Weapons drawn for new battle

Even as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s court trial looms close, he has been in top oratory form in the last few weeks while officiating at PKR gatherings around the country.

THERE was a flutter of excitement when Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak walked into the backbenchers’ lounge of Parliament.

It was a rare sighting because the Prime Minister almost never has time to lepak or hang out at the posh lounge.

One of the first persons to step up and greet him was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who was in his usual cluster of seats, which some MPs now know as “Anwar’s habitat”.

The Opposition leader was with several other MPs including Umno firebrand Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, the up-and-coming DAP MP for Rasah Anthony Loke and PKR’s Aziz Kadir of Ketereh.

It is not unusual for MPs from opposing sides of the floor to rub shoulders outside the House but this involved the PM and the Opposition leader, two adversaries whose opinions and feelings about each other are all too well known.

Moreover, it was the first time the two men had mingled in a situation as social as this.

Even the conversation was light and rather cheeky, with Anwar teasing Nazri about how loyal he had been to Najib inside the House earlier that day.

Anwar related how, when debating the V.K. Lingam video case, he had made references to the Prime Minister, whereupon Nazri had jumped to his feet to ask which Prime Minister he was referring to.

When Anwar said it was “the one I had served before”, Nazri rebutted that it was an old story which belonged to the History Channel, a pun on the fact that Astro’s History Channel is now running a bio-pic on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Nazri then proceeded to tell the teh tarik group that Anwar had slipped to third spot in Dr Mahathir’s hate-list. He joked that the top spot was held by the former Prime Minister while second place, Nazri claimed, belonged to none other than himself.

It looks like the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department is still smarting from Dr Mahathir’s remark that the younger man should have been dropped from Najib’s Cabinet.

The teh tarik session was a rare moment between the two nemeses and many MPs could not help but stare and strain their ears to hear what was being said.

But banter and laughter aside, the political divide between the two men remains as wide as ever.

One man intends to hold on to the prime ministership while the other aspires to unseat him; and only the fittest and most strategic will survive.

Just a week before the teh tarik session, Najib had been the prime target of attack at the PKR Selangor convention.

The Selangor government has been feeling under siege for months now, and they are afraid Najib will pull the rug from under their feet the way it happened in Perak.

Anwar was at his oratorical best at the Selangor convention, and he had challenged Najib “to try to touch us in Selangor”.

“He told us he is going to be a key player in Selangor from now on. His new role as economic advisor (to the Selangor government) will provide a platform for him to help defend the state,” said Selangor PKR Youth chief Khairul Anuar.

Anwar, or the ketua umum (supreme leader) as he is known in the party, has been on a road tour of sorts over the last few weeks, officiating at the various state party conventions.