Kuala Lampur, May 28 -- Speed, agility and strength are quintessential in track and field's triple jump events, but all comes to nought without rhythm.

Hop too soon and lose out on distance, worry too much about distance and forget about the step then everything goes off colour, and let's not even get into the need for a final explosive leap. Rhythm cuts through. A bit zen-like.

Malaysian elections are like that and Anwar Ibrahim understands rhythm better than all in the field presently.

It also helps that he is the only person who knows when the next general election is. He gets to set the pace.

His experience and bitter education with rhythm is evidenced in his meteoric rise, catastrophic fall and prolonged impatient wait to lead th...