10 big issues for Anwar to mull and decide

 

I agree with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that some rather trivial issues such as bak kut teh as a national heritage dish and whether canteens should be open during puasa are trivial and should not even be debated, the answers being “yes” in both cases.

And, yes, Anwar was right when he said we should be focusing on things such as building up the economy and attracting new investments.

But travelling overseas with a delegation is not necessarily the best way to attract new investments and definitely not the only way.

Building up the economy, and fostering a great investment environment as well as a better quality of life for all require more than that and serious changes in the way we are doing things and the right decisions with respect to many issues.

So without further ado, here are 10 big issues for Anwar to mull over and decide on which I have written about just this year, the first four while Anwar was away in Australia and Germany.

There have been many more written by others in the opinion columns of Malaysiakini, which I highly recommend to Anwar and indeed all ministers and others interested in Malaysia. There are excellent comments and suggestions here every day. Here we go:

1. The constitutional change to cut the rights of foundlings to citizenship

I was flabbergasted that this is being continued and criticised it in an article titled “Why Saifuddin is unfit to be home minister”. The amendments basically make it tougher - much tougher - for poor, underprivileged, stateless people to become citizens.

Even as we are complaining about how nations treat people badly, we are not setting a good example in our own backyard. Are we going to go ahead with this unfair move affecting hundreds of thousands of stateless children and keep them in their bad state?

2. China’s audacious territorial claims

While Anwar was in Australia, Chinese boats water cannoned a Filipina supply ship in disputed waters in the South China Sea, causing minor injuries and a shattered windscreen. Anwar’s reply to questions was that Malaysia did not have a problem with China - despite China’s audacious claims which were found to be baseless by an international tribunal.

I wrote about it in an article titled “Malaysia must push back on China’s territorial claims”. Isn’t it time Malaysia changed its position from head-in-sand?

3. A ridiculous land-grab proposal by a deputy prime minister

At his opening address at the recently concluded Bumiputera Economic Congress, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi proposed that 20 percent of land owned by non-bumiputera above a certain area be given up on lease renewal or extension.

I criticised this move in an article titled “Zahid’s land corporation proposal is insidious, unfeasible” Is the unity government going to proceed with this?

4. A perplexing question about resuming the search for MH370

A no-find, no-pay proposal for finding MH370 is on the table - again. Why after an earlier one failed? What are the terms and who benefits? I examined this in detail in an article titled “Should the search for MH370 resume?”

5. Isn’t it high time Taib’s massive wealth was investigated?

Anwar has repeatedly said corruption is our major problem. I agree wholeheartedly. If that is so there is a case to investigate the late former Sarawak chief minister and governor Abdul Taib Mahmud’s wealth.

In fact, Anwar urged former premier Najib Abdul Razak to do just that - when Taib was alive and Anwar was in opposition. I wrote about it in a column titled “Anwar must insist on probe into Taib’s massive wealth”.

6. Long-term measures to strengthen the ringgit

In the wake of the continued weakness in the ringgit, I suggested measures to reverse this in an article titled “How Anwar can power the ringgit”. What’s his take on the ringgit and his long-term plans? We are still in the dark.

7. Do we need a second 5G network?

The 5G network, a crucial communications and internet upgrade which will change the way we do things, is being rolled out. But rather late in the day, the government is thinking of a second network.

This changes everything. I wrote about it in a column titled “Is govt making mistake over second 5G network?” Is the government still going ahead and why if it is so?

8. Why extend concessions?

When concessions are given, why extend them in the first place? And what new terms will be introduced to make it successful? Remember, construction profits have already been harvested earlier.

I wrote about this in an article titled “ERL’s new 30-year concession raises concerns over rail projects”. ERL is the concessionaire for the KL-KLIA rail link which collects money from airline passengers whether they use the ERL services or not.

9. Why did our 1MDB negotiators do so badly?

The person tasked with investigating why the country did such a lousy deal with Goldman Sachs over its complicity in the 1MDB scandal hints that something is not right.

When are we going to find out what went wrong and bring the miscreants to task? I wrote about it in an article titled “Johari resurrects an enduring 1MDB mystery”.

10. We need the bullet train like we need a bullet through our head

The burgeoning costs of the high-speed rail link to Singapore will drain the Treasury even more money than 1MDB and is economically unviable.

Without government backing in one way or another the deal is a dead duck. Why do we persist with digging this up over and over again? We already paid Singapore over RM300 million for abandoning it. I wrote about it in an article called “Singapore HSR will dwarf 1MDB’s RM42b losses”.

If Anwar lacks big issues, these are just some of them. They require the right decisions and resolution with careful thought and consideration by experts, not politicians who just want to be able to dish patronage. Anwar needs to develop that core expertise and let them do the work.

He should stay put here and get capable people and resources to do these things. He should use his political acumen to get the experts and make their work possible without any interference and shield them from political repercussions.

He should stay at home, with the ministers too, and let the agencies such as the Malaysian Investment Development Authority do the work. Think of how to give them the staff and resources they require, set performance targets and let them loose by facilitating their work, not taking it over. If they don’t perform, get someone else.

It’s not the premier’s job to get investors, it’s his job to put the right people in the right place to do that, as with a whole host of other problems. - Mkini

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P GUNASEGARAM says our PM and ministers have forgotten the gentle but firm art of delegating, empowering and holding people to account.

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