Anwar, After An Amazing Apprenticeship, Must Succeed

If Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim does not prevail, the country is bound to fail. This is the way it looks after observing from a distance his performance in the office in the last fortnight. He has waited to become prime minister for 29 years.

The nation has been subjected to a rough rollercoaster ride for more than four decades. By the time Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob took over as the prime minister the Malaysian intelligentsia was already highly skeptical of the government’s competence and drift.

The people were lied to on many issues, and almost every failing of the government was swept under the carpet or cleverly covered up. We must realise that the early ‘Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah’ pledge was more a misleading slogan than a material or meaningful one.

Our nation became worryingly wedded to slogans than to serious, sustainable, and hard work. Political leaders made policy statements but the implementation of those policies required the participation and imaginative dedication of the bureaucracy. Generally, bureaucrats are better at repeating slogans than in working out the modalities for the proper implementation of policies.

In the aftermath of the formation of the cabinet by DSAI many analysts, commentators, and ordinary citizens have excoriated him for his choices. It would seem that it has been conveniently forgotten that DSAI went into GE15 as the slapped down underdog for various reasons. The Pakatan Harapan coalition he led was a thwarted and truncated version of the 2018 one, Anwar himself had not held public office since September 2, 1998 and the reformasi he championed was undermined unashamedly by the last Pakatan Harapan prime minister. More significantly the objections and obstacles to Anwar’s prime ministership came from the country’s most powerful politicians and deal makers, including three former prime ministers. In many ways DSAI represented the underclass in Malaysia’s political scene or the types that could win parliamentary seats with huge majorities but could not make top ministerial grade. In the election campaign for GE15 the concern was more about ABU- anything but UMNO- with scant attention to the emerging extremist religious bent to which Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin gave such an artful opportunistic sheen. DSAI was essentially the most decent and deserving of prime ministerial office but he did not seem to have a chance because he lacked the patronage of Malay- Muslim bigwigs from the peninsula. It is clear that his cabinet wasn’t his own choice entirely and it would seem that the wishes of very unlikely high personages had to be accommodated. The defeated parliamentary candidate Tengku Zafrul could be made the MITI minister but his successful opponent in Kuala Selangor, the incomparable former health minister, Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad for whom DSAI had campaigned personally had to be left out. DSAI had obviously to swallow his pride in order to appear as the astute pragmatic realist.

Tun Hussein Onn

The last easily recognisable decent and honest prime minister Malaysia had was undoubtedly Tun Hussein Onn. In high public office the appearance of integrity and honesty is almost as important as the probity of an incumbent. Suspicion of corruption can be most damaging even when it is not proved. A cautious, conservative, conscientious, disciplined and capable man Hussein bequeathed to the nation the values of honesty, mutual respect, ethics, respect for law and order and the sacred veneration for the trusteeship inherent in public office. Yes, he often seemed slow, deliberative and hesitant but he did not want the wrong signal to be sent out by any misinterpreted or misunderstood statement. He laboriously vetted and corrected every draft speech he was given.

All the well known slogans we have lived with in the post- Hussein era-Look East, Malaysia Boleh, Vision 2020, Islam Hadhari, 1Malaysia, Covid-19 Lockdown, Keluarga Malaysia- would not have passed muster with him. A pained senior civil servant would have been patiently and politely grilled by Tun Hussein to establish the meaning, implications, downside and ramifications of these words. He was not into daydreaming, nor unduly dazzled by anything spectacular but was a down-to-earth man who had the humility to politely ask even a foreign leader to clarify what he had been told. Most significantly he left office in mid-July 1981 with our nation’s finances, forests and fine manners largely in tact.

During Tun Hussein’s tenure RM2.40 could buy one US dollar.

Anwar’s Agility

Remembering all this I think Anwar is a breath of fresh air.

He has shown in his first days in office that for rice-eating Malaysians rice must be an affordable easily available staple. No one should have a monopoly of the rice business. Varieties of rice should be freely available at fair prices and the farmers who do the backbreaking work to produce the rice must be compensated adequately. That is the practice in all rice producing countries. Rice farmers are so well protected in Korea that they can grow rice in the heart of some of their country’s bustling cities.

It is not rocket science to understand this situation. The issue of clean water, access to this vital essential and its efficient and reliable supply must figure high in PMX's mind too. . What is happening in that area under the guise of corporatisation, privatisation and monopolies monitored by state capitals is not clear. There is also the related issue of sewerage services.

The rudiments of a decent life matter and DSAI has gone to great lengths to show just that.

DSAI has not wasted his time by churning out slogans.

Attire, High End Luxury Items

The second thing I found fascinating about DSAI was that he went to his first cabinet meeting without a neck tie. Ties have been an integral part of our official attire since colonial times. In recent years with the growing affluence of our ministerial community designer ties particularly were the in thing. Take Harvey & Hudson ties from Jermyn Street in London which cost on average about a thousand Ringgit a piece. Of course one can go for other branded ties from Hermes or Zegna which also retail for about the same price. Being the holders of ministerial office our leaders have not been able to resist the temptation to splurge on branded neckwear, flaunt their wealth and present these kinds of neckties as gifts. The Financial Times’ HTSI ( How To Spend It) supplement often has suggestions for chic footwear, bespoke suits, handbags, collectible watches, jewellery and eyewear which in our currency would cost thousands .Our PM6 and his spouse had in his tenure fulfilled to a ‘t’ ( as in Tiffany) their part not as discreet or discriminating devotees but as debauched possessors of such extravagantly prized items.

But it would seem nobody noticed, not initially at least. Our country’s ministers must have been the exceptional ones who wore custom-made Brioni suits. Corporate shirts were another feature of our attire in recent decades. This is fashionable , gives an air of clubbiness, a sense of uniformity and authoritative smartness but why should the government pay for sets of such official attire.

Corporate sponsorship of various activities of government agencies and statutory bodies is also widely integrated in our administrative and protocol system. It must be realised there is no such thing as a free lunch and these kinds of informal arrangements can often affect the integrity and efficiency of governmental functions.

We must be properly attired but we don’t have to pawn our future and integrity with such luxury brands and also be obliged to present or receive such gifts. There is no need for the prime minister to appear in a different Burberry outfit all the time.

In this area too DSAI has made his mark. There is no longer any serious ministerial competition in the class of the tie one is required to wear.

Perhaps the rules of attire for the Royal Courts and the Law Courts must remain but for government offices in order to lower electricity charges on air conditioning ties should be dispensed with.

I found that in the last Pakatan Harapan government the finance minister was obviously struggling with the tight tie noose on his neck. It seemed to suffocate him and invariably affected some allocations adversely.

It is clear that every day that the DSAI has in office there will be renewed promise and hope of a better managed and more moderate nation where extremists, the egregiously corrupt, the embezzlers and bigots are kept in check. Inevitably growth prospects will become brighter, confidence on the part of tourists and investors will grow and the country will become more like well run Penang, Selangor and freer and more liveable for all as in Sabah and Sarawak.

Kelantan and Trengganu have fallen behind and it would seem Perlis and Kedah are likely to go that way too, if the state governments there are not careful.

Malaysia is not an isolated, far flung or remote place. Rather it sits smack in the heart of Southeast Asia with porous borders, related border communities and our neighbours in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei and Singapore are powering ahead with rising per capita incomes, excellent education systems, superb skills sets and social harmony. Why should we be different.

M Santhananaban

December 7, 22