Anifah to take on Anwar

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman will not back down in the face of a RM100 million defamation suit filed against him yesterday by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim over an undiplomatic flap on his first official outing abroad.

This is the message that is going out from the man himself to his army of supporters in the kampungs especially among his extended Dusun family along the west coast of Sabah.

They worry about the foreign minister throwing caution to the winds in matters of diplomacy and note that his critics have already questioned his credentials for the job and are mercilessly crucifying him in blogosphere.

Many simple folks in the kampung also worry that “Anifah wouldn’t have the RM100 million to pay Anwar if he loses”.

Anwar meanwhile confirmed in a text message to Malaysiakini that he was suing Anifah both in his personal capacity and as the foreign minister.

In addition, Anwar is also suing the government in connection with the allegedly libelous statements uttered by Anifah in Washington on May 16 against him.

“Effectively, it is suing two parties, Anifah and Kerajaan Malaysia,” he explained

“Suing (him) in his own name (only) means he has to pay a private lawyer (and fellow Sabahan) Gani (attorney-general Gani Patail) cannot defend him.”

Has he played into Anwar’s hands?

Cynics may be excused if they wonder at this juncture whether it’s ‘payback time’ after Anifah had reportedly given every indication that he would ditch the ruling BN for the opposition alliance but turned tail at the last moment before the Sept 16 deadline last year.

Anifah had allegedly uttered the libelous remarks against Anwar at a joint press conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I was personally offered a very lucrative position, like a deputy prime ministership. These facts are not known to the world at large," Anifah reportedly told the Washington press conference.

To add insult to injury, to quote from Anwar’s briefing to party members, “he has stubbornly refused to apologise for his mistake”.

The thrust of Anwar’s denials is that he never offered something like the post of deputy prime minister in a federal government helmed by him.

Anwar dismisses Anifah’s claim as a poor joke since “the man himself is obviously not qualified”.

Along the political grapevine in Sabah, the story is that Anifah had been expected to lead several MPs to crossover to Pakatan Rakyat and would have been rewarded with a senior position in the federal cabinet when the opposition seizes the reins of power in Putrajaya.

“Many people have taken on Anifah in the past and lost but not in the courts,” says a senior journalist with the New Sabah Times , which is run by the Aman family, whose head is Musa, the state’s chief minister and Anifah’s elder brother.

“This is one guy who kicks up helluva fuss when something or someone gets in his way. At the same time, he has a strong sense of entitlement.”

The senior journalist who is no fan of Anifah points out that when former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi offered him the deputy transport minister’s post, “he really felt insulted and told the PM what he could do with his offer”.

The happy ending came when newly-appointed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak invited him to be foreign minister.

Political observers are not impressed generally with Anifah’s handling of the press.

Quite a number are not surprised that Anifah was trapped by the American and international press into making the anti-Anwar and pro-Najib statements for which he has now been faulted.

Questions abound in the local press in the wake of Anifah’s anti-Anwar tirade in Washington and his spirited defence of the Najib administration is how much a politician really worth in ringgit and sen?

However, one former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad apologist from Sarawak, a senior journalist who is now in media advisory and consultancy work, has this to say: “Anwar has mastered the art of suing for RM100 million. He also did the same thing to Chandra Muzaffar (former PKR deputy president) and Mahathir to create the public perception that he’s the aggrieved party.”

RM1 million shocker from Anifah

Anifah himself is no stranger to controversy.

When he was helming the Sabah Football Association (Safa) some years ago, he shocked reporters at a press conference by disclosing that he made his first million by the time he was 21 years old.

This made the day for the press who had their readers chuckling for years thereafter over the remark whenever Sabah football and politicians were mentioned in the same breath.

The local press, subsequently joined by the national papers, had been very critical of the way Anifah had been handling Safa. Obviously, he thought that his one million ringgit shocker would make them realise that he was made of the right stuff in leadership, management and marketing skills.

He did not disclose however how he made his first million.

Senior Sapp (Sabah People’s Progressive Party) activist Mohamad Edeh has a final word on yesterday’s RM100 lawsuit. He thinks that Anwar is making much ado about nothing.

“If I were him (Anwar), I would just make don’t know because it (Anifah’s statement) isn’t worth anything at all. The more he reacts, the more his political reputation would be questioned,” said Edeh.