Finally, it’s your turn now, Anwar

 

Dear Saudara Anwar Ibrahim,

Excuse me for being personal but “Saudara” was what we called you when all of us were students at Universiti Malaya in the 70s. I am sure you don’t mind.

And I hope you don’t mind if I made some suggestions - 10 of them. But first, congratulations. Many of us thought you would never make it. But you did it. And rightfully so.

You deserved it and you and your supporters worked hard for it - for some 24 years when your erstwhile mentor Dr Mahathir Mohamad had you arrested in 1998 by commandos at gunpoint at your home in front of family, friends and supporters, in a needless, blatant display of might and arrogance. An abuse of power and an act of intimidation, and he put you behind bars on trumped-up charges.

Who would have thought you would become PM nearly a quarter of a century later? Especially when you graciously teamed up with your sworn enemy Mahathir - the one who in a fateful act of poetic justice in this election humiliatingly lost his deposit - to oust the world’s greatest kleptocrat and defeat the mighty BN/Umno for the first time ever in 2018.

But Mahathir viciously stabbed you in the back again, breaking his promise to let you become PM as did Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali (who lost this time) - the three traitors, I called them. Almost everyone wrote you off after that. And there were anxious moments when Muhyiddin (the Hobson’s choice in this election) had the edge but lost, ironically, over statutory declarations.

But you have persevered and now, by a quirk of fate, luck and an eventual display of fairness by all, you are PM. You more than anyone else know it is a heavy responsibility, an enormous burden you must bear with care and discharge with utmost delicacy. A nation’s hopes and aspirations rest on your shoulders and you simply cannot disappoint. We had too much of that in the last few decades.

Here are some suggestions I have for you. I hope they are useful.

1. Stay in touch. I believe prison has taught you much, especially humility. If you want to change things, you must know what the situation is now. That means listening to real voices. Especially, don’t ever lose the common touch again.

2. Fight corruption. Many will tell you to compromise - as they did with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi many years ago after his unprecedented victory in 2004 - followed by a resounding setback in 2008.

But you really don’t have to succumb - those who ask you to are probably corrupt. You have the power as PM. It is vital that you do act against corruption but tread carefully. Don’t go on a witch hunt and destroy that which is good a la Daim Zainuddin, the second time under Mahathir.

Your coalition partners can’t tell you otherwise. Publicly, all of them don’t want corruption.

3. Take your time. You have five years if all goes well. You are under pressure but you can take your time for a bit, to plan, to determine your key people and whose advice would be best, amongst many others.

4. Reflect before you act. There will be times when you need to react quickly but most of the time, there is time to ponder, to think and to consult the right people before doing something. Very few things need to be done in a great deal of haste.

5. Surround yourself with good honest advisors. There are many in your own party and I dare say some among your former enemies. But make sure they are good, honest and competent. Take the time to listen to them, really listen.

6. Choose a great cabinet. Despite political constraints, there are many people you can choose from on both sides of the divide. But use your discretion. The only two considerations are integrity, first and foremost, and ability. One without the other is a recipe for disaster. The greatest danger is a competent crook.

7. Distance yourself from business and businessmen. You know what I mean. Surely you must know that people don’t always want to be close to you because they wish you well. The bottomline is they want favours. Learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, that’s one of the things you must do.

There are too many people out there who want to make use of those in power and especially a prime minister and they invest much time and effort to get there. Listen to them by all means but to others as well, especially opposing views.

Never, ever become beholden to them and take nothing material from them.

8. Set your priorities. There is much to do. Almost too much. We all know the priorities - checking rising prices, the economy, education, social cohesion, health, environment, inclusivity, fairer wages etc. Set them and be firm. Give targets and deadlines and monitor them.

9. Do not give us too much too soon. Don’t go the populist route, not too much subsidies, not too little taxes. We need to tighten here and there but explain to us your plans and programmes. Win us over with solid arguments and reason and we will not only understand but support you.

10. Finally, be true to yourself. That means you must be true to us, fellow Malaysians. Remember, your only obligation as PM is to all Malaysians no matter what their creed, race or religion. After all, as you have said many times yourself, that’s what your religion teaches you.

Sir, you are the prime minister now. You have great power and with it comes great responsibility. In the next five years, please make us proud of you.

I wish you well in your endeavours for us as do all Malaysians. You have made a great start with your first press conference as PM yesterday. No Malaysian cannot not like what you said last night. Now, it's time to match words with action - but like I said, take your time. Not too much though.

Finally, it's your turn now, Saudara. - Mkini

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P GUNASEGARAM, a former editor at online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer and analyst.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.