Anwar will not set a new deadline for power

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 – Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim appeared to stop short today of saying his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance will have to wait until the next general election to make a serious bid for power.

He told reporters that he would not explain why the PR alliance has not yet taken power at this weekend’s PKR party congress.

“There is nothing to explain. It will happen,” Anwar said in Parliament. He did not set another deadline.

His self-imposed deadline of Sept 16 for PR to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government passed without incident and his credibility has taken a knock, while the opposition’s momentum has stalled, since then.

Increasingly, Malaysians are focused on economic worries and many are turning away from an almost obsessive fixation with politics since the March 8 elections.

Anwar had been widely expected to address this point at this weekend’s PKR congress, but he looks to be trying to put Sept 16 behind him.

He said today that it did not matter when the PR alliance takes over the government.

The widely held view that Datuk Seri Najib Razak will take power as prime minister next March under an Umno transition plan hammered out with Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi was also premature, Anwar said.

“What makes you so sure?” he asked reporters.

According to Anwar, his message to party delegates this weekend will include a call for them to continue to be committed and to concentrate on ruling well the five states under PR control.

He said PKR had also recently started a nationwide campaign to hold ceramahs to communicate with the Malay ground across the country in an attempt to make headway into the hearts and minds of the community.

The opposition ranks continue to enjoy good support among non-Malays but rural Malays continue to harbour distrust of the PR coalition.

He said this move was necessary as the mainstream media, especially the Malay media, continues to sideline the coalition to propogate the Barisan Nasional agenda.

Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
26/11/08