Boy, am I jealous of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's former political secretary turned millionaire businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador.
I am so so jealous of him , that I can't stop gazing at every news about him even when the envy in my heart stings the more that I gaze at the news.
They say there’s only a thin line that separates jealousy and admiration.
If you admire someone, you want to be like them. If you’re jealous of someone, you want what they have.
I don’t think I want to be Farhash. I don’t know what skills, talents, virtues, or character he actually possesses. But boy, does Farhash have the kind of things that most Malaysians, myself included, would love to get our hands on.
Money. Connections. Titles. Access. Success. A golden escalator straight to the top of the corporate world — all without the usual slog or scars - and all at the relatively young age of 42.
Oh Madone !
Every time I hear his name, I also am hearing the words millions or billions. How sweet - but sweet only for him. For me, oh how bitter it is to read and hear how he has so much of everything, when I don't see how he is any better than me.
And to make the sting of envy even sharper, it all seems to happen just like that — almost magically — ever since his former boss, Anwar Ibrahim, became prime minister.
Other than me, Rafizi and whoever it is that runs MalaysiaNow must also be quite jealous of Farhash, because their gaze on Farhash too, far outstrips mine.
Rafizi has repeatedly brought up Farhash's name, again and again.
Most recently, Rafizi sounded the alarm, warning Anwar that his ex-political secretary–turned–business magnate, Farhash Wafa Salvador, could be the next Jho Low. He didn’t mean that literally — but metaphorically, as a “hidden hand” who could wield influence without accountability.
"I think Malaysia has already been burned once by the Low saga. I don’t think we want to allow even a fraction of that to happen again. The question of whether this could turn into another Low case, well, anything that gives undue influence to an unaccountable, unelected figure is exactly what we must avoid. But I do think the risk exists,” said the Pandan MP and former economy minister.
Not only did he compare Farhash to Jho Low, he would also compare Farhash to Rasputin, the shadowy mystic who haunted the last days of the Russian Empire — a reminder of what happens when proximity to power turns into power itself.
And the warning isn’t theoretical.
Since Anwar became PM, Farhash has appeared everywhere: from 7-Eleven and HeiTech Padu to MMAG Holdings and NexG Berhad — companies with contracts worth hundreds of millions, even billions, of ringgit. One day it’s immigration systems, the next it’s MyKad, passports, and fintech - it seems that I am the only one that is oblivious of Farhash's talent, capability and skills, because the market is seems to be very savvy of it - the market seems to think that there is nothing that Farhash cannot do.
Just yesterday (October 6), Malaysia Now reported that An IT solutions company linked to a firm chaired by controversial PKR leader turned businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador has secured a lucrative government contract worth RM732.72 million to supply MyKad to the National Registration Department (JPN), just six months after Farhash emerged as the largest shareholder of the firm.
If you had previously assumed that Midas was just a mythological figure, well you must not have known about Farhash, because Farhash might very well be the Midas of Malaysia, where everything he touches turns to gold.
In Malaysia, where even honest businesses struggle to survive a tender process, Farhash’s rise feels almost supernatural.
He’s not a cabinet minister. He’s not an elected MP. He’s not even, technically, a political figure anymore. He seems to have joined the corporate world just a a few years ago. But yet he has achieved such great success in such a short time, it is like he has Aladdin's lamp in his hands.
And here’s the part that makes my jealousy burn.
When I look at Farhash, I don’t see just another businessman. I see the perfect Malaysian success story — the version of success that our system rewards.
I am jealous of the simplicity of his world — a world where the line between right and wrong no longer matters, because everything bends for those who are close enough to the center.
You don’t need to build anything. You don’t need to innovate. You don’t even need to be liked.
You just need to know someone.
You just need to be near the throne — and if fortune smiles on you, someone might just hand you the keys to it.
That’s the Malaysia I live in. That’s the Malaysia that raises men like Farhash.
So yes, I admit it. I’m jealous. Not of the man, but of the machine that made him.
Because deep down, every Malaysian knows — if that machine ever chose us, we wouldn’t say no either.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.