What Anwar must not do

Dr M wanted to hold a press conference after the parliamentary sitting. Anwar didn't attend. Nor did any other PKR leaders. No official reason was given by Anwar but the message is clear. He's the Opposition leader and he will play second fiddle to Dr M no more.

They might be together in the Opposition and they might have a common foe in Muhyiddin. But there will be no more kowtowing to Dr M. That was a mistake Anwar and the other Harapan leaders made the first time around, in hope that by kowtowing to Dr M, it would encourage good behavior. It had the opposite effect.

Dr M cultivated Azmin as a rival to Anwar. He neglected the Harapan manifesto, saying it was made during a time when they didn't really think they could win. He allowed Muhyiddin and Azmin and gang to have negotiations with UMNO and did nothing to nip crossover ideas in the bud because he liked to keep his Harapan colleagues on their toes. For from reigning him in, those Pakatan leaders walked on eggshells around Dr M, afraid of upsetting him.

There's a saying, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Anwar would surely be a fool if he gets fooled twice by Dr M. According to this report, Anwar is supposed to have said he did not want to attend the press conference because he not want to be used. It doesn't look like he's going to be fooled twice.

If Harapan gets back into power again in the near future, there are a few things Anwar must not allow to happen:

a) Accept crossovers from UMNO and PAS.
Once Harapan is in power, there are bound to be some frogs wanting to crossover. None of the Harapan parties should take in any frogs.

b) Let the smallest party dictate things.
When you have a coalition government, small parties sometimes play the subservient role, like what MIC and MCA does. Perhaps they do realize that in fact, they are kingmakers because if they should leave the coalition, it no longer has the majority. But it doesn't have the gumption to act like a kingmaker. But sometimes, far from being subservient, the smaller party, knowing full well that it is the kingmaker, will act like one and given the rest the impression that it will exercise the nuclear option if it doesn't have its way. Then the small party effectively becomes the leader of the coalition as everyone else kowtows to it. This is what Bersatu did and Harapan must never allow it to happen again. Appeasement never works.

c) Allow Dr M to be seen as the leader of the Opposition.
Dr M is outspoken but if he says anything that does not jive with Harapan's ethos or sensibilities, Anwar needs to call him out on it and correct the message. So what if it upsets Dr M? What's he going to do, threaten to pull Bersatu out of Harapan? It's already out of Harapan!

Perikatan is a very weak coalition of rivals. While it may be useful for the Opposition to have Dr M on their side, whacking away at Muhyiddin, they don't need him. In GE15, they can win the majority without Bersatu (or Warisan for that matter). So, there is no need to kowtow to anybody.