Veteran journo: Actual dethroning of PMX needs greater momentum than July 26 ‘Turun Anwar' rally

Focus Malaysia

7 hours ago

STRIKE while the iron is hot. Saturday's PAS-inspired Turun Anwar (July26) rally alone – whether it attracted 300,000 as claimed by the party's mouthpiece HarakahDaily or Malaysiakini (25,000) and the police (18,000) – is insufficient to force Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to vacate his premiership.
Henceforth, if the opposition is serious about forcing PMX to step down, they need 'to act quickly and in a serial manner' for 'a hot iron will not become a keris if it is truck only once'.
'They (the opposition) need to continue to build momentum from the Turun Anwar campaign especially when Anwar himself has 'challenged' them to do so,' penned veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin in his latest Facebook post.
'He recently stated that he would not prevent any gathering or criticism of his leadership, including demands for him to resign as long as they are made democratically whether through elections or a no-confidence motion in Parliament.
'Anwar will not fall nor step down because protests are not a legal channel that can topple or force a PM to resign.'
On this note, Kadir reiterated his observation that while the Turun Anwar rally alone is unlikely to dethrone PMX, a successful aftermath can rub off on MPs to vote him out.
'Only Parliament and the public vote can bring down a PM or he himself has committed a serious legal offence,' justified the former group editor-in-chief of mainstream New Straits Times.
'Not to mention Anwar who is famous for street protests since the days of the campus revolution in the 1970s. By default, he himself may even stage a counter Kekal Anwar (literally, 'Stay on Anwar') rally.'
Even if advances by the opposition and civil society movements through the Turun Anwar protests is capable of forcing the government to call an early general election, detractors must openly state who they have in mind as PMX's successor if their efforts are to be successful, according to Kadir.
'They must state their PM candidate authentically and firmly,' asserted the national journalism laureate objectively even though Madani backers tend to associate him as a loyalist to twice former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is now an adviser of Perikatan Nasional (PN).
On a bigger picture, Kadir opined that the economic woes that are burdening man-on-the-street Malaysians are caused by PMX's over-reliance on technocrats and corporate figures 'who are detached from the general public'.
'They're an elite focused on profit and loss, taxes and revenue,' observed Kadir who started his journalistic stint with national news agency Bernama in 1969 prior to joining the Economic Desk in 1976.
'The issue of the common people suffering is not their problem. That's the problem of politicians. For them, if they succeed in creating strong economic fundamentals and obtaining recognition from international rating agencies, their job would have been done.
'Anwar, on the other hand, suffers from a 'handicap' because he is considered to not have sufficient basic economic education (PMX is a Malay literature graduate).
'In conclusion, whoever takes over the PM's reign, the key challenge is sustainable economic management accompanied by a more equitable distribution of wealth.' – July 28, 2025