Eye on civil servants, Anwar dumps non-Malays? But Malays still don't want him, Muhyiddin still more popular
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - It looks like it's all the way downhill for Malaysia's temperamental Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, with no brakes or rest-stops to temper what many in the country claim is a thoroughly well-deserved downfall.
"Everything is going against him and he has no one to blame but himself, his reliance on dubious politicking to overcome an overwhelming absence of strategy, vision, professionalism and capability," an insider in his Pakatan Harapan coalition told PoliticsNow Malaysia.
"When you rely on those who are bankrupt of political capital, you end up being the poster boy of their failure. Within the country, it's clear to almost all he will last only one term and if that term is shortened, no one will mind saying goodbye even if his replacement might be just as disappointing. Outside the country, I think the intelligence gathered is the same, so maybe he's last on the list as he's not someone they need to know for long," the insider added.
The final straw for Anwar appears to have been triggered by a thundering snub delivered by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who abruptly cancelled a meeting with Anwar in the northern Malaysian island of Langkawi a day ago.
Whether it was to save face, the rather narcissistic 77-year-old Anwar unwisely posted on social media that Prabowo cancelled because of health reasons. Unfortunately that turned out to be untrue, with Indonesian Cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya swiftly outing Anwar by confirming Prabowo was not only in good health, but had held a series of meetings after returning from the D8 summit in Cairo the day before.
PM OR CYBER-TROOPER?
The series of embarrassments which are occurring on an increasing scale in both frequency and size is believed to have pushed Anwar into an unprecedented outburst on X. Not only have critics slammed him for conducting himself like a 'cyber-trooper' instead of like a country's leader, so bizarre was Anwar's tweets and re-tweets that they alarmed both party and coalition mates.
Many within his Pakatan coalition which comprises his own PKR party, the DAP, Amanah and Upko parties are already in a bind and stand to lose their seats in the coming election due to his insistence on delaying promised reforms, so as to court the votes of the conservative Malay electorate, the largest in the country of over 33 million people. Malaysia's next general election, its 16th, must be held by 2027 at the latest.
While a survey by the Merdeka Center shows Anwar’s approval rating had increased to 54% in November 2024 from 50% a year ago, it is still far cry from the 68% level hit at the end of 2022, shortly after he swept into power.
"Of course, from Anwar's tweets it is obvious he is extremely sensitive to criticism so that's why the media has not dared to blast him," said the insider.
"But look at the survey itself. It clearly states that "negative sentiments remain oversized". But the media only dares to shout out Anwar's rating is on the uptrend. At 54%, Anwar is actually still far below Muhyiddin Yassin's 58% score when he resigned in 2021. And Anwar's highest rating of 68% in 2022 is an embarrassment, compared to Mahathir Mohamad's 83% in May 2018," the insider added.
GOODBYE CHINESE & INDIANS, HELLO CIVIL SERVANTS?
Other key findings in the latest Merdeka survey were similarly mediocre - showing those satisfied with Anwar's self-styled 'Madani' government rose to 51% in November 2024, up from 46% a year ago.
In addition, 53% of respondents believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, slightly down from 54% before. But more crucially, more than half of Malay respondents believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction.
Since Malays form the largest electorate in the country, Anwar's inability to sway their opinion is seen as a real wakeup call. Already, Anwar has been accused of abandoning his non-Malay support base by refusing to implement crucial socio-economic and education reforms. Instead, he has been accused of using his power as PM to maintain the status-quo set by past Malay-centric administrations so as to attract Malay votes for himself and his PKR party.
“If a GE were held today, I’d feel more confident because over a million civil servants who perhaps weren’t supportive before are now shifting towards us. Add their family members - four or five each - and that’s a lot more supporters,” the Malay Mail had reported Anwar as saying over the weekend.
The PM's remarks were viewed with distaste as it revealed that he had no new strategy of his own other than to mimic the racist and quota-based policies of past administrations, including maintaining an over-bloated civil service so as to tap into their votes to stay in power. Malays who form almost the entire civil service had traditionally voted for Umno, an ally party in Anwar's unity government but in the 2022 election, many had voted for Bersatu, the opposition party headed by ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin.
"Anwar's true colors are showing. The Chinese and Indians can see through him and he cannot get the Malays to like him. There's no doubt he's in big trouble but I think it's too late to do any U-turn because no one will ever believe him again," said the insider.
"Anyway based on his latest rants on X, it looks like he thinks he can ram anything through even by force so long as his government stays in power. So it looks like Malaysia might become even more of a police state under Pakatan than under Mahathir or Najib's Umno. I think things will get worse in Malaysia because as they say, power corrupts absolutely," opined the insider.
LITTLE NAPOLEONS & THE EMPEROR WITH NO CLOTHES
Indeed, the unavoidable overall summary from the Merdeka survey shows that the number of Malaysians giving Anwar and his government the thumbs-down still outnumber the thumbs-up.
Not surprisingly, two of Anwar's senior party mates have rushed to deflect blame from him.
One is Amirudin Shari, the Selangor chief minister who has come under pressure to relinquish his powerful post to a new Anwar recruit, Tengku Zafrul who's currently an Umno minister. The other is communications minister Fahmi Fadzil, whom many believe is set to lose his Lembah Pantai seat in the next election, due to his crackdown on the media.
"I must admit that the main attacks (criticisms) are directed towards Anwar as the prime minister. The team (cabinet) must act more swiftly to match (Anwar's) efforts, and what he has received is a result of his own hard work," the NST quoted Amirudin as saying.
"He does more than others in terms of work," added Amirudin amid widespread criticism that Anwar was the least performing PM so far, opting to focus on overseas working trips rather than staying home to work on the country's serious economic problems, which include skyrocketing costs of living and a national debt that exceeds a whopping trillion ringgit.
"If we look at films, people will focus on the lead actor. They won't pay attention to the supporting actors or the people in the background, even if it's an ensemble cast," Fahmi was reported as saying.
"But I must admit, that's just the nature of Anwar's personality; it's simply who he is. In the cabinet, we also have various styles, from different parties, that are actually quite distinct. And even before the 15th General Election, the situation was like that," added Fahmi, who perhaps should have reflected a bit more on his own words.
EMULATING NAJIB'S DOWNFALL?
Indeed, the 15th general election had swept Anwar into power, replacing Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin Yassin. While both Ismail and Muhyiddin were also hugely unpopular, they did not resort to the ham-fisted methods allegedly employed by Anwar and Fahmi to gag critics, stamp out dissent.
The 14th general election in May 2018 had swept former strongman Mahathir into power - and yet the legendary leader did not rush to reimpose the draconian laws repealed by predecessor Najib Razak.
The disgraced Najib had in the early part of his nine-year administration repealed detention-without-trial laws against the wishes of Mahathir, his former mentor, but towards the end had clamped down severely on critics for fear his massive 1MDB corruption scandal would erupt into the open.
Ironically, Anwar and Fahmi were among the opposition politicians who made full use of the democratic space offered by Mahathir in his second term as PM, Muhyiddin and then Ismail Sabri to lead the charge that led to their own victory in 2022.
"Anwar and Fahmi are now emulating Najib's dark days. They think they can play hardball with the people. But Najib is now in jail. Where do Anwar and Fahmi want to be after GE16?" asked the insider.
Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow Malaysia
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
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