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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim marked Aidiladha on Tuesday (26 May) by overseeing the distribution of 260 cattle in Permatang Pauh, his home constituency, covering three Penang state seats — Seberang Jaya, Penanti and Permatang Pasir.
But the accompanying post went well beyond the ritual.
In a lengthy reflection, Anwar drew on the story of Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Ismail as a foundation for the values of sacrifice and patience, before invoking a hadith that those who bear the heaviest trials are the prophets, followed by the righteous and those who walk the same path.
He then cited Malcolm X, recalling how the American civil rights leader found genuine brotherhood during his Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca — a moment where people of all races and skin colours gathered as one community without walls of racism or hatred.
Perhaps the most unexpected reference came from Snouck Hurgronje, a 19th-century Dutch scholar who studied Muslim communities in Java and Aceh during the colonial era.
Anwar used his work to make the case that Muslims earn respect not through divisive rhetoric or emotion, but through strength in knowledge, ethics, economics, unity, and leadership.
A Constituency Visit With a Message
The post closed with a warning against hatred and division, and a pledge that the Madani government would ensure aid and assistance reached the people through the spirit of compassion and humanity.
That Anwar chose Permatang Pauh for this message was not incidental.
The constituency has defined his political life more than any other — it was the seat he held for six terms since 1982 and reclaimed in a by-election in 2008, days after his release from prison, in one of the most watched electoral contests in Malaysian history.
It is where his wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, held the fort during his years of incarceration.
Returning there on Aidiladha, with cattle, cameras and a philosophical reflection on sacrifice and unity, was never just a constituency visit.
Why Permatang Pauh, Not Tambun?
The seat has since changed hands.
His daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar lost Permatang Pauh in the 15th general election (GE15), and the constituency is now held by the opposition — making the Prime Minister’s decision to return there on Aidiladha, with cattle, cameras and a philosophical reflection on sacrifice and unity, something more than a homecoming. It was a statement.
The choice of location has not gone unnoticed.
Critics have questioned why Anwar chose to hold the qurban distribution in Permatang Pauh rather than in Tambun, the parliamentary constituency he currently represents, in Perak.
To his detractors, the visit reads less as a gesture of service and more as an attempt to reclaim symbolic ground in a seat the family once held for decades — and lost.
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