I think your relationship with Anwar is not great right now – that is part of the reason why I think Anwar is trying to get Khairy to join his team, but I hope you don’t get bogged down trying to understand why.
Yes, you have done a lot for Anwar and yes Anwar has done a lot for you, but at the end of the day, a relationship is an experience, not an analysis.
There is no point trying to analyze why our relationship with someone is not as great as it used to be.
There is no point in breaking it down to investigate whether it is the job, the politics, something you said or something you didn’t say, something you did or something you didn’t do, or something that someone else said or did to get to the bottom of why our relationship with someone deteriorated - it is probably all of the above and none of the above – a relationship is a multivariate phenomenon, and thus its deterioration is also likely caused by multivariate events – but once a relationship has deteriorated, there is no point in analyzing why it deteriorated because not only will you not be able to pinpoint the exact reason why, even if you did, it is not going to fix the relationship back to become the way it used to be.
If our relationship with someone has deteriorated to the point that they want to have what they had with us with someone else, the only thing that we can do is take a step back and do what is right for us.
You can think that Anwar is only displeased with you because he is an old timer who likes to have his hands kissed and called abang or abah or whatnot, while you might think that this kind of toadying attitude is something that we should do away with, or that Anwar wants to bring Khairy in because this is the old divide-and-rule game that these old-timers like to play, but Anwar is also not wholly without grounds in wanting to have you replaced with Khairy.
The six state elections are an important event for the unity government, and Khairy could indeed sway victory in the unity government’s favour.
And let's face it, your stint as the economic minister has not been good for you, the unity government or us, the people.
Khairy is not wrong when he says that there is no green wave; there is only unhappiness with the way the economy of the country is going. I have already written about why the green wave is likely just a myth. Hadi and Muhyiddin might think race and religion will bury the unity government, but only they think so. If you ask me, it is if the unity government cannot handle the economy, that the unity government will likely collapse.
You also shouldn’t have said things like if the chicken price is expensive, then don’t eat chicken . That line was so hurtful, that when we see you, many of us can't forget that you said that to us. To double down on it instead of pulling back by saying that only stupid people don’t understand what you mean was probably not your best idea either. That was such a petty thing that you made a mountain out of a molehill for no good reason.
But sentiments aside, you must accept that you probably are not the economic minister we need at this juncture. If our economic condition gets better and we all have the extra money in our hands, you probably would do great in coming up with new ideas on how to use our extra money to take us to the next level.
But we don't have extra money right now. Heck, we are trying to stretch every ringgit we have here. Right now, we don’t need an economy minister who is looking 5 or 10 years ahead. We need one who is rolling his sleeves to deal with our deteriorating economic situation at this very moment.
As Yamamota Tsunemoto mentions in the Hagakure, “According to their nature, there are both people who have quick intelligence, and those who must withdraw and take time to think things over.”
I think you probably are the second type. You probably would do better in a portfolio where you can withdraw and take your time to think about what we need to do in 5 or 10 years' time.
I will be honest with you. I think that if you were to compete with Khairy today, you would lose hands down. Fortune is smiling at him while pissing on you.
But fortune is fickle. Give it a couple of years; there is no reason why it won’t be pissing at him and smiling at you.
It will all depend on what you decide to do today.
The way I see it, if it comes to the point where you should relinquish the economic portfolio to Khairy, you should do it.
The sword of Damocles hangs on
anyone who takes on that portfolio. If Khairy becomes the economic minister,
I will bet a hundred and thirteen ringgit that the job will weigh him down and sink his popularity. Right now, many people see him as prime minister material, but
after he becomes the economic minister, that might not be the case any longer. That is a cursed portfolio. I don't think that there is any quick fix to the state of our economy today and because of that, the job of an economic minister today is chiefly to take the blame. I bet that Khairy's popularity will suffer immensely when he is put in a job where all he can do is take the blame.
If you are replaced, instead of ruing your misfortune, I think you should see it as an opportunity. You got rid of a portfolio that is an albatross around your neck while possibly gaining a lot of sympathy votes in the process. If you don't fight it but accept it, it will be Khairy that will look like a shit friend to you. You will look like a great friend to him.
If you leverage this opportunity to take on a portfolio that will allow you to think about the future,
like the Science and Technology portfolio, you might even turn this perceived loss into an actual gain. The science and technology portfolio might not be as prestigious as the economic portfolio, but if you guilt Anwar for removing you from the economic portfolio into giving
you a big fat budget for the science and technology portfolio, you can focus on things like A. I, or getting
Petronas into bitcoin mining and be in a commanding position to be the future Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The game for the prime minister is only going to be played out between Khairy and you in the next 5 to 10 years anyway.
By that time A.I is going to be a game changer.
Khairy can’t go into A.I even if he becomes the economic minister because we will force him to take care of things like inflation and stagnant wages. That gives you a big head start into becoming the guy in the government who is in charge of future economic game changers like A.I.
In 5 to 10 years, when Khairy is blamed for inflation and the continuous decline of the old economic model, and when you are seen as the one who is spearheading our entry into the A.I powered a new economic field, who do you think will look more prime ministerial?
Heck, even Anwar will probably see you in a different light then. When an old relationship deteriorates, fixing it is not always possible or the right thing to do. Sometimes, the better thing to do is to evolve the relationship so that it will continue to work in a different paradigm.
I hope my letter reaches you.
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