COMMENT The more you harass him, the larger the crowds he draws.

The more you arraign him in Parliament, the more he spills the beans on alleged Israeli penetration of sensitive parts of our national security apparatus.

This is the case with Anwar Ibrahim who fights best when he punts out of a corner.

pkr supreme council meeting 0404010 anwar When challenged to furnish proof of his initial claims, the parliamentary opposition leader attempts not only to do that, he also ups the ante: He paints a more insidious picture of foreign penetration of our security apparatus .

When three weeks ago Anwar suggested to Parliament that there were Israeli origins to the ‘1Malaysia’ policy of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government, government legislators challenged him to substantiate his claims.

Backed by documentary evidence , he proceeded to do so by describing a web of connections that Apco Worldwide, public relations consultants to the Najib Razak administration, had established worldwide.

A goodly portion of those links were to regimes that were or are wicked.

Anwar was rewarded for his pains at disclosure by the threat of arraignment in Parliament.

In what may seem a petulant response, as if he were unfazed by the threat of parliamentary sanctions, the opposition leader has gone on to allege the presence of Israeli intelligence agents in the communications set-up in the police force.

‘Jewish agent’ Anwar      

Whoever thought to tie the noose of ‘Jewish agent’ around Anwar’s neck must have had cause in the last few weeks to regret their impetuousness.

Motivated by a desire to exploit Muslim neurosis about ‘Zionist designs’ that are said to have worldwide resonance, these detractors have reflexively resorted to a shopworn tactic to stop a Muslim leader in his tracks.

That has only added fuel to Anwar’s stride.  

Or more precisely, the rent-seeking culture that pervades the sub-contracting of government business has supplied the grist for Anwar to turn around and to place the pillory foisted on him on his accusers.

Anwar practically said that permissiveness about our rentier business culture has created a soft underbelly in our national security apparatus, ripe for penetration - which he told Parliament has already happened - by an embattled foreign power.

Predictably, the inspector-general of police responded by asking Anwar to furnish proof of his claims.

On other occasions, the IGP has been known to want to investigate a claim even when there was lesser warrant for it.

It appears in this charade of ‘Anything you can do, I can do better’, the parliamentary opposition leader can dish out better than he takes.

 

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.