Anwar's Trump Card: Diplomacy, Deals, and the Shadow of Gaza

As opposition leader, Anwar promised a "new dawn" of reforms—anti-corruption, human rights, and principled foreign policy. He decried authoritarianism and championed the oppressed. But in power, he's played the ultimate Trump card: sacrificing ideals for concessions.

The tariff relief? A short-term economic fix that bolsters U.S. influence in ASEAN, directly challenging China's regional dominance—a strategic pivot Anwar frames as "multipolar balance," but one that sidesteps the human cost of aligning with a figure reviled by many Muslims. Anwar leads a majority Muslim country. This has to count.

Trump's ASEAN commitments sound reassuring, but they come from a man whose "America First" doctrine has historically left allies wary, exploiting legal loopholes in trade and sea lanes to America's advantage—just as China does.

Is Anwar the "middle man" bridging East and West, or the deal-breaker he claims, willing to dance on the tarmac while protesters are arrested in Kuala Lumpur?

The cries for justice against war criminals—and their friends—grow louder, unanswered by summit handshakes.

In trading principles for pragmatism, Anwar may have won the day in Kuala Lumpur, but at what cost to his leadership in Malaysia? The accords are signed, the tariffs eased, but the graves of Gaza's innocents demand more than tokens like a shared limo ride or a quip about jail time. They demand justice, not just deals.