Thursday, January 30, 2025

Anwar Administration: reformist or authoritarian?

Dennis Ignatius

~ Provoking discussion, dissent & debate on politics, diplomacy, human rights & civil society.

Anwar Administration: reformist or authoritarian?

30ThursdayJan 2025

Posted by Dennis Ignatius in civil society, corruption, Democracy, Human rights, Malaysia, Politics

[1] In lamenting the way the Anwar Administration responded to the recent student protest against corruption, DAP MP Syahredzan Johan was reported to have said: “This isn’t us. We shouldn’t pretend to be authoritarian when we know we are certainly not… high time that we bring the state apparatus in line with what we truly are – reformists.”

[2] Syahredzan then went on to say that the PM himself had to overrule the “state apparatus” to allow the demonstration to proceed “despite just having come back from a worldwide tour for our country.” Shifting the blame from the government to the “state apparatus” however won’t fly given that the Home Minister and the Communications Minister (both close confidants of the PM) defended the actions of the “state apparatus” only days before.

[3] The government’s attempted crackdown on Saturday’s demonstration is, in any case hardly, surprising. In fact, it is just the latest episode in a series of actions and policy decisions that speak to a growing intolerance of dissent and the abuse of power. Increasingly, dissenting voices are met with threats, intimidation and arrests while censorship of social and other media has now reached unprecedented levels. Just ask the indomitable Fahmi Reza if you have any doubts.

[4] As well, the prime minister goes around the world posing as an anti-corruption crusader but how seriously can he be taken when he works behind the scenes to engineer a pardon for man convicted of looting millions, liberally dispenses DNAAs to favoured allies and appoints those charged with corruption to high office? And even as he encourages young Malaysians to fight corruption, the first instincts of his government are to clamp down on students protesting the grotesque way serious allegations of corruption in Sabah are being handled.

[5] For many months now, NGOs and civil society groups have been sounding the alarm. Bersih gave the Anwar administration a “D” grade over its failure to implement promised reforms. C4, the respected anti-corruption watchdog, was also scathing in its assessment of the government’s commitment to fighting corruption and pursuing reform. Senior journalists have protested the “censoring or blocking of portals and online news content.” Civicus, Suaram, Centre for Independent Journalism, Forum-Asia and Article 19 have expressed concern that since the Anwar Ibrahim government came to power, the state has continued using anti-democratic legislation to criminalise human rights defenders, the opposition, and critics”. Suaram reports that there has been a 65% rise in sedition probes since 2023.

[6] Other international NGOs including Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders have highlighted the declining human rights situation in Malaysia pointing to increased censorship, restrictions on peaceful assembly and the use of repressive laws to stifle dissent. Malaysia recently saw its World Press Freedom Index ranking plummet 34 places.

[7] And just recently, 8 former bar council presidents delivered the most damning assessment yet of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, saying his government is falling behind the three previous governments, including that of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second term when it came to ensuring the independence of the judiciary. Even the Chief Justice felt compelled to express the hope that the prime minister will live up to his own promises regarding the independence of the judiciary.

[8] The signs that our democracy is under threat have been evident for some time now. As Lawyers for Liberty noted, the Anwar Administration has “slipped comfortably into authoritarianism.” The response to Saturday’s demonstration is simply part of a now familiar pattern of authoritarian behaviour on the part of the government. Pakatan Harapan MPs might delude themselves that they are still reformists but there’s little doubt that authoritarian is what their government has become.

[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur |30th January 2025]