Anwar accepting 'D' grade is gracious, but please hurry up

Let me be honest and say that prior to 2018, I was very much an advocate for the opposition. At that time, they consisted of PKR, DAP, PAS, and every once in a while, PSM.

The sacking of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 was when I was heading into my final semester of university and it would be very soon after that I became a little more politically aware.

I remember one day in 1998, I had just sent my girlfriend at that time to Pudu bus station so she could go back to her hometown during a semester break.

I was driving my mother’s first-generation green Kancil back home when I was stuck in a jam in front of Masjid Jamek. Suddenly, there were many young men running around with t-shirts covering their faces and a few of them were burning rubbish bins.

At first, I didn’t know what was happening but I quickly got caught up. Then once I graduated and got into journalism, my awareness of it all increased.

From then on, I started paying attention to what the opposition was trying to say to the people. I realised that the right kind of democracy and human rights were things that I wanted in the society that I was living in.

Pakatan Rakyat leadership

I wouldn’t say that I am a hardcore opposition supporter. In fact, I have never joined any political party as a member. But I like the idea of having a strong check-and-balance for the authorities, no matter who the opposition and government are.

Of course, I also found the ideals of the opposition at that time appealing and more or less consistent with my own ideals. That’s what a democracy is, right? Finding and selecting those with your ideals to administer your country.

Fast forward to today, that same opposition is now in the government and is the authority of the country. Have the ideals that were so aligned with mine now become the ideals of the nation?

According to reform advocacy group Bersih, that isn’t exactly the case. They recently released a report card grade of “D” for the current government. If it were my child, she would be getting a lecture and asked to come up with an improvement plan.

I would have to agree. There have been many things that this government had promised on what they would do if they came into power.

Yet, so many of these promises remain to be fulfilled. Issues like fair gender representation in the administration, constituency malapportionment, gerrymandering, clear laws on political funding, and the lack of amendments to the Electoral Offences Act are clear examples.

Press freedom and repressive laws

Then there are the other issues they have always been critical about before they became government, which they have remained silent about now, or become regressive.

Issues such as press freedom were something they always wanted to champion, but now they are the government, it seems like they are taking one step forward and two steps back.

Although they will be forming the Malaysian Media Council and more tolerant of criticism, talks of registering online news organisations and journalists being called in for questioning over stories that hint at government misconduct make it seem like we are not making much progress when it comes to freedom of speech and the media.

Also, for a government that consists of parties and people who have always been persecuted and prosecuted by archaic and repressive laws such as the Sedition Act, it’s a wonder why they have failed to either repeal or amend the law.

And what of all their harping about the importance of separating the power and roles of different agencies and institutions like the Attorney-General’s Office, MACC and Election Commission?

According to Bersih, the current Anwar Ibrahim-led administration isn’t even considered to be performing better than Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s (in his second term as prime minister).

Under Ismail, important laws did manage to be passed such as the lowering of the voting age to 18 and automatic voter registration, and he was leading a government that was formed via a confidence and supply agreement, similar to Anwar’s government now.

Bersih’s report card for Anwar’s administration

To be fair, Anwar has accepted Bersih’s “D” grade and criticism quite graciously and he believes that his government can improve on their performance. He says that it is okay to be given a “D” because “at least it’s not an F”.

He joked that it is like getting a “D” in the UPSR exams but that they should be getting an “A” for the SPM exams.

Anwar continues to say that he and his administration will take heed of the criticism and try to do better. He says the government is still new and needs time to improve.

Under observation

I am going to take Anwar’s words at face value and have faith that he is sincere and will do better. For someone who has gone through so much and worked so hard to be where he is, he deserves that at least. I mean, I did vote for his administration.

I would have the same reaction if it were my daughter who got a bad grade. I would listen to her explanation and plan to improve, and then keep the faith.

Of course, she would be under observation from me and my wife and we would be on her case to keep doing better. If she improves, then great! That would make everyone happy because it’s what we all want. But if she doesn’t, then more drastic measures need to be taken.

And so it is with the current government too. We accept Anwar’s response to the criticism, but we also expect that he and his administration will do better and fulfil all the promises they made, leading us to vote for them in the last election.

Anwar has always said that he needed more time, and he is saying that again now. Okay, sure, but time can still run out and I really hope he and his whole government can hurry it up a little bit. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

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