Rafizi Ramli breaking his silence and warning of scoundrels surrounding Anwar is a good political narrative but it also points to the fact that if Anwar is so weak-willed as to be easily influenced by scoundrels, how on earth is he going to stand up against the mainstream Malay political establishment?

Anwar has never known who his friends and allies were, and this is extremely dangerous for political operative manoeuvring in a political terrain dominated by race and religion. Running to the palace, not telling his allies what his plans were and destroying the credibility of his partners are making the job easier for Perikatan Nasional, Umno and PAS. How can someone like this lead Harapan?

Mahathir when he was in power bent the establishment to his will. He knew when to use the carrot and when to wield the stick. All Anwar can come up with is, “don’t spook the Malays”. Even now when he attempts to spin the budget fiasco as some sort of victory nobody believes it.

Yes, PN is weak but the problem is that Harapan is weaker and mostly because of the strategies on Anwar. The fact that there are those in Harapan who still want to return to Mahathir should tell you how screwed up all of this is.

If only Anwar had kept his mouth shut, not attempted his various farcical counter-coups, strengthened his power base within the opposition while opposing the machinations political and social of the PN regime, his loss in the budget vote could have been spun as a loss for a government with only a three-vote “majority”.

The fact that Anwar can claim that some MPs voiced opposition to the budget in private but still voted for it, is demonstrative of his lack of political skills not to mention basic common sense. Politicians will say anything in private, especially when they are trying to manipulate the leader of the opposition for their benefit.

While Anwar claims that political operatives were hesitant to vote against the budget because PN state erroneously linked the budget to the functioning of the civil service and payment of salaries, the same could be said of him and his waffling at various stages of voting for the budget.

Anwar is projecting when he talks like this and it is obvious to anyone who has followed this fiasco, that it is Anwar who has failed in the leadership test. Anwar’s loyalists tell me, that now that this budget issue is over, Anwar can fully turn his attention to the next general election. He can finally be free of all “these temptations” to dethrone the PN government and commit to building and rebranding the coalition.

The fact that they can say this is indicative of what they actually thought of those stratagems that Anwar employed to the lead up the budget reading. Harapan needs to be united under strong decisive leadership. The tragedy is that nobody is stepping up to the plate. It is not that PKR needs to be honest about Anwar, it is that Harapan needs to decide what kind of coalition it is and if Anwar still is the only person who can lead it?

Harapan should stop acting like a suicide pact.