WHEN a person commits a crime and is punished, the judge is the one who metes out the sentence. He is the one who sends the person to the gallows or to serve time, depending on the severity of the offence.
But in the case of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, it appears that God was the one who sent him to prison for a special reason: he was to learn first-hand the plight of the inmates there to get a better understanding of human misery.
And God sent Anwar to prison not once but twice, presumably to make sure the PKR president gets the feel of the suffering of the imprisoned souls so that he could help them when he is released, and, by some miracle, occupy the highest office in the country.
It is understandable why Anwar wants to erase the dark side of his history; with the 15th General Election (GE15) in full swing, the consummate politician in him is giving himself a makeover by creating a kind of aura around his person.
By a masterstroke, he invoked God’s name to explain why he was incarcerated. His revelation must surely be shocking news because no one knew that the Maker had a hand in Anwar’s imprisonment.
But the crowd listening to his incredible spin was probably over-awed. It was a Deepavali event and the man struck a chord with the Indians by expressing sympathy and empathy for the high number of Indian inmates.
Bravo performance! But Anwar is going too far with his God narrative. He is not fooling anybody, certainly, not the overwhelming majority of Malaysians.
It is ludicrous to claim that God had sent him behind bars on a seemingly holy mission.
How in heavens did God communicate to him? Did He appear to him in a vision? In a dream? Or whispered to him in his deep slumber? Or was he in a moment of solitary meditation seized by a thought that the best way to exonerate his past was to give it a divine gloss?
And if the order comes from God, who would dare question His purpose?
No need to go to such lengths
Anwar need not go to such lengths to portray himself as a hero of the downtrodden. When he stretches his narrative of his time in prison to include God as his strong point, he is merely scoring a brownie point.
It would work to his advantage if the voters were to ignore his misdeeds and swallow whole his new persona; with God on his side, nothing could go wrong with his celestially-inspired script.
But you do not take God’s name in vain. He is all-knowing and is above all human beings. He does not take too kindly if mere mortals like Anwar want to get too close or familiar with Him.
God has nothing to do with the rise and fall of Anwar in his political journey. All his deeds or misdeeds are of his own doing: he rose because of his brilliance and he fell because he went astray.
In this GE15, Anwar wants to make a comeback this time as he believes he stands a good chance of capturing the coveted prize in Putrajaya.
It is a do-or-die battle. If he loses, his political career will be eclipsed, perhaps, permanently.
Hence, he has to resort to something drastic, like bringing God into his game plan. That one blot on his moral character must be erased and only a divine touch would solve the problem.
But God is not going to gird Anwar with the strength to do battle. He has to use his own strength and, perhaps, all his wile, guile and ingenuity, to explain his past and how he can overcome the daunting challenge to convince the voters to believe in his interpretation of a sordid story.
But Anwar is right. God did send him to prison – because he went against the order of nature. – Oct 29, 2022
Philip Rodrigues is a former journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
