It was plain arrogance, said a friend when describing Anwar Ibrahim’s ultimatum for the Prime Minister to meet with him, discussing a “peaceful” transition of power from Barisan Nasional to the opposition coalition.

Speaking to a 10,000-strong crowd at the Pakatan Rakyat-sponsored Hari Malaysia gathering at the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya, he admitted that the Sept 16 plan could not be achieved but was confident that “the government will fall in the next few weeks.”

He also said that Pakatan has the numbers to defeat Barisan Nasional.

“But if they have the numbers why should they wait?” said the businessman friend.

“After the agony of waiting for the last six months, why should they? Form the government and be the Prime Minister. Doesn’t he know that he is creating a climate of uncertainty which is bad for the economy?”

Although there was is no indication on the number of crossovers, he added Anwar strived on challenges.

“The more he is challenged the harder he tries. But in this case I don’t think he will make it,” he said.

What his supporters fail to realize is that he had admitted that he had failed to form his back door government on the Sept 16.

And this did not stop the opposition-coalition party members to carry on with their dreams. They were mesmerized by his fiery speech.

“Anwar is charismatic. With his oratory skills, he can be quite convincing. For those who hang on to his every word, black is white and two plus two is five. This is a fine example, everybody knows it’s impossible but he has kept on and on at it, and people are still believing.

“It’s a tactic used by Gobbel (Nazi Information Minister) - if you keep on repeating a lie people will believe it,” said an UMNO division leader from a northern state.

One thing is certain, Anwar and his opposition coalition had worked extremely hard to meet the Sept 16 deadline. PKR even sent five of its leaders to Taiwan to pursue Barisan Nasional MPs.

But the mission failed.

As of now even SAPP, who has two federal law makers, has not left Barisan, although the Sabah-based party has been overly critical over Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s leadership.

And Gerakan, whose members had been pressuring its leaders to leave Barisan, has been loyal to the coalition.

Looks like Anwar would have to wait until the next general election, and one can bet that until than he will bring up issues which will have a tsunami effect on Barisan Nasional as well as the government.

The opposition-coalition has rich resources. The opposition is not like before where the source of income is only from members donation.

Anwar might not be the Prime Minister today, but the opposition leader will continue to pursue his ambition, that he felt had been snatched away from him 10 years ago, vigorously.

Nothing can stop him from pursuing his dream, but whether he can achieve it lies in the hand of God. As a Muslim he must admit that how hard he tried, his fate is not decided by human but by God. – Sept 16, 2008