PM Anwar tries very hard to make himself looks like Malaysia’s Jokowi, referring to the extremely popular Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. In fact, the Malaysian leader learns to dress modestly like Jokowi, who usually dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers to project a humble and approachable leader. The modest attires work like magic for Jokowi.

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That’s why Anwar has been seen without the designer suits and necktie since taking office – a very different image compared to the period when he was the deputy prime minister more than 25 years ago, before he was sacked by his boss, PM Mahathir Mohamad in 1998. Jokowi’s plain and simple style also projects an image of a leadership that rejects corruption, which Anwar gladly copied.

Taking a step further, every Friday, the Pakatan Harapan chairman would wear a “baju Melayu complete with samping”, not to mention a “capal” (leather slippers). It makes him looks like a sociable Malay leader who is easy going and down-to-earth, so much so some opposition leaders have slammed Anwar to stop “acting” and start behaving like a prime minister.

Regardless whether he was acting or not, he enjoys the celebrity status. But unlike Jokowi, Anwar’s popularity – unfortunately – did not translate into votes he had hoped for. In the recent six state elections, Opposition Perikatan Nasional wiped out UMNO, the Malay nationalist party which Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan partnered with after the November 2022 General Election that produced a hung parliament.

The fact that the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) supporters abandoned their own party in favour of rival Perikatan Nasional speaks volumes about Anwar’s inability to convince UMNO-Malays. If he can’t even charm the Malays from his own allies, what more the Malays from Bersatu (Malaysian United Indigenous Party) or Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS – Parti Islam Se-Malaysia)?

Despite wiping off RM8.3 billion in debt accumulated by Felda settlers, raining cash on Mara, Risda, Felcra, Felda and other Malay development programmes and agencies, approving RM1.5 billion to fix Kelantan’s water supply problems, and rushing to help 40,000 flood victims in opposition states Kelantan and Terengganu, the conservative Malays decided to reject Anwar.

Heck, to demonstrate that he was more Malay than racist bigot Muhyiddin Yassin (president of Bersatu) and more Islamic than religious extremist Hadi Awang (president of PAS), Anwar had even shamelessly bullied a student of Indian ethnicity. Anwar, when asked about the timeline to replace discriminative “quota system” with a meritocracy system, had criticized the student for asking a sensitive question.

Even though Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan has managed to defend Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan, the crown jewel Selangor lost its two-thirds majority. The premier quickly offered an excuse why the Malays did not vote for him – Malaysia Madani concept needs more time to understand. Did he realize that the Malays were not interested in his brainchild sloganeering?

Still unable to accept the reality that his perceived popularity was no match for racial and religious hatred spewed by the opposition, PM Anwar wants to continue play the game that he can never win. His latest dumb act was openly converted a Hindu youth to Islam after performing Friday prayers at a mosque in Klang, Selangor – sparking criticism among non-Muslims.

It was clearly a politically motivated stunt. Perhaps, Mr Anwar’s increasing obsession to be seen as a more pious Muslim leader has clouded his judgement. It didn’t cross his mind that as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, who is responsible to all the people in the multi-ethnic, multi-religion and multi-cultural country, he should not have performed the religious conversion himself.