Don't blame Umno for slow reforms - Rafizi

Don't blame Umno for slow reforms - Rafizi

Zarrah Morden
Published: Aug 23, 2025 9:56 AM
Updated: 1:09 PM


Summary

• Rafizi Ramli says Umno is not to blame for the Madani government’s slow reforms, noting he saw no resistance from its ministers during his cabinet tenure, though he concedes they may have raised objections behind his back.

• The Pandan MP says Umno wants to regain urban and educated constituencies, making the party supportive of popular reforms.

• He praises some Umno and Harapan ministers as capable, but criticises others - including Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and other PKR leaders - as lacking ideas and command.

It’s not fair to blame Umno for the Madani government’s slow pace in pushing reforms, former economy minister Rafizi Ramli said.

During the latest episode of his podcast “Yang Berhenti Menteri”, Rafizi said he had not witnessed any pushback from Umno ministers during his time in the cabinet.

He attributed this to Umno seeking to regain its former parliamentary constituencies, which comprise urban Malays, non-Malays, and educated Malaysians - demographics whose voting patterns have recently come to favour Pakatan Harapan.

“Actually... anything that is popular for these constituents that (Umno) wants to focus on, Umno is okay. I didn’t see Umno having any issues (with reforms).

“I don’t really remember Umno protesting anything, and some of the things I brought (as economy minister) were radical.

“Only that (Prime Minister) Anwar Ibrahim might say if he were here, ‘Of course, they didn’t protest in front of you, they protested behind you’,” the Pandan MP said.

Umno competent but in tough spot

He also warned Harapan that blaming Umno on this matter will not save the coalition in the next general election, although he did not elaborate further on this.

Besides that, Rafizi shared his assessment of Umno now that he has worked with the Malay nationalist party.

“Umno is in the game for power, from before until now, and for that matter, (the same can be said of) any political party.

“But Umno has been (in power) for longer, so it knows the dynamics of power better,” he said.

Rafizi said the party has a tough fight ahead now that it has to compete for Malay votes with Perikatan Nasional.

It is also hampered in this by DAP’s presence in the government, he added.

Mixed bag of ministers

While commenting on the performance of the ministers he served with, he noted that Umno ministers are quite capable.

“I think that ministers from Umno such as (Foreign Minister) Tok Mat (Mohamad Hasan), (Defence Minister) Khaled Nordin, (de facto law minister) Azalina Othman Said, to be fair, they know how to do their job - whether what they do is business as usual or something new, but you can tell that they are in control because of their experience, having been ministers for a long time.

“It’s just a question of whether they want to push certain new things or not,” he said.

The cabinet


He said there is a second category of ministers who are newer to the job but are still able to do well.

“I would say (former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister) Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad actually managed it well, (Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister) Armizan Ali manages it well. That’s my view.

“Obviously, (Transport Minister) Anthony Loke actually can command. From (his work in) DAP, you can tell Loke is not sly, and he can command,” he said.

A further third category was those Rafizi said were unable to grapple with complexity and solve a variety of problems, while also lacking ideas and the ability to command.

He named as examples Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, whom he has previously criticised several times, along with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, all of whom are PKR members.