It is becoming the norm for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to defend his decision to appoint Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his number two during media interviews.
Thai PBS was the latest to question him on how he could reconcile his administration’s mission to fight corruption with a deputy prime minister on trial for a deluge of corruption cases.
“People must be wondering how you will deal with the deputy prime minister because he faces many charges of corruption,” it asked, to which Anwar replied: “So far, to give him credit, he has not interfered in the process.”
“We have to watch the process. He never asks me to withdraw the case,” he said.
Although the executive and judiciary have maintained there is no collusion between them, Anwar himself had accused the courts of being complicit in the “political conspiracies” against him in the past.
Meanwhile, the prime minister reiterated that Zahid, who is facing 47 charges, must go through the legal process.
“The point is that good governance is the agenda… I don’t think we should demonise a person when the system is also corrupt, when those in opposition shout corruption, yelling daily about corruption but awarding 100 million worth of contacts to their sons, and sons-in-law, and cronies.
“So, I said if you want to deal with it, do it with transparency,” he added.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg also grilled Anwar on Zahid, whose support is crucial for the survival of the current coalition government.
Leave Mahathir alone
In the Thai PBS interview, the prime minister chose not to rub salt into Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s wound when asked if he had an answer for the nonagenarian who could not comprehend the reason for his decimation in the last general election.
“No, I think we should leave him alone.
“He has done his part, but he also committed many blunders and, for now, I think the country has to move on and, at the right time, they will even move on beyond Anwar.
“We have to accept this reality, the sooner myself, him, or anybody accepts the fact that we have a role, but we have got to read the signals when it is done, it is done,” he said.
Quizzed on his main challenge as the head of a government of strange bedfellows, Anwar said the parties need to set aside their disagreements for a stable administration.
“We are living in a post-normal time as you know, unanticipated. There is something developing, simultaneous, sometimes spontaneous, and would require some ingenuity in resolving many problems.
“Now, look at Malaysia, where is the problem? Political instability will kill the country politically and economically. For the last few years, nothing seems to move, no policy, no direction and, because of that, leaders will take the chance to squander as much as possible.
“So, we have been at loggerheads, sometimes viciously I think, between Pakatan Harapan and the Umno-led coalition of BN, but what was the consensus? That it is enough.
“We agree that we need stability. We agree that we need to chart a new future for the country. We agree on good governance and leading the country out of corruption and we agree that this is a country that is not racial.
“A strong Malay-based (government) to address the Malays’ concerns, but to be able to embrace and include all races, this is the parameter on which we agree and the strong coalition and partners in Sabah and Sarawak will form a very formidable alliance with a two-thirds majority, which makes Malaysia one of the most stable countries in Asean,” he added. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.