Bait – A Chinese FT Minister Not Enough To Appease Chinese

Bait – A Chinese FT Minister Not Enough To Appease Chinese


December 19th, 2025 by financetwitter


Before Hannah Yeoh could even begin her new job as the Federal Territories Minister following a major cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition has started attacking her. Not only has she become the first non-Malay to hold the portfolio, which traditionally was reserved to Malay only, she is also the first DAP MP to be given the high-profile job.

With opposition Bersatu in self-destruction, busy with internal power struggle and rebellion, the extremist Islamist party PAS has taken charge in turning the cabinet reshuffle into a racial and political issue. PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan has criticized Anwar for appointing two Chinese as the minister and deputy minister for the Federal Territories Ministry.


First created in 1979, the Federal Territories Ministry was formed to directly manage and coordinate development for Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan, ensuring focused administration – especially after capital Kuala Lumpur’s split from Selangor in 1974 due to the May 13, 1969 racial riots – to prevent clashes between state and federal governments and drive national progress.


It was not actually a very important portfolio. In late 2022, the FT Ministry was downgraded into a “department” under the Prime Minister’s Department. However, it becomes sensitive when a Chinese becomes its minister, largely due to the scope of jurisdiction of the ministry – covering existing local governments and administrators of the federal territories.

Because Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan represent the political and administrative heart of the nation, it’s easy to create a perception that the Malay has lost power to the Chinese. It didn’t help that Hannah Yeoh replaced Dr Zaliha Mustafa, who was dropped from the cabinet. Worse, Hannah is from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a party accused of Chinese chauvinism and prioritizing Chinese interests.


But PAS religious extremist was not the only one who is politicizing Hannah’s appointment. Federal Territory UMNO Youth Chief Aliff Firdaus too has jumped onto the bandwagon, stirring up racial and religious sentiments among the Malays that the strategic position could be misused in the potential implementation of agendas such as local authority elections and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).


The UMNO racist bigots and PAS religious extremists talked as if DAP would start some sort of “ethnic cleansing” or genocide programmes to kick out all Malays from the federal territories. They try to create a false and dangerous narrative that PM Anwar is giving DAP an absolute power that not even the Agong (King) can interfere in shaping an anti-Malay urbanization policy, land use, housing and local government.

Despite Malays holding 17 ministerial posts compared to DAP’s 5, Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Minister are Malays, all 13 Monarchs and Governors are Malays, Malays leading all armed institutions and dominating 98% civil services, the ultra racist Malay politicians continue to spread fake narratives that a Chinese FT Minister could destroy the Malays.

If Hannah and her deputy, Lo Su Fui, who is actually from GRS (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah), could single-handedly undermine millions of Malay urbanites despite the Kuala Lumpur mayor being a Malay and that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) being dominated by Malays, then it means these two Chinese must be genius for being able to bulldoze anti-Malay policies under the nose of a Malay PM, two Malay Deputy PM, 17 Malay ministers, and 13 Malay Rulers.


As far as UMNO and PAS are concerned, the FT Ministry is the birthright of the Malays. A Malay FT Minister can do no wrong even if she deliberately targets the Chinese business community. But a Chinese FT Minister is always wrong even before she enters her new office. The racists just want the Chinese to forever play second fiddle in line with “Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay supremacy.



However, if Hannah’s previous portfolio as Youth and Sports Minister is any indicator, her performance was at best average.Perhaps it was a job mismatch and she is more suitable for running the federal territories. Her “promotion” as the FT Minister was made out of political reasons rather than job competency. Unless DAP foolishly asked for it, Hannah’s new job might be Anwar’s deliberate move to sabotage DAP.

Yes, Hannah Yeoh as FT Minister is like Lim Guan Eng as the Finance Minister under the previous PM Mahathir’s 22-month short stint (May 2018 – March 2022). On the surface, PM Anwar might be seen as rewarding ally DAP in an effort to appease the Chinese voters after the recent Sabah election annihilation, the same way the Chinese applauded Guan Eng’s appointment some 7 years ago.


However, it could easily backfire with “ultra-Malay” from both PAS and UMNO fighting tooth and nail trying to project themselves as the Malay heroes by making DAP and Hannah the “punching bag”. You just need the notorious DBKL to demolish some Malay-run street stalls to spark mini riots – even mega protests – under the pretext that Malays are being bullied and attacked by DAP Chinese.

And you can bet your last penny that opposition Perikatan Nasional would use the golden opportunity to spark “anti-Chinese” sentiments, instigate Malays to hate Chinese, and provoke ethnic Malays to pressure Anwar to reverse Hannah Yeoh’s promotion. At best, Hannah could be made a scapegoat. At worst, Madani could be overthrown if racial riots are triggered in Kuala Lumpur.

In turn, Prime Minister Anwar could use the Malays’ protest to threaten DAP to back down on its demands, including UEC recognition. The spineless Anthony Loke would panic, forcing him to warn the second-class ethnic Chinese citizen to sacrifice and “not to spook the Malays”, and throws more empty promises that DAP would continue to voice the minority ethnic demands by “whispering” into Anwar’s ears.




While giving ammunition to the opposition to attack his own ally DAP in order to silence displeasure from the ethnic Chinese, Anwar could also at the same time claim credit for appointing the first Chinese as the FT Minister. There’s a reason why Anwar dropped loyalist Dr Zaliha Mustafa when the overwhelming demand was to sack Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

The incompetent Fadhlina was appointed as education minister because she is the daughter of the late Dr Siddiq Fadzil, former president of ABIM, a radical movement co-founded by a young Anwar Ibrahim in the 1970s. As the president of ABIM (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia) for eight years (1974-1982), Anwar is the same radical Islamist who used Islam as a platform to achieve his political ambition.

Trying to project his boss as more Malay than the Malays and more Islamic than the Islamist party PAS, Fadhlina, who hastily rolled out “Imam Al-Nawawi’s 40 Hadith” module for national schools, has done an excellent job in strengthening the Malay schools as religious schools. She also did a splendid job when she led a group of students in a chant of “Happy Birthday PMX, We Love You” during a school event in August 2025.


Meanwhile, despite claims that former FT Minister Dr Zaliha did not deserve to be fired as she had done nothing wrong, in truth, she had made many Chinese business owners very angry over Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) enforcement action on business signboards last year. She was seen as “Chinese-unfriendly” trying to create problems for Chinese businesses.

The business disruption saw demands to make not only Malay the primary language on signboards with larger fonts, but also requires all signboards to obtain visual verification from Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) as a mandatory document to apply for DBKL approval. Replacing Zaliha with Hannah was Anwar’s desperate move to boost Chinese support for the increasingly unpopular Madani government.



Anwar had to fire someone to pacify the ethnic Chinese, and he could only sack someone from his own party. And since he can’t fire Fadhlina, the only candidate left was Dr Zaliha, a loyalist who would quietly go without fighting back. In the same breath, Anwar also appointed Steven Sim as Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister to win Chinese votes.


Regardless of whether it was Loke’s demand for the FT Ministry or Anwar’s bait to pressure both DAP and the Chinese into submission, the appointment of Hannah Yeoh is insufficient to satisfy the angry Chinese, especially the increasing number of Gen-Z eagers to teach Pakatan Harapan a lesson in the next 16th General Election.

It’s not rocket science why Yeoh would most likely be a “lame duck” Federal Territories Minister. Facing the embarrassing “FAM forgery” scandal involving the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) submitting falsified documents to FIFA for seven foreign-born players to play for Malaysia, Sports Minister Yeoh had chosen to keep silent and play “tai chi” instead of getting her hands dirty.

Do you think 46-year-old Hannah, a Christian who has worn a hijab on several occasions to show that she could be more Malay than the Malays, would dare to spook the Malays with anti-Malay policies? On the contrary, with all eyes on her, you can expect Hannah to do everything to appease urban Malays just to prove her critics wrong, in line with her boss Anthony’s “don’t spook the Malay” mantra.


With just two years before the next national polls, it’s not hard to see how the newly minted FT Minister would play safe by maintaining basic government services, safeguarding green spaces and public parks, and tackling potholes, clogged drains and the issue of abandoned houses and cars rather than pushing for major reforms or mega policy changes like local council elections.



The appointment of a Chinese as FT Minister is merely a symbolic and political move to create a feel-good factor for the ethnic Chinese. An overrated DAP lawmaker, Hannah failed to carry out any meaningful reforms for the Sports Ministry because she was terrified of rocking the boat. What the Chinese want is not local council elections, but to do business and to earn a living without unnecessary government disruptions.