Panel: Anwar talks good game, but falls short on delivery

Panel: Anwar talks good game, but falls short on delivery


Panellists at the Malaysiakini forum titled ‘One Year of Madani Government: What’s Next?’ gave some props to the administration of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, but said that he has a long way to go to deliver on his many promises.

Veteran editor R Nadeswaran gave a particularly tough assessment, saying that he was giving the coalition government a D minus based on its performance so far.

”The only thing Anwar is consistent about is his oratorical skills. Of course, we welcome the death penalty amendment and anti-stalking legislation and these changes have been made to the Penal Code.

“But before he came to power, his coalition promised to do away with the PPPA (Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984) and the Sedition Act.

“Instead, we saw what happened with the Swatch watches that had rainbow colours in support of the LGBT community. This is repeating what the Umno government did with Bersih,” said Nadeswaran.

He also said that the press is supposed to be freer, but he was disappointed with websites getting blocked.

Nadeswaran said that it was on the issue of battling corruption that the government was most lacking.

On numerous occasions, Anwar has been called out for not keeping to his promises, with human rights groups like Suaram, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) and the Migrant Workers Right to Redress Coalition (R2R) voicing out their discontentment.

“What have we seen? Nothing much. What about the LCS scandal? This is one of those things that they harped on about but it’s gone silent now,” Nadeswaran added.


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He said that if the government was serious about fighting corruption, it needed someone with clean hands.

“We saw MACC chief Azam Baki with his questionable explanation about his brother using his account to buy shares. And yet he was given an extension by Anwar,” said Nadeswaran.

This is despite Anwar raising various issues regarding abuse of power, corruption and lack of transparency when he was in the opposition’s seat.

While lauding Anwar’s move to have ministers take a 20 percent pay cut, he also questioned the size of the entourage at Anwar’s overseas trips.


Better messaging needed

Meanwhile, Sisters in Islam executive director Rozana Isa said that the government’s passing of the anti-stalking law was a welcome move that women’s NGOs had been pushing for quite some time.

She said that implementation needed to be carried out quickly, citing that when the formation of a tribunal to oversee sexual harassment cases was announced, members had yet to be named.

“Even the Domestic Violence Act in 1994 took two years to be implemented, so this is something we must not take our eyes off of,” she said.

Rozana also questioned the government over the proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act.


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“This is a proposal that takes away existing provisions and makes me really wonder what’s the vision of the Madani government.

“Do they want to create more statelessness? Justification for this has not been given in a way that is clear,” she said.

Panelists of the ‘One Year of Madani Government: What’s Next?’ forum


She also drew the administration’s attention to women’s rights, saying that there were some frustrating developments.

“Nothing speaks clearly about the role of women. We still see Islamic politics still piped out. We had the state of Terengganu clamping down on women and gymnastics and now Kelantan wants to have this discussion on attire.

“We want to see clear and strong messaging, not pandering to how certain political parties think it should be.

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch,” said Rozana.


‘Staying alive’

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat said that one of the biggest achievements of Anwar’s administration was “staying alive” for one year.

“Before we had one man, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (who managed to rule) for 22 years - but in five years, we had five (different prime ministers).

“Now we can see a full-term government. Even though you may not see an immediate improvement in the economy and so on, many issues are international.

“We have some goals that are important, such as reaching 60 percent participation of women in the workforce,” said Wong.

He added that the biggest letdown was that Anwar had trouble outgrowing his old self in Umno.

“I don’t just mean the Malay-Muslim narrative, but the use of patronage and identity politics to suppress rivals. Our politics is so toxic that some people are used to suppressing those that they don’t like.

“In the Old Malaysia, to be in power is to suppress the opposition. People look at you and say ‘This is the devil we know’. Now, I am seeing that coming back,” said Wong.

He also cautioned that many people who call themselves liberals are actually authoritarian because they think that people who disagree with them are “so stupid or so evil”, that there’s no point in engaging with them.

“I do think there is a danger that out of this transition from a one-party dominated government, we may not move to a healthy democracy.

“If we keep this two coalition system now, we are no longer having multi-ethnic composition on both sides,” he said, referring to the Malay-Muslim dominated composition of PN.

“We see that since 2018, we have multi-ethnicity on one side, and mono-ethnicity on the opposition’s side.

“If this were to continue, the mono-ethnic one will grow stronger and stronger because it appeals to the insecurities of the population,” warned Wong.


Four years to deliver

Additionally, independent analyst P Gunasegaram said that Anwar has four years to deliver on his objective of revitalising the nation’s economy, but he will stand to lose the next election if he fails to do so.

“He has got four years to revitalise the economy and give everyone a better life.

“The best way to increase revenue is to bring back the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is more efficient than the Sales and Services Tax (SST).

“Another thing is the use of capital gains tax in the right areas. It does not need to be much, but it can still provide useful revenue.

“On the expenditure side, one of the major problems is regarding subsidies, including fuel subsidy. I think it’s time to take some much-needed but unpopular measures,” said Gunasegaram.