IT WON'T BE LONG NOW, CRITICISM IS MOUNTING & THE PEOPLE WAITING TO KISS ANWAR GOODBYE - PKR NOW THE SAME AS THE UMNO IT USED TO HATE - AND ANWAR AS "THIN-SKINNED" AS NAJIB DURING THE 1MDB DAYS

Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now! 

KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - Malaysia is back to the bad old days when disgraced prime minister Najib Razak was in power and anyone who criticized or disagreed him was considered as "the enemy".

"It is disappointing. I thought Harapan was open-minded, but when they are in power, they are touchy, and any criticism is rejected as being motivated by agenda," said Shahril Hamdan in the latest episode of the 'Keluar Sekejap' podcast that he co-hosts with Khairy Jamaluddin.

"This is akin to the era before the 14th general election, where anyone criticising Najib was seen as the enemy. "I would like to advise Harapan, don't make the same mistake (that BN did)." 

Swollen with the arrogance that comes with power, it is unlikely that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, his Pakatan Harapan coalition especially his PKR party, will pay any heed to the words of the popular and influential duo -  who had left their Umno party after falling out with graft-tainted party president Zahid Hamidi..

DON'T BLAME UMNO - ANWAR & PKR JUST AS BAD & CAN BECOME EVEN WORSE THAN NAJIB ERA

According to Khairy, PKR has become like Umno - a party it used to accuse of racial politicking, massive corruption due to non-transparent policies and abuse of power including using enforcement agencies such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to muzzle criticism and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to browbeat political rivals into either switching support or toeing their line.

"(To justify the shortcomings), they (Harapan) give excuses like they have to work with Umno-BN, but good governance should go beyond parties or coalitions. They (Harapan) can't even admit their weaknesses. What they used to attack Najib with, now it is suddenly all right for Anwar to do," Malaysiakini reported Khairy saying.

The former health minister also rebuked the government and its supporters for suffering from a "thin skin" syndrome, meaning that they are easily offended and take disproportionate action against criticism.

DON'T BLAME UMNO - POOR GOVERNANCE & TRANSPARENCY IS IN YOUR HAND

Khairy slammed the Anwar regime for failing to keep up to its promises and using poor justifications for its shortcomings.

"They (Harapan) have yet to deliver on the separation of powers between the prime minister and finance minister, and the Sedition Act is still being used for political purposes when it was previously promised it would only be used for statements against the royalty," he pointed out..

Khairy also took a jab at the narcissistic Anwar, who was accused to be in denial mode, after he dismissed a survey as "too small" after it showed his approval rating had plunged to 50% from 68% when he took power a year ago. His 'Madani' unity government was also badly hit, with its popularity now only at 41% compared to 54% previously.

According to Khairy, his own poll conducted on Instagram to gauge his followers' feedback on the Anwar administration showed that out of the 18,000 that responded, 69% gave Anwar and the 'Madani' government only a C or a D. 

"It (government performance) is not disastrous, but it can be better," said Khairy, who also urged Anwar to implement a Madani KPI (key performance indicator) to grade the performance of his Cabinet ministers.

SAME MISTAKES - PULLING THE SAME WOOL OVER THE PEOPLE'S EYE

Khairy warned that Anwar, PKR and Pakatan Harapan are making the "same mistakes" that Umno-BN did when it was in power.

"The rakyat has high hopes for Harapan, but nothing is being done to handle the expectations. Even hardcore Harapan supporters are not impressed (with the government)," said Khairy.

He cited the poor performance of the ringgit and the rising cost of living as examples of the external challenges faced by the rakyat.

"The worst part is Harapan is making the same mistake that BN did, by asking the rakyat why they are complaining as the inflation is still low, and the GDP is up for three consecutive quarters, and so on.

"They think the abstract numbers are felt by the people on the ground, when in fact, these two are different things."

Indeed, Anwar and Harapan have in the past long ridiculed the statistics used by previous administrations to justify economic performance, including inflation bellwether, the Consumer Price Index.

"Sure, there are several good things like the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP), and the Madani economy, but hardly anything is being done to help the rakyat handle the current challenges," said Khairy.

Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!

Politics Now!