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By P Gunasegaram. Copyright January 2023
If developments since he became prime minister are any evidence, Anwar Ibrahim already has serious problems from within, with open disobedience and ministers doing their own thing in defiance of stated aims and objectives.
He needs to address them now to ensure that he and the entire cabinet and administration remains on the same page, and on the straight and narrow path of killing corruption, cutting wastage, increasing revenue and reviving the economy.
This will be the critical determinant of whether he will succeed as PM with a diverse mix of people at the top all pulling in their own directions.
Simply ignoring and hoping that problems will sort themselves out and will go away is to court disastrous consequences. How Anwar handles this problem will determine what kind of PM he is going to be and whether he is going to walk the talk or whether he is going to allow others to hijack the narrative.
This was only to be expected when the unity government was formed by a forced alignment of parties whose differences were almost insurmountable but who had to come together. Compromises were made but there should only be so much compromise after which the PM needs to put his foot down or lose control.
Some examples will help. There is no better place than to start almost at the top and the president of Umno, the party which is Harapan’s unlikely partner in administration.
1. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Recall that when the cabinet decided to scrap all political appointments to government-linked companies and other bodies, Zahid, in a blatant disregard of Anwar’s directive reappointed ex-Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub as chairperson of Felcra.
To his credit, Anwar put the reappointment of Jazalan on hold but there was no public reprimand of Zahid for what was clearly an undisguised attempt to undermine the authority of the prime minister. That seems to have stalled the problem for now.
Zahid’s appointment as DPM hangs by a thread and depends on the outcome of his court cases - in fact, today there was a hearing scheduled for the prosecution’s appeal against the dismissal of 40 charges related to the VLN contract.
He faces an ongoing case where he is charged with 47 counts of corruption. If he is found guilty on any of the charges, he cannot be DPM. Anwar was heavily criticised for agreeing to his appointment instead of waiting for the disposal of the court cases. It appears this was one of the key compromises made for the unity of government to happen.
The appointment is especially galling, since under the Federal Constitution, even the King cannot undertake his duties if he is charged in the special court. Article 33A.1 says: “ Where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is charged with an offence under any law in the Special Court established under Part XV he shall cease to exercise the functions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.”
Thus to give dispensation and allow a person who has outstanding cases in court to become DPM is an extremely extraordinary precedent indeed and should not have been entertained as part of the compromise process. Wait - only after the court clears him should Zahid have been made DPM. The position could have been put on hold. However, it’s been done.
Apart from that Zahid made an appointment of a new aide for Indian affairs which was criticised by DAP leader P Ramasamy as there was no provision for such a portfolio. “He cannot simply appoint an NGO (non-governmental organisation) leader to take care of Indian affairs, not when the NGO leader is seen as extremely obsequious to Umno leaders in the past and present," he said in a statement.
Malaysiakini reported that the aide “gained notoriety during the Najib Abdul Razak administration when his Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin (PMSP) NGO was among the various groups that would regularly lodge police reports against government critics.”
As if that is not bad enough, this aide of Zahid suddenly takes it upon himself to urge the government to ban alcohol sales after 10 pm in 24-hour premises. Does he not know his boss is the DPM and that any suggestion of change cannot come from him? Did he do this to put Anwar in an embarrassing situation?
The defence minister, also known as Tok Mat, the Umno number two and the person who would have taken Zahid’s place as DPM if Zahid was found not acceptable, seemed rather lackadaisical about the RM6 billion lost in the littoral combat ships (LCS) contract.
He said:“We are not interested in suing anybody or putting someone behind bars. What I’m interested in is to see the ships in our waters by July 2024.”
Ok, one can understand his desire to see the project completed.But before that he may need to establish what happened to the money. The Edge reported: “The mega combat ship project caused public outcry when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last year revealed that despite the government disbursing RM6.05 billion for the project, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS), which was granted the multi-billion contract in December 2011, had failed to deliver even a single ship to RMN.”
Current economy minister and PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli had alleged before the elections last August that the LCS contract was controlled by a “big shark” and could not have been done by those who were ikan bilis.
It seems like the big two in Umno seem to be more interested in running their own agendas and are not putting in enough effort to go to the heart of corruption and get rid of it even for such high-profile cases such as the LCS contract. That runs counter to Anwar’s anti-corruption stance.
3. Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, home minister
Next we come to the home minister from PKR itself, the one who lost the elections but came into the cabinet via the insidious senatorial route which should be closed to all those who contested as an MP - the voice of the public was clear.
The other prominent one who got in through that route was former finance minister and current international trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz who lost the election for an MP’s post. It’s the second time he got into the cabinet through that route.
Saifuddin has openly supported the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) as necessary in managing organised crime-related cases. He said it will be difficult to manage such cases especially when it comes to large numbers of arrests involving syndicates. He had said then there would be no review of Sosma. This when there already is evidence of misuse of Sosma.
He had to be reminded by fellow Harapan MP Gobind Singh Deo that this was against Harapan’s stance.
What is so irritating about this is that Saifuddin is a member of PKR and considered to be a right hand man of Anwar. Despite being trounced by Rafizi at the PKR elections for the deputy president and losing in the general elections, Anwar’s insistence to bring him in as a key minister is impossible to understand, especially when there are many better candidates. Saifuddin acts like an Umno minister.
The net effect of all these things by these ministers is to undermine Anwar’s position as prime minister and even to blatantly ignore party and coalition aspirations. For too long ministers have run their ministries like personal fiefdoms with disastrous results in many cases because of lack of governance.
It is necessary for Anwar to rein them in and to make sure that they act for and benefit the rakyat in line with declared overall government policy articulated by the PM and the cabinet.
Otherwise, we will see a quick descent to the bad old times when ministers held sway over their empires and used it for their own benefit and those of their cronies with impunity.
P Gunasegaram, a former editor at online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer, analyst and consultant.
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