VOICES OF COMMON SENSE RING OUT IN MALAYSIA - "HE IS NOT A GOOD PRIME MINISTER" - AS 'BRGHT LIGHTS LOVING' ANWAR READIES TO GALLIVANT TO SAN FRANCISCO

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Politics Now! 

KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - Nowadays if you even say Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim is "weak" on the Palestinian issue, then you are being "malicious". 

So goes the topsy-turvy claim of his minister, while ignoring the broader issue of rising public dissatisfaction with his overwhelming underperformance in managing the country's ailing economy, which looks set to nosedive even faster with the local currency trolling historic lows and forecast to freefall even more.

VOICES OF COMMON SENSE - "HE IS NOT A GOOD PRIME MINISTER"

But fortunately for Malaysians, there still voices of common sense - although some may be tinged by political motives of their own - calling for Anwar to focus on his own country and to stop chasing the bright lights of the international stage, especially over a region that everyone in the world knows he has as much chance as a snowball in hell to resolve.   

“I was once a strong supporter of Anwar, but I have realised that he is not a good prime minister,” former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy was reported as saying by Free Malaysia Today.

Although Ramasamy has fallen out with the DAP, a key party in Anwar's unity government, his words resonate with many if not most Malaysians - with concern about the country’s worsening economy, the plummeting ringgit, skyrocketing prices and food insecurity at the forefront of the national narrative. 

It has not helped that Anwar has chosen to brush off the criticisms while his allies, including the once-outspoken DAP, keep an obedient silence - creating an overall perception to the country and its investors that they were now in the ham-fisted grip of a headless chicken government, without clues or ability or even the interest to arrest the slide.

OFF TO U.S.A - BUT NO CONCRETE STEPS YET IN MALAYSIA

Even a day ago, Anwar had disappointed many when he insisted he would attend the Apec summit in San Francisco next week.

"I have decided to attend the meeting. As Prime Minister, it is my responsibility to look after the interests of Malaysia in terms of security, peace, diplomatic relations and economy,” said Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister.

His rationale failed to convince the local Muslim groups, including the Malay-centric political parties who dominate the opposition. They had wanted him to boycott the meeting in America and its President Joe Biden, whom they blame as the hidden hand behind the Israel-Hamas war. 

However, it also left many other Malaysians gasping at his perceived deafness to the national wish that he would stay home, take charge and do his job as finance minister while the ringgit was vulnerable and the economy exposed. 

Yet Anwar insisted he was "doing this for the interest of the country" and warned against attempts to label him as "pro-Israel”. 

“I don’t see any concrete steps being taken. It is good that you (Anwar) are championing (the Palestinian cause), but there must be a solution,” Ramasamy told a solidarity gathering in Kuala Lumpur today, referring to the never-ending geopolitical rollercoaster in West Asia.

PROLONGED POLITICAL DIVERSIONS ONLY ENDANGERS THE ECONOMY MORE

He accused Anwar of focusing on the Palestine issue, using it as a red herring to draw the attention of local political adversaries as he sought to escape scrutiny for underwhelming performance in getting Malaysia's economy back on track. 

Indeed, Anwar's Budget 2024, a massive spending plan his government had pinned hopes on to revive the economy, had failed spectacularly to excite investors, helping instead to trigger a capital flight that has exacerbated the ringgit's weakness.

So far, Malaysia's opposition parties - known more for radical racial and religious championing rather than knowledge of matters economic and financial - have failed to bring out the hard questions - and also perhaps because they were initially diverted by the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. 

Many analysts have warned such deflection tactics are dangerous, especially if prolonged, as they obfuscate the wider economic and political crisis at home. Nonetheless, their words are falling on deaf years - with political survival trumping all else. 

“The prime minister has also denied the slander by some parties calling him weak on the Palestinian issue. A graphic has even linked him with the Israeli logo or flag," national news agency Bernama had reported Anwar's communications minister Fahmi Fadzil as saying.

“These accusations, to me, are malicious.” 

And so the confusion in 'muddled' Malaysia - or is it the 'New Palestine' now - rages on!

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Politics Now!

Politics Now!