Anwar in Najib’s trap, says veteran journalist

The opposition leader is naive, according to Kadir Jasin.

PETALING JAYA: Veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin describes Anwar Ibrahim as politically naive in his latest blog entry, which comments on the Opposition Leader’s participation in the mainstream media’s assault on former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

He says “Najib and his propagandy army” are using an “unusual strategy” and Anwar “is unaware” that he has entered “Najib’s psychological war trap”.

“Najib’s priority is overcoming the challenge coming from Mahathir and Daim,” he writes. “To Najib, the best way to do this is to attack their image and character.

“Anwar is also a threat, but not as big a threat as Mahathir and Daim. Anwar will be a threat only when the general election comes around, which is three or four years from now. By that time, Anwar will probably no longer be a threat.” That last sentence is probably a reference to Anwar being jailed for alleged sodomy.

He says it appears that the mainstream media believe they won’t lose anything by giving space to Anwar. “When they have succeeded in slandering and silencing Mahathir and Daim, they’ll be left only with Anwar, whom they can easily deal with.”

In the same blog entry, Kadir also comments on fellow veteran journalist Zainuddin Maidin’s decision to stop commenting on contemporary politics.

He says that unlike Zainuddin, he has never been placed in a dilemma when writing about politics or politicians because he has never been a politician. (Zainuddin, who goes by the nickname Zam, was once a senator and information minister.)

“Zam and several other journalist-politicians chose to be creatures inhabiting two worlds, jumping between jounalism and politics,” he says.

“That’s their choice. I choose to remain as a journalist.”