Anwar's Talks of Dictators, Tanks and Guns is Leaving Him Increasingly Isolated

Does Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim care anymore about his credibility? Given his increasingly wild outbursts and the fact that few within Pakatan Rakyat are echoing what he says about the "stolen" election and his "disgust" at the result, you would have to conclude that not only does he no longer care about being taken seriously, he is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

"We are not interested in the Election Commission fixing the mistakes in the coming 14th general election," he shouted at the rally in Johor this week. "We want the commission to declare that Pakatan won the 13th GE!"

Does he seriously believe that if he can mobilise an angry crowd, the EC will reverse the outcome of GE13? Not only would that be totally undemocratic, it would discredit the whole election.

But it got worse. If you had any doubts that Anwar is actively trying to incite unrest then you'll be surprised by what he said next.

"Never in the history of mankind, have dictators, with tanks and guns, been able to stand up against the might of people power," he said, once again equating Malaysia to a dictatorship that controls the people with tanks on the streets.

"So defend your rights. This is not about Anwar... It is about the future of Malaysia and the younger generation," he said.

And Pakatan Rakyat wonders why we need a sedition law? It's to stop people inciting others to overthrow the democratically-elected Government as Anwar appears to be doing.

Apart from Anwar's delusion, his fiery language is leaving him increasingly isolated. In the fortnight since GE13, PAS long ago admitted that "we failed to win GE13" and DAP has said little about the fairness of an election that was praised by the independent observers.

Tellingly, Lim Kit Siang, who won the Gelang Patah seat in Johor fairly and squarely and was on stage with Anwar at this rally, said nothing to support his increasingly desperate statements.

Anwar has now declared he wants to stay on in Malaysian politics and fight the injustice, despite earlier saying that he would be quitting if he didn't win GE13 to take up an academic job.

Are witnessing Anwar's last stand? His actions have all the hallmarks of a last-ditch effort by a desperate and out-of-ideas fading leader. But his tactic is bound to fail and his legacy will be tainted.

Our final memories of him will be of his delusion, selfishness and isolation as the leader who wasn't meant to be. It's a sad ending to the Anwar story.