LETTER | In the conclusion of his article Can Anwar Ibrahim become the PM this time around? P Ramasamy writes: “Twice Anwar has been 'cheated' of the opportunity to become prime minister. I hope this time around he succeeds!"

How does Anwar not being made prime minister in two years' time imply he would be cheated? No one is PM by birthright.

The understanding that Anwar will succeed Dr Mahathir Mohamad as PM is not written in stone. It depends on who has the support of the majority of the MPs at the time.

The MPs are elected by the people and are responsible for them only, they are not appointed by Anwar and responsible to him for making him prime minister.

Ramasamy heaps praise on Anwar for founding the reform movement. It is true that the sacking of Anwar galvanised many Malays to turn against BN and Umno, and for the Malays, he may be the father of reformasi.

Not so for the non-Malays. When Lim Kit Siang, the Seenivasagam brothers, and founders of Gerakan (founded in 1968) such as Syed Hussein Alatas and Tan Chee Koon pushed for reform, Anwar was a university student who co-founded Abim in 1971, joined Umno in 1982 and became president of the IIU in 1988.

According to former law Minister Zaid Ibrahim, Anwar is an Islamist who "helped Islamicise the whole government system" and played a major role in the Islamicisation of the education system when he was education minister in the 1980s”.

Reform (or reformasi) is the fourth R and should be the goal we strive for in the New Malaysia. The first three R’s (race, religion and royalty) are championed by Umno, even after Najib was rejected in the election.

Between Mahathir (the new) and Anwar, who is in which camp? Mahathir obviously believes in a constitutional monarchy like the one in the UK. He disagrees with royalty regaining the veto over legislation which he says is the people’s province.

He appointed a finance minister who is non-Malay and non-Muslim over objections which were circulated by Anwar’s spokesmen in the media.

Subsequently, Mahathir appointed an attorney-general who is non-Malay and non-Muslim. The new Mahathir doesn’t hold the 3R’s; he belongs to the fourth R.

On the other hand, Anwar is an Islamist who "helped Islamicise the whole government system" according to former law Minister Zaid Ibrahim.

He is deferential to the palace. He advises us “not to spook the Malays”. He does hold the 3R’s to some extent and the 3R’s are antithetical to the 4th.

If Anwar tries to straddle all the 4Rs, he is indulging in an inconsistent, unstable mixture and sooner or later, he will depart from Pakatan Harapan.

Then the Malay portion of PKR will join Umno and PAS in upholding the 3Rs.

Which of course is Umno’s new dream after the loss by Najib.

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