ANALYSIS | On Dec 7, one week after Pakatan Harapan's crushing defeat in the Sabah election, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launched his new book at an upscale bookstore in Kuala Lumpur.
The book, titled “Rethinking Ourselves: Justice, Reform and Ignorance in the Post-Normal Times”, is dedicated to his wife, former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and he announced that all royalties would be donated to underprivileged students.
This should have been a heartwarming story, but in the current political climate, it felt particularly jarring. It makes Anwar appear out of touch - even angering some Harapan members.
The day before, Anwar had returned to Kota Kinabalu to attend an official event with Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, publicly thanking Hajiji's government for its friendship and cooperation.
During the campaign period, Anwar also visited Hajiji's constituency to stump for him despite the corruption scandals surrounding the chief minister, all of which Hajiji has denied. Now, Hajiji has survived the election and retained power, while his ally Harapan suffered a humiliating rout.
The election results were unequivocal: urban and Chinese voters largely abandoned Harapan. DAP was completely wiped out, and PKR also lost urban fortress seats like Api-Api, managing to win only one seat in Melalap - thanks to a candidate "borrowed" from Gagasan Rakyat Sabah before the election.
Against this backdrop, Anwar's beaming smile at his book launch naturally seemed ill-timed.
On his Facebook, one particularly cutting comment played on the book's title: “Come the next general election, I too will be ‘rethinking’.”
Similar sarcastic remarks could be found across the comment sections of various media outlets' social pages.
On Dec 2, Anwar attended a dinner banquet with government backbenchers. One attendee told Malaysiakini that he seemed "self-congratulatory", showing no signs of reflection. "He simply doesn't think he lost the election".
Reportedly, Anwar mentioned at the dinner that Chinese Malaysians were unhappy about excessive government aid to Palestine.
However, even if this discontent exists - and even though some Chinese netizens mock him as the "prime minister of Palestine" - this is hardly the only reason Chinese voters abandoned Harapan.
Simmering discontent
Pakatan Harapan won 82 seats in the 2022 general election, largely thanks to strong support from the Chinese electorate, and formed a coalition government with other parties.
Three years later, Malay support has shown no significant improvement, while discontent among Chinese and Indian communities has reached a boiling point.
Their discontent isn't about a single issue, but an accumulation of grievances: broken promises on reform and fighting corruption, policies perceived as anti-business, identity politics, and more.
The Attorney-General's Chamber's decision in May to classify the Teoh Beng Hock case as "no further action", and subsequent developments further eroded the trust of Harapan's most loyal support base.
But the deeper emotion is one of "betrayal".
Supporters have put Harapan in power twice, but now feel their support is taken for granted while the coalition obsesses over competing with Perikatan Nasional for conservative Malay votes, breeding resentment.
Harapan's Chinese base has been remarkably tolerant. When the KK Mart incident erupted in March 2024, the government's sluggish response and Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh's political theatrics generated enormous dissatisfaction.
Yet in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election in May that year, the Chinese community rallied behind Harapan and DAP once more when PN scored an own goal after PAS leaders attacked Harapan candidate Pang Sock Tao's Chinese education background.
Two months later, in the Sungai Bakap by-election, the supporters' disappointment had become more evident, with PKR losing the election by more than 4,000 votes.
When Akmal led a protest at a hardware store in Penang over a flag incident in August, it proved to be the spark that ignited the Chinese and urban backlash in the Sabah election.
Anxious Harapan
In contrast to Anwar's relaxed attitude, DAP appeared deeply anxious.
For DAP, which has its roots in the Chinese community, this election was nothing short of a wake-up call. Post-election, DAP was filled with anxiety and unease, worried that the Chinese backlash in Sabah would spread to Peninsular Malaysia.
This concern isn't limited to DAP. Some PKR MPs share similar worries: if a Chinese backlash takes shape in the peninsula, not only DAP but also PKR and Amanah would suffer devastating defeats in mixed constituencies - even Anwar's own Tambun seat might not be safe.
Post-election, several PKR leaders have written articles demanding that the party address the collapse of its base.
Two days after the election, DAP's central executive committee held an emergency meeting, stating that "We have received a strong and unmistakable message from the voters. It is undeniable that this election reflects a serious crisis of confidence faced by both DAP and Pakatan Harapan".
At the same time, DAP resolved to consolidate feedback on public grievances and work with the prime minister to accelerate the reform agenda over the next six months.
During the meeting, there were also suggestions that if no reform results are seen within six months, DAP should consider leaving the government, with ministers and deputy ministers resigning to become backbenchers.
Party secretary-general Anthony Loke also confirmed that if no changes are seen during this period, DAP would review its position in the government.
While DAP has not published a reform checklist, its deputy chairperson, Nga Kor Ming, revealed this Monday that they would meet with Anwar to demand recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
He even called out to the Chinese community, saying that as a minority of only 22 percent of the population, Chinese Malaysians need to understand the bigger picture and simply cannot afford to be divided. Otherwise, "(ex-PM Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) and PN’s PAS will be laughing at the Chinese behind their backs".
This narrative undoubtedly highlights the DAP leaders' anxieties and sounds as if they remain stuck in another era, out of step with current realities.
Other DAP leaders like Gobind Singh Deo, Lim Guan Eng, and Ramkarpal Singh have also spoken out repeatedly on several issues.
Among them, Lim publicly urged Anwar, who is also finance minister, to review the expanded scope of the sales and service tax, the e-invoice policy, corporate tax refund issues, and more.
Missing the mark
One week after the election, on Dec 6, Anwar made his first substantive response to the public backlash.
He announced that the e-invoice threshold would be raised from RM500,000 to RM1 million, and that this year's tax refund allocation would increase from RM2 billion to RM4 billion to expedite processing of SME tax refund backlogs.
PKR's central leadership committee also held a meeting on Monday to discuss the Sabah defeat and the above policy adjustments, but the statement issued afterwards was merely perfunctory, with no detailed examination of the election loss.
Over the past two weeks, Anwar's posture still gives the impression that he doesn't understand the severity of the problem.
Relaxing e-invoice requirements and expediting tax refunds are at best stop-gap measures - necessary, but far from sufficient to address long-accumulated public sentiment. If Anwar thinks he can win back Chinese votes with just this, he is missing the bigger picture.
Some Harapan leaders worry: Is Anwar living out the parable of "The Emperor's New Clothes", only listening to sycophants around him, causing his political judgment and administrative decisions to become disconnected from public sentiment?
Or worse still, does Anwar have no advisers or confidants, with decisions basically made on his personal whim alone? One theory is that no one within Harapan knows who is in Anwar's inner circle, and that even Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who previously enjoyed Anwar's trust, is no longer part of this.
The day before the election, the MACC conducted a dramatic raid and arrest of businessperson Albert Tei, which became the last straw that broke the urban voters' backs.
If the operation had the prime minister's approval, it shows a disastrous lack of political judgment. If not, it reveals the prime minister cannot control the political tempo.
Meanwhile, cabinet vacancies have remained unfilled for extended periods.
After Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad resigned mid-year, no one was appointed to fill their positions as economy minister and the natural resources and environmental sustainability minister, respectively.
Early this month, Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz stepped down as the investment, trade and industry minister when his Senate term expired, and Upko president Ewon Benedick resigned as entrepreneur and cooperatives development minister before the Sabah election.
What does this series of political and administrative missteps mean? Is it Anwar's poor judgment? Or is he surrounded by a group of people who only dare to say "the clothes look great"?
Or has Anwar become entranced by his own charm, indulging himself in a self-delusion of victory? - Mkini
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