Come Nov 24, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will have reached a landmark - one year as the 10th prime minister, or PMX, of Malaysia.
After the 15th general election (GE15), when Pakatan Harapan failed to get a majority, most Malaysians thought he would never become PM, but Providence felt otherwise.
Sadly, it looks like Anwar’s number one priority in the last 12 months as PM is foreign relations and foreign policy when everyone knows there are multiple maladies in Malaysia that need fixing from many, many years ago.
The first thing he did was to embark on a series of foreign trips and to try to make his voice heard on the international stage when it is the Malaysian public he needs to address and show them in no uncertain terms what he is going to do.
So, our first of 10 things that Anwar should do to get public opinion on his side and reduce the escalating calls that he will soon be toppled deals with his predilection for visiting other countries.
Cut foreign trips
I thought former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak took the trophy for foreign trips when he was prime minister but Anwar may have well outdone him - which is a bad thing in this case.
According to Wikipedia, he made a trip each to Brunei, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, United States, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt; two trips each to Indonesia, China, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Türkiye; and three trips to Singapore.
That makes a grand total of 20 trips in less than a year. If each trip requires four days of planning, time taken, organisational effort, and others by various departments, some 80 days of available time for reform have been wasted.
Assuming a five-day workweek or 260 workdays a year, that’s a colossal waste of 30 percent of available time that could and should have been put to better use by focusing on problems at home.
Keep out of international limelight
Anwar should resist the temptation to try and hog the international limelight to enhance public opinion in Malaysia. As a small, inconsequential country on the international stage, it is much easier to keep our heads down and focus on our own work. That also keeps one below the line of fire.
Foreign policy must be moderate and rational, and condemn all parties who do wrong equally no matter their background.
If this is not possible, it is better to hold our peace - we are but a minor actor on the world stage and should not be delusional over the role we can play. No amount of talk and posturing will affect public opinion - actions will always speak louder than words.
Remember charity begins at home
We need to take care of ourselves before we try to take care of others. We need to put our disordered house back into order and that takes a lot of work and effort.
The ringgit is free-falling, the national debt is rising inexorably, and revenues are lagging even in times of economic growth!
We can ill afford to have our efforts diffused over spending too much time on things that don’t concern us. We need to ruthlessly prioritise to best utilise our limited resources for our own benefit. There is so much to be done. We are at crisis levels now.
Be wary of what you say, focus on doing
You are the prime minister now, Anwar. You should measure your words carefully and not send mixed messages to different audiences.
Refuse impromptu press conferences where careless words may be proclaimed. Instead, call proper, considered press briefings to inform people of your plans and their progress.
Don’t do things which are not on your programme such as converting people from other religions to become Muslims when you visit a mosque. Send the same message of unity, development and progress to all people equally.
You play politics when you are the underling; when you are the boss, you do things and instruct others to do the right things.
Push back Umno
Realise that Umno is a lost cause and you are in bed with them for convenience - yours, and importantly theirs too. They will not bring you votes - 2022 was their worst election year ever, winning a mere 26 seats. They need you more than you need them.
Therefore, push them back with great vigour and force. Go for the things which you promised your electorate. A deputy prime minister who faces corruption and other charges does not look good.
Don’t make it worse by seeming to pander to him, and worse than that, to that convicted felon who is responsible for stealing billions from the country.
Pardon me, but no pardons please. Truly let the law take its course. Do not take that meandering, treacherous path down to infamy by associating with the corrupt, the tainted and the rotten.
That is the sure route to being toppled, if not now, four years from now when the next elections come. If there is anyone who people rejected unequivocally in the last elections, it was Umno - don’t make the mistake of supporting them - you will be tarred with the same brush and worse.
Implement manifesto promises
Do we even have to tell you this? Harapan got the largest number of seats on the back of their manifesto promises. Do not make the same mistake of 2018 and dishonour these promises for the cost will be dire. The remaining points deal with some of the key manifesto promises.
Really do something about corruption
Combating corruption was one of the key manifesto promises. Anwar has correctly identified corruption as the problem facing the government and country but has done precious little about that.
One of the key things will be to cut loose the MACC from government interference and give them the teeth and the resources to really investigate without fear or favour.
While there has been talk about the Government Procurement Act to tighten procurement and cut avenues for corruption, it still seems to be stuck.
After almost a year of being in power, this is totally unacceptable. There is time to make 20 foreign visits but no time to fight corruption!
Separate attorney-general, public prosecutor
This is a long-standing promise by Harapan dating back to 2018. Then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad predictably put it on the back burner. It’s difficult to understand why Anwar, a victim of this, does not want to separate the two positions.
The basic rationale which still stands is that the attorney-general is an adviser to the government and therefore any prosecution he undertakes of political opponents to the government is tainted.
Lack of prosecution too may be similarly coloured. The challenge is to make the public prosecutor totally independent of the government and therefore someone who is able to prosecute (or not) fairly without fear or favour. Anwar, of all people, should no longer delay this.
PM term limits, fixed Parliament term, political funding law
These manifesto measures are all for good governance. A PM who lingers long can do much harm (re: Mahathir) while fixing Parliament terms gets rid of the current abominable practice of shortening parliamentary terms by holding early elections for political purposes. They can be costly, disruptive and unfair.
Together with a political funding law, the barebones of which are already there, they will create a political framework which is more resilient and less open to manipulation by crooks and charlatans who regularly partake in politics.
Another measure which should be introduced to improve governance is to establish an ombudsman system to deal with complaints against the government.
All these are non-controversial measures that should have been implemented a long time ago.
Repeal draconian laws, enact Freedom of Information laws
Legions of good, innocent people, including our PM, have been incarcerated, abused, tortured, beaten up and have had other nasty things (some have been murdered) done to them through the use of draconian laws such as the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) - now succeeded by the equally repressive Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota).
Others include the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act, archaic sections of the Penal Code, provisions of the Communications and Multimedia Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, etc.
Instead of these, there should be a federal Freedom of Information Act, which enables citizens to obtain information that should rightly be in the public domain.
There is more that Anwar can do, of course. But if he did just these 10 things in the one year he has been in power, his position would now be far more secure and all Malaysians would have a much better opinion of him.
Now people are puzzled why this man who was deeply associated with the word reformasi is so afraid to reform when he has a two-thirds majority in Parliament to make all these changes, counting those who said they will support him although they are in opposition.
In fact, most changes simply need a simple majority and political will - that’s all.
If any political party, including Umno, Bersatu and PAS dare not support these changes, they stand a real risk of losing their popular base because they have no solid reason to oppose these measures at all.
So Anwar, what say you? Why so slow? Surely you have not lost your courage and idealistic zeal. Perhaps you have been distracted by other things, perhaps you have been ill-advised, or you have not had the time to stop and think.
But it’s not too late. If you hunker down on the job and make these 10 things your priority and achieve them within a year, while at the same time paying attention to and doing something for the resuscitation of the economy, you will not only earn the support of the entire nation but its eternal gratitude.
Surely that’s better than going down in history as the person who talked much but did little or nothing when he eventually got to the top. That’s not the Anwar you want to be remembered as. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM says it’s far better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all, but it is best to have tried and succeeded. One thing is certain: If you don’t try, you will never succeed.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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