“Not just Anwar, many others including Thomas should look in the mirror” – Ramasamy

Former attorney general in the PH government Tommy Thomas is both sad and curious as to why PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is yet to become the prime minister.

He recently said that he was sad that Anwar was sent to prison for for sodomy and corruption when he was the deputy prime minister under the former prime minister Mahathir Mohammed. But yet he cannot understand why Anwar one of the favourites to be become the prime minister during the Pakatan administration and afterwards is still in the wilderness. This is despite the fact that Anwar had on few occasions claimed that he had the majority.

Thomas was a bit perturbed by these assertions from Anwar as the post has been eluding him for some time. I think Thomas without fully grasping the volatile politics of the country comes to an immature conclusion that the fault is not with others but with Anwar himself.

This is the reason why he asked Anwar to take a serious look at himself in the mirror as to why the prime minister’s post is constantly eluding him.

The metaphor look in the mirror was to suggest that it was Anwar the main stumbling block to his own ascension rather than others.

Whether the metaphor is appropriate to be used for Anwar remains to be seen.

It is not that Anwar never made mistakes in the past but it just that circumstances were not conducive to his rise.

Yes, he should look into the mirror not once but many times.

There are others who directly and indirectly derailed the plan of Anwar must also look in the mirror as often as possible.

For that matter, Thomas who resigned as the AG in 22 months must also look into the mirror to answer some questions related to the arrest and detention of 12 individuals under the Security Offences(Special Messures) Act 2012 or Sosma on charges of links with LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) terrorism.

By the way, the LTTE was defeated in 2009 in Sri Lanka before the three decade old civil war was ended. It is dead and defunct organisation.

Wasn’t he who approved their detention under Sosma? Why charge them in the first place when there were no evidence?

Was Thomas under pressure from the racist politicians like Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin? And finally, why release them when they should not have been detained in the first place, just before his resignation? These are some of the questions that were not answered in his recent book.

Maybe a time has come for Thomas to come out in the open about these LTTE detentions.

Maybe I suggest that Thomas himself should look in the mirror to explain the anomalies of their arrest, detention and release. The metaphor look in the mirror is appropriate for those who serve the public.

It is process of self-reflection in which individuals especially those occupying high public offices can imagine the pros and cons of their action. Such a process allows individuals to think critically as to where they have gone wrong.

It is an important mechanism that does not automatically put the blame on the others. In the second round, under Pakatan administration, Anwar also became the victim of Mahathir’s vindictive politics.

This was the despite the promise made by Mahathir to hand over the post to Anwar within two years. But unfortunately, PH by been too obsequious to Mahathir failed to ensure Anwar’s political ascendancy. Anwar never really pushed for it.

These two were the sure chances that could have made Anwar the prime minister. In the post Pakatan period, the likelihood of Anwar becoming the prime minster seems to be shrouded in the ambiguous game of getting the required numbers and so on.

Chances for Anwar becoming the prime minister is getting slimmer, day by day.

Whatever the case, the option cannot be foreclosed.