Commentary by
Datuk Kalimullah Hassan
Malaysia’s senior journalist
THERE was a time, almost half a century ago, I watched a young Anwar Ibrahim share a stage with the great and inspiring Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in Batu Pahat.
I listened awestruck to his every word.
It was a time when Mahathir Mohamad was awakening Malaysia.
Then, there was a time difference between peninsula Malaysia, Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah. Mahathir one day decided to synchronize everything and reset the clock.
The whole world followed.
What exciting times those were for a young man, mesmerized by the high-octane leadership of Mahathir and Musa Hitam, and an Anwar Ibrahim in the wings.
What would I not do to go back to those heady days, dreaming of a greatness for my country, for a family that I was about to start, for a career which was budding.
Urdu is my mother tongue. It is an amazing language.
More than 40 years ago, Anwar’s speeches were dil-āvez (دِل آویز) – captivating, charming, delightful.
But just like my dreams dissipated over years of judicial, constitutional, royalty crisis, 1MDB, trafficking, incompetent governments, corruption, a nation that has lost integrity and intellectual capacity, a slowly disappearing word, fughààn (فغاں-) – a lamentation of grief and sorrow – comes up.
Perhaps it describes Malaysia’s forever lost years.
My dreams dissipated years ago; but Anwar Ibrahim lost his sheen even before that.
His words are hollow, meaningless, and they neither captivate nor inspire.
For me, as Paolo Coelho said:
“My pen lies idle, its ink long since dried up, leaving me with nothing but blank pages and a hollow sense of emptiness.” (The Alchemist)
But for Anwar, a quote from The Autobiography of Sun Tzu is more apt:
“The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.”
PMXs fawning cabinet keeps him barely above the waterline.
But the real tragedy for Malaysia today is who succeeds this broken king?
There’s nothing except decrepit, tainted, incompetent septuagenarians and octogenarians.
It’s FUGHĀĀN. (فغاں) #anwar #malaysia #urdu
