Terence Fernandez & Nadya Ngui, The Malay Mail
3:41PM May 3, 2013
How's the campaign going so far?
Anwar:
I'm very encouraged by the support after nomination, especially from
the younger voters. It's very apparent that they support us. That the
majority of Malaysians support us. I used to be cautiously optimistic,
but then Najib Razak used the same thing (campaign promises), so I'm now
quite optimistic.
As optimistic as you are in 2008?
Johor,
Sabah and Sarawak. We have been working on Johor and East Malaysia
during the last five years. Majority of the support is not like the
level in Penang, Perak and Selangor, but I believe it is now much
higher.
With Lim Kit Siang to push it further among the Chinese in Johor, former
army chief General (Rtd.) Md Hashim Hussein in Johor Baru, Salahuddin
Ayub standing in Pulai and Idris Jauzi in Batu Pahat ... this
combination of three leaders helps push the Malay support.
But
I'm convinced we can take 53 percent of the seats. Only concern is the
usual cheating... the foreigners, dubious voters on the roll, ferrying
of outstation voters and the like. That is why we must counter this by
coming out in droves to vote.
In 2008 you did extremely well in the northern states. You feel you can do better?
I
believe we can. Kedah we have problems with some seats. Penang we can
do much better. I'm giving a lot of attention to Perak. It will be a
major boost for Pakatan's chances. In Selangor, I'm optimistic about
Sabak Bernam and Pandan, which we failed to capture the last time.
Najib
said three young guys must be slaughtered: Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah
and Tony Pua. Tony can survive easily. Rafizi too, but the toughest will
be Izzah because of the amount of money and the 12,000 voters from
outside Lembah Pantai.
In Negeri Sembilan, we're optimistic about
a few seats. Johor, we're surprised. There're quite a number of seats.
We don't know if we can take over the state, but there'll be a major
breakthrough.
You're looking at winning 12 parliamentary seats in
Johor. Is it still a realistic achievement after almost two weeks of
campaigning?
Since my last trip there, it's quite reasonable to expect between 10 and 12 seats.
You
mentioned Gen Hashim. Is the sudden addition of ex-army officers, and
now former inspector-general of police Musa Hasan, a strategy to instil
confidence in the people that if you get Putrajaya, these senior
ex-servicemen will ensure the Armed Forces and police will respect the
people's mandate and facilitate a smooth transition of power?
There
are two issues. The perception is we are weak in the Malay ground. The
army has always been associated with Malays so it is to us very
reassuring to have an ex general, deputy chief of army, the admiral in
Perak and also a general in Behrang.
That covers our section of Malay base. Do not underestimate the number of ex-army personnel. It's a major breakthrough.
Second
issue is security. The Chinese and urban professional Malays are
concerned whether a smooth transition of power will take place. The
generals came in with the reassurance of that in the beginning. Musa
seems to be quite optimistic of PR's chances of coming into power. They
are quite certain about a peaceful and smooth transition.
Are
you reassured over Najib's statement that his party will respect the
outcome of this election? And that the people's mandate will be adhered
to?
I commended positively Najib's reassurance. It was quite surprising to
us for him to come up with a statement like that. His repeated
statements is that there should be civility during the campaigning. I'm
not saying they're honouring it. I mean if you watch TV3 there's no
civility at all. At least he made a point to say it.
If you say
civility, then give access to the media. If you say civility, then make
sure the indelible ink is actually indelible. Let the Election
Commission answer why 42 postal voters who should be army personnel are
foreigners! It is not answered satisfactorily.
How have the police been conducting themselves with Pakatan?We
initially had problems with the police during our public programmes and
rallies, but since nomination there were hardly any problems with the
police. There were some exceptions, where military commanders became
overzealous. But there has been a marked change of conduct among camp
commanders to ensure fair elections.
I was in a mosque in Balik
Pulau when a Perkasa group switched off the lights. Immediately, the
police came in to help settle the matter. I must commend the
professionalism of the police. I must thank them for that.
Would you interpret the change of attitude as acceptance of a possible Pakatan government?What
we want is for the police to be decent and proper, even with BN
candidates. Recently, there has been a marked change and it's something
we welcome and it's most reassuring.
What about the civil service? Have you won them over? With
the exception of the senior people who are aligned to Umno! The problem
is when they get specific instructions... I was in Tawau, where the
local council did not discriminate against Pakatan parties. I was in the
Kuantan and despite protests from BN, the officers said they had to
perform their duties to ensure fair elections. I didn't see this in
2008.
I would never have imagined to have a town hall or padang to be used for
election campaigning, but now we're able to. It reflects the attitude
of the civil service, although Umno is going back to them and saying,
"Look we are the people with the Malay agenda, Malay supremacy and
capable of protecting civil servants."
But Pakatan will bring
back respect, integrity and professionalism to the civil service. I
worked umpteen years as a minister and civil servant. Some of them have
impeccable track records. If you over-politicise and overrule decisions
because of tenders and contracts, it's political interference.
Therefore, I believe we can bring back professionalism in the civil
service.
The Chinese seem more excited about change than Malays.
The
open expression from the Chinese is very new. You could see it in 2008
but you can re-sense it now. Aunties and uncles, they shake my hand. For
me I'm deeply touched. I received it in 2008 but no way as close as I
observe now.
If you go to the rural areas there are huge Malay
turnouts. This is what gives me the encouragement. If you go to Sabah
and Sarawak, not only the Ibans but the Malays as well embrace us. In
Wangsa Maju and Setiawangsa, 80 percent of those at ceramah sessions are
Malays standing in the rain.
Are Felda settlers also opening up to Pakatan?
I
went to Bera, it's very remote, with very conservative Malays. But the
excitement of the 90 percent Malays there, it was amazing.
But large crowds do not necessarily translate into similar numbers of votes.
That's
true, so too are the BN's programmes, where people get to makan and get
allowances. You can see the level of enthusiasm, but the challenge is
to translate that into votes.
As opposed to 2008, the BN has more ammunition to attack you because you
have administered four states, where there have been shortcomings.
Water
is a major problem in Selangor, but the people know that they are not
paying for the water and they understand the Syabas issue way better
than the one in Johor; so we may have to explain to Johor the attack on
Selangor.
In terms of track record, they can compare Perak which
we were robbed of, with Selangor. People must have a government they
can trust. You cannot abuse your power to enrich your family members.
You say you want to help the Malays, but who gets contracts worth
billions of ringgit? Your son. People know these things, you can't fool
them.
Compared with 2008, Dr Mahathir Mohamad wasn't this aggressive in campaigning against PR.
Mahathir
knows he's in deep trouble. He has his minister friends to help him
because he thinks Najib alone cannot deliver. Mahathir is actually
helping us because the more he talks, the more votes we get.
Perhaps they need assurance that if you were to win, you will not go on a
witch hunt. Anyway, the country needs to move forward. You don't have
time to go on witch hunts.
True! People say, "this fellow must go
to jail". We won't do that but you must return the money you stole from
the people. But it's also like this: Unlike Najib, I'm not scared of
Mahathir. He will not stop the monopoly of Petronas contracts. I will
stop with immediate effect. There'll be transparency, where you have a
proper tender process. Mahathir will not stop this Astro monopoly. We
will stop it.
We will have to review the IPPs, these monopolies
make people suffer. Why must we pay Astro knowing that it's the highest
rate in the region? Because there's no competition. Look at the phone
service. Because you give it to your cronies, they make billions.
And
then, the infrastructure is weak. "Kat bukit so tak ada reception."
Nonsense! In Switzerland, with all their mountains, they have better
reception. Now they're comparing us with Thailand and Indonesia.
How
do you propose to address the special interest groups that contributed
to PR? How do you appease them while at the same time assure the people
it will not be business as usual in Putrajaya?
We paid a
heavy price by saying "no" to them. That's why you had all these frogs
and we lost Perak. But if they are good and can deliver at a fair price,
we will back them but follow due process. See how Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
managed Selangor? He said "no" to a RM2 company seeking a RM40 million
project. I said "no" to a Kedah exco for excess claims.
The MB
briefed me, I said I don't care. Better remove him earlier before the
media gets hold of it and expose him. Of course the moment he was told
he said I was a communist... a "Cina". Whatever. That's the truth.
People in Kedah, they know. That is why people accept what Pakatan
stands for. We have sound policies to manage the country's wealth and
ensure they go back to the people.
Hudud is still an
unresolved issue for Pakatan. This time, a stand needs to be made. So as
leader of the pact, what is your stand on hudud?
As a
democratic pact, we must not disallow our partners from articulating
their views. We must allow for reasonable discourse and debate. DAP and
PAS can work together while pursuing their own ideologies.
Even within the BN you have various parties pursing separate agendas.
Hudud is a difficult issue to resolve because the understanding of
hudud itself is not deep.
It's not all about chopping arms and
legs. So let PAS articulate. They have been talking about hudud even
before the formation of the coalition, while DAP has been pursuing
secularism.
The issue of hudud is that of the setting up of an
Islamic federation. To do that there must be an amendment to the
constitution. To achieve this you need a two-thirds majority in
Parliament. This means you need the agreement of all the Muslim
parliamentarians and some of the non-Muslims. Do you seriously think
you'll be able to get it?
Hudud is about being syariah compliant.
This includes having a free media and an independent judiciary. There
are 101 things we have to do that are syariah compliant. Don't dictate;
don't insult; don't be corrupt; don't threaten other people; don't be
racist; don't revoke (Bersih co-chairperson S) Ambiga's citizenship.
That should be observed.
But what kind of strategy is
this for PAS to shoot itself and its partners in the foot by bringing up
hudud at a time when you are trying to woo the non-Muslims as well as
liberal Muslims?
Well, they need to assert their
ideologies because there are members of the electorate that hudud
appeals to. But don't forget we are partners and whatever we do must be
on consensus. Even the issues over the seven seats, we finally resolved
them because there is mutual respect in Pakatan, with no one party being
dominant.
- The Malay Mail
