.jpg)
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright December 2022
"The media is positioning Anwar as a messiah, who will be able to undertake a ‘quick fix’ to solve all of Malaysia’s problems", says Murray Hunter. murrayhunter.substack.com
Or could he end up as another victim of the "messiah effect" like what happened to Obama when Americans voted overwhelmingly for him to get a quick fix for all problems the US faced during the Bush administration that preceded him?
Looking back we saw how disappointments followed soon after the euphoria ended when America realised that most of their problems could not be fixed by Obama alone quickly enough.
We feel that this might have the same effect on Anwar's minority government that is facing mounting expectations from the rakyat.
Expectations are building up soon after his appointment and they are coming from all sectors in the country and also from various factions within the minority government itself.
Recently even Bersih has registered its opposition to the appointment of court clusters to the cabinet on the eve of the swearing in of new cabinet ministers.
We expect other NGOs like Bar Council to come forward to express similar reservations about appointing individuals with court cases, in due course, since Pakatan Harapan ran on a platform of wanting to eradicate corruption.
On the other hand, a majority of Muslims are resolute in their belief that the new PM is no messiah.
Neither do they expect much because most of them support a Malay based opposition that think equating the new PM to the messiah is blasphemous.
Visit any coffee shop after subuh prayers you'll find this reaction loud and clear. We discovered this on the morning after the swearing in ceremony of the new PM at the Istana when we had coffee with a group at Mubeen Cafe in Plaza Damansara.
The chorus heard was "call him by any name but not the Messiah."
But for UMNO leadership, our new PM might just be the messiah they are waiting for.
This remains to be seen but if on going court cases against UMNO leadership were dropped, then the credibility of our new PM might be subjected to scrutiny by his partners in the unity government, the opposition and the rakyat.
But the fact that the very group that PH has been against on issues related to corruption is likely to be amongst them in the cabinet is already a disappointment for many who voted for the party.
However, for those in DAP fighting for the recognition of item 37 in their political manifesto might turn to be a disappointment because an act probably has to be amended if the government was planning to accommodate its main partner in the PH coalition. That might take some time.
On a larger scale there are issues facing the nation that demand the attention of the new PM. The economy that needs to be revitalised, education reforms, currency problems, national debts that are sky high etc.
On top of that there's the ethnic relations issues that must be handled with great care to avoid further deterioration in the aftermath of the election that has almost polarised the nation.
All these are waiting to be fixed but hoping a PM that may offer a quick fix solution to all our problems is like praying for a modern day prophet with magical powers.
That is probably why the media seems to paint our new PM as a messiah of sorts but in doing so they have built up an overwhelming expectations that will only lead to great disappointment for the entire nation.
Hunter is right - we may be looking at another victim of the messiah effect that's about to happen!
Mihar Dias 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!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.