pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

LONG before any whizz kid came up with the PD (Port Dickson) move, there was already the PD tryst. If the PD move promises the elevation of a politician to the highest office, the PD tryst, over the years, threatened the downfall of another.

The current PD move is a history in the making, regardless what the outcome of the result is. The PD tryst, however, will probably remain an oral history, never to make it into the official annals, but whispered loud enough within and outside the corridors of powers.

The PD tryst has made its rounds over two decades, making it a semi-urban legend and had failed to live up to its expectations of causing the downfall of anyone.

In short, it has never been proven true or otherwise. It should then continue and be left to the imagination of the curious and quidnuncs.

The PD move, on the other hand, is contemporary and publicly touted as a strategic political manoeuvre to pave the way for the anointment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the 8th prime minister of Malaysia.

On the outset, it could be brushed aside as a non-event as Anwar is too big a name to face any problem in realising his dream, starting with the PD by-election.

But it was not to be.

The New Malaysia and New Malaysians do not seem prepared to take the move unquestioning. From the word go, questions were raised as to whether it was ethically acceptable for an MP to vacate his seat (the PD parliamentary seat) to pave way for a by-election, and for Anwar to contest and eventually go to Parliament.

Further questions were raised; why must Datuk Danyal Rajagopal Abdullah sacrifice himself for Anwar when Anwar’s family members — his wife and daughter — were parliamentarians and should be the ones making the sacrifice. After all, they are, said critics, accidental politicians.

Accusations of Danyal being “paid off” came thick and fast, but no documented evidence were shown.

Criticisms kept mounting and Anwar’s pardon has also been questioned and moves to challenge the legitimacy of the pardon process are being pursued in the courts.

To add colour to the PD move, the candidacies of local favourite and former Umno strongman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the young man who accused Anwar of sodomising him — leading to Anwar’s incarceration until he was pardoned recently.

Following Umno’s decision to boycott the by-election on grounds that it was a mockery to democracy, Mohd Isa is in as an independent and so is Mohd Saiful. Making it more interesting are allegations that the duo were sponsored by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to stop Anwar from winning.

Dragging Dr Mahathir into the equation fuelled the conspiracy theory that Anwar is in a rush to move into Parliament to start the move to push Dr Mahathir out of office earlier than the two to three years understanding accorded by the Pakatan Harapan leadership.

Realising this, the theory goes, Dr Mahathir is retaliating and wants to throw a spanner in Anwar’s plans and the easiest way is to stop him from winning the by-election, hence rendering him ineligible for the prime ministership.

Dr Mahathir has since reiterated his commitment to the transition and Anwar has dismissed such talks.

But such renditions are unlikely to quell the speculations and theories.

Yet, if anyone chooses to look beyond the simplistic and most times crude narratives, obviously the PD move and what it entails are a result of the new-found democratic vigour among Malaysians, apart from the sense of empowerment since the May elections.

How could it be anything else? Even Umno, which had been viewed as the democratic antithesis pre-May 9, is now spouting democratic principles in justifying their boycott.

And the participation of PAS’ Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar, social media personality Stevie Chan Keng Leong, Lau Seck Yan and Kan Chee Yuen re-affirm the notion.

The PD electorate and the rest of the general populace are having a field day in the social media, as well as the mainstream, enjoying their freedom of expression and thought. On the flip side, they are merely jealously guarding the democratic grounds they have captured since the 14th General Election.

It is this very vigour that the Pakatan Harapan government has been facing since and still is, keeping it on its toes and rightly so.

For that matter, Anwar, as well as the rest of the coalition leaders, should be revelling in this as it is a result of their push for reforms. The PD move may still live up to its intent — to elevate Anwar to the country’s highest office.

In essence, however, the PD move is a stark reminder for politicians. Their days of entitlement are actually numbered.

Shamsul Akmar is the editor at The Malaysian Reserve.