really look into and analyse, as they have been doing.
Style will be critical to the perception of Anwar
What people observe on a daily basis is Anwar’s style. This is ultimately what he will be judged upon.
Anwar is no micro-manager, unlike some past prime ministers. He acts like a chairman of the board, except his board is the cabinet. If Anwar has a tightknit and coordinated cabinet, then he will become an incredibly successful prime minister. However, at this time its not the case. His cabinet is stumbling upon itself.
If the cabinet can grow through this learning curve, then there is still time for Anwar.
Anwar will live or die by the performance of his cabinet.
Through four months of observation, we see Anwar performing as a manager, rather than a visionary. Managers don’t make good reformers. Anwar is not running his government upon a visionary platform. He is running the government by making decisions, which he thinks are the best, at the time.
Being a pragmatic operator, Anwar really needs an agile group of advisors, who can quickly put up options, that can be weighed up in front of him, in order to make good decisions.
This is Anwar’s situational audit. There are many trajectories Anwar can go from here. Most of Anwar’s supporters are hoping for what blogger Hussein Hamid recently wrote;
“Be the prime minister you can be Datuk Seri....anything less will make Malaysian wonder if high public office will change the Anwar that we have known all these years...the Anwar of Refomasi days, the Anwar whose courage, commitment, and focus under fire and duress, has never wavered from doing what is best for Malaysia and Malaysians...and the Anwar we know you can be in the times that we are now living in”.
Originally published in FMT 3rd April 2023
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Anwar to survive and thrive as the 10th prime minister which is another 56 months away as a full term head of a state. Whether he will endure and remain in office is yet to be seen. There are a few factors which will help him to navigate the treacherous water of politics and changing moods the masses depending on his performance as a leader with substance.
Is Anwar a true reformer which is align with being a visionary? How far will he forgo the present comfort and put up with the struggle of uncertainty when his vision hits a hindrance?
“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ”
― Niccolò Machiavelli ( 3 May 1469 -June 21, 1527)
Will Anwar endure his tenue as reformer long enough to see the fruit of his labour? Is he just another politician or a state man?
If you want to be happy for an hour, go take a nap.
If you want to be happy for a day, go golfing.
If you want to be happy for a month, get married.
If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune.
But if you want to be happy for a lifetime, go educate the people
Time will tell the real Anwar.
Will Anwar makes sound decision that will endear him to the men on the street? Can he discriminates the difference between a passing flash in the pants and a enduring legacy that will be a national legacy many years down the corridor of history. His weakness will manifest, if he does not know the toxic effects of attachment in his quest for more lasting inheritance.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
Simone Weil (3 February 1909 - 24 August 1943)
As for his unity government cabinet, it is almost impossible to work as a team when the elected members of parliament are from different political camps with separate philosophies and ideologies if there is such content in the collective minds of his cabinet.
The different degree of competency and efficiency of the current cabinet in power can be seen to be excellence in delivery of their respective duties if only these two qualities are evidence in ministers.
He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
Sir William Drummond (26 Sept 1769-29 March 1828)
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ”
― Alvin Toffler (4 Oct 1928- 27 June 2016)
The nation has great expectation and hope in Anwar to lead the nation out of the economic chaos and uncertain geopolitics scenarios and formations still in the making. Will Anwar makes a significant difference and contribute to the nation’s destiny for the better, time will tell.