FOR now, Anwar Ibrahim is not interested in being a cabinet member.

Instead, he wants to be the voice of reason in the Pakatan Harapan government, helping it navigate through the minefields of multiracial and multi-religious Malaysia.

The former deputy prime minister and national icon also wants to monitor the performance of ministers, deputy ministers and advisers and make sure that everyone is on the straight and narrow.

In an interview with Malaysia Decides yesterday, it was clear that like the rest of Malaysia, Anwar has also been energised by the political sea change that took place on May 9, and is hopeful for the future of the country.

But having been a politician for decades and having been in government before, he understands that change is never easy and rarely does everything go according to script.

Take, for example the appointment of DAP’s Lim Guan Eng as the finance minister. While the financial markets cheered the decision, some in the Malay ground were agitated, upset that a portfolio that has been in the hands of Malays for four decades had been given to a non-Malay.

Anwar believed that he could play a role in giving advice and resolving tricky issues for Putrajaya, including the appointment of non-Malays to cabinet positions.

Commenting on Lim’s appointment as the finance minister, he said: “The point is, does it affect the many Malays? Yes, it does.”

At a rally to celebrate his royal pardon and release from jail on Wednesday night, Anwar wondered why there was controversy over Lim’s appointment just because he was from DAP and silence when someone with a Malay name committed theft.

“It is not a matter of having a Chinese minister but how to craft the message. I tried to explain. You have to assure them, once it sinks it will be okay,” he told Malaysia Decides.

The de facto PKR leader also said he would lend his expertise dealing with issues concerning race and religion as Malaysians look up to him as the prime minister-in-waiting.

“They want a change and they have some desire and hope in me. Now, they have consensus on the leadership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” he said referring to the prime minister.

Anwar said he would take up an important role of “assisting” Dr Mahathir to keep his administration in check.  

“My job is to monitor, I’m not going to join the cabinet. I’m going to monitor ministers’ performances and so-called advisers.”

The 70-year-old also said he would be the bridge between Dr Mahathir and younger Malaysians.

“My role is to assist Dr Mahathir. Not to oppose him but to consult if there is no consensus. I told this to Dr Mahathir, you are dealing with a different environment. You need to accommodate many of their views.”

He admitted that he and Dr Mahathir made a good team some 20 years ago and would like the partnership to continue despite their differences.

“I quarrelled with him on many serious issues. Today, I said to him, ‘I was so loyal to you’. He said ‘ya la saya pun baik dengan you’.

“But, I said when we fight, it is a dire war. And it is a really rough battle but now look, we are back.

“You can see he is quite sentimental about it too. You can imagine the time I really was close to him, so the memories come back, said Anwar, who joined Umno at the behest of Dr Mahathir.”

For years, Dr Mahathir proudly paraded Anwar as his political son, and made it clear that it was a matter of time before his protege replaced him as the prime minister.

But the Asian financial crisis in 1997 caused a a fracture in their vision for Malaysia and the instigation of supporters led to a ‎fight between Dr Mahathir and Anwar. The latter ended up being sacked from government and jailed for sodomy and corruption. The sodomy charge was overturned in 2004.

He was jailed for sodomy in 2015 when Najib Razak was prime minister. On both occasions, Anwar said that he was a victim of political conspiracies. – May 18, 2018.