COMMENT | It was CNN’s Fareed Zakaria who in August 2016 openly called Donald Trump's US presidential campaign, "BS." Quoting Princeton University ethics philosopher Harry Frankfurt, Zakaria added that there was a huge difference between a "lie" and "BS".

Where the liar does not believe in the lie himself, the “BS artist” goes to the other extreme: he is “neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all… except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says.”

Zakaria wasn't wantonly dishing out an insult against an unpopular presidential candidate. He was making a strong philosophical and political point. US politics was dominated by BS, as evidence by Trump winning the presidency later that year.

The litmus test to see if the politicians are honest or real is – sadly, in every sense of the word – conviction.

Max Weber, the father of modern sociology, distinguished between those who live off politics, choosing politics as a matter of career, and those who live for politics, and believe in their vocation or cause. The best politicians invariably come from the latter group.

As things stand, PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim has passed the "conviction" test several times over. One can also say that about a number of politicians in his party, as well as in DAP and Amanah.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is something of a ‘conviction politician’ too. Because had he not led Pakatan Harapan to victory on May 9, he would be looking at the dire prospect of being put in jail as well.

So given that Malaysia has a group of ‘solid’ politicians who dare to speak up and genuinely fight for what they believe in, one wonders why some are questioning the motives and methods of Anwar in contesting the Port Dickson by-election?

One lawyer was distraught that Anwar forced the by-election unilaterally. She argued that any attempt to vacate a parliamentary seat for the heir apparent must first come from either his wife or daughter. But this is where her understanding of politics is in need of some serious revision.

All hands on deck

May 9 was a promise to crystallise the total reform of the country, not institutional reforms or anti-corruption per se. Rather it was a top to bottom, bottom to top revival to make Malaysia work.

Right now, Malaysia is a ship that has sprung a leak. Shouldn't all hands be on deck to reduce the huge national debt?

If Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or Nurul Izzah Anwar – now handling the thick dossier of technical and vocational training – are asked to resign, then what was supposed to be a simple transition of power from Mahathir to Anwar will become unnecessarily complicated.

Women's issues and graduate unemployment would be cast aside, at least in the short-term. How can that be responsible politics so soon after May 9, when these groups voted for change?

The planned transition from Mahathir to Anwar must be honoured, or it would render many handshakes in the future meaningless. Mahathir comes from the old generation where one’s word is a promise meant to be honoured.

Between 1998 to 2018, many of those in Mohamed Azmin Ali’s camp vouched to defend Anwar to the hilt. They must have, or Reformasi would not have come this far. But were they engaged in BS?

Stuck in the middle

Those made ministers and chief ministers who are against the PD Move must now be sweating bullets. If they back the wrong horse, their careerist efforts for twenty years would vanish in a matter of weeks if not months after Anwar is in charge.

This is why some of these elements are trying to sway the 800,000 members into believing that Anwar and his family have hijacked PKR the party.

But ‘hijacking’ is the issue, then isn't their plan to derail Anwar's return to parliamentary politics – and not even to the cabinet for the time being – a mini-coup against those in PKR who want to see Anwar installed as prime minister?

The 800,000 members in PKR should not be backing the wrong horse. Or, confuse the forward motion of a rocking horse as progress, with his detractors not having done much in their constituencies at all.

Perhaps they would care to improve their performance in their constituencies first before attempting to stop the PD Move in its tracks. The trick is to prove Weber wrong, not Anwar.

PHAR KIM BENG was a multiple award-winning Head Teaching Fellow on China and Cultural Revolution in Harvard University.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.