The most famous term used by BN leaders is that Anwar Ibrahim is ‘irrelevant’. Is this true? I was beginning to believe that maybe their claim was justified as it was being mentioned repeatedly until I personally attended Anwar’s ceramah at Buntong and Dewan Tow Bee Keong in Ipoh recently.

There were banners displayed at several places around Ipoh for a Chinese New Year celebration with Anwar at Dewan Tow Bee Keong, so a crowd of 5,000, mostly Chinese, did not take me by surprise. However, a crowd of more than 5,000 people at Buntong with only a day’s notice and at a small terrace house with no stage was an eyeopener. So why was there such a large crowd? Why is an ‘irrelevant’ person able to create such a hype?

The mere presence of Anwar created euphoria, his aura was immense, I was 50 meters away from him but I could feel the vibes, the urge to pay close attention to what he was going to say. He is a born leader. Anwar is definitely relevant!

He did not scream the way most politicians do and there was pin-drop silence when his tone of voice was soft and I mean pin-drop silence from the Buntong crowd. He had the crowd cheering and laughing all the way throughout his hour-long speech. He was instantly a big hit amongst the Buntong crowd. He received the same ovation at the Dewan Tow Bee Keong as well.

Now the big question is, can Anwar be trusted? Well, how much worse can he be compared to the current leaders? Is there any credible leader in Umno who can turn this country around? Petrol price is to increase again in April. The prices of all essential goods are going to go higher. Foreign direct investment has dwindled. University rankings have dropped

Anwar is a leading financial adviser to many large institutions and businessmen for investment opportunities in South East Asia . He also guest lectures at Harvard and Oxford.

With all this in mind, why can't we give him five years to prove himself? We have prejudged him based on his former ties with Umno. Now he has formed a multiracial party to fight for all regardless of race and religion and has promised to protect the Malay rights as stipulated in the constitution. It's time for change, vote wisely.