COMMENT Azmin Ali is now well on his way to becoming the most powerful man in Malaysia, and this is a great time to get on his good side.

Many are eager to put the entire Selangor episode behind us, and move forward positively. I can certainly understand and empathise.

I’m sure the most popular writing in this moment will be all about closing ranks within Pakatan, giving Azmin a chance, moving forward, and so on.

It is possible that popular is the same as accurate. In the off chance this is not so, however, the following are my humble thoughts.

I consider Azmin to be a man who puts personal aggrandisement above principles.

All Azmin lacked to ‘succeed’ politically was power and resources. Now, he inherits RM 3 billion in state reserves, and untold billions more in contracts, land deals, and goodness knows what else.

He will be unstoppable.

To see where Azmin will likely be in a few decades, look no further than our former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed (a man, who coincidence would have it, recently went from implicitly supporting Anwar Ibrahim to implicitly supporting Azmin in a matter of days).

Both these men are consummate feudal politicians who understand power the way a fish understands water.

They both understand that the three keys to a long reign is having a power base with ample resources, feeding allies well and dealing with enemies ruthlessly.

Anwar failed to achieve the first, disabling him from doing the second, and (perhaps to his credit) had no heart or bloodthirstiness for the third. Azmin will not make those ‘mistakes’.

A master at public relations

In Mahathir’s day, he was the strongman, while Anwar was the charm - an effective team.

In Azmin, we have the two very dangerously combined.

There are very few politicians in Malaysia who are more adept than Azmin in knowing what to say, when, where and how, while meaning none of it.

I bet that by spending some of Selangor’s resources on public relations - something Khalid was always loathe to do - even those who do not like him now will, in a few months, be eating out of his hand (a phrase somewhat less figurative than usual in this context).

All the while, as Azmin deftly presents himself to you as a picture perfect Pakatan leader, backroom dealings and the greasing of wheels are likely to quietly reach levels not seen since Umno’s heyday.

This will be politics at its most feudal.

Mahathir II begins here

Once he uses his new resources to consolidate a power base, Azmin will likely finish off Anwar, and thus finish what Mahathir started.

Azmin probably sees Anwar (and Anwar’s own brand of feudalism) as being good for nothing, except holding him back from achieving his ambitions - the way a son resents a father who he feels has failed to give him his due, time and time again.

As Azmin takes over Selangor, he will sing most melodiously the praises of both Khalid and Anwar, but if I were either, I would watch my back very, very carefully.

Given his inclinations, political cooperation (public or hidden) with Umno in a few years is also far from out of the question.

With a little bit of luck, Azmin could easily be Malaysia’s next prime minister, in one or two elections. If he makes it there, he could just as easily stay on as long as Mahathir did, and do just as much damage to Malaysia.

NATHANIEL TAN has many mixed emotions when he thinks of how Anwar Ibrahim and all those close to him brought this upon themselves. Some fates you do not even wish on your worst enemies. He tweets @NatAsasi .

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