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By Mihar Dias December 2025
Malaysians love two things: durian season and accusing politicians of treason.
So when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, now a centenarian elder of the political realm, marched into the Putrajaya police headquarters to lodge a report accusing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of economic sabotage and undermining national sovereignty, it felt less like a shock and more like the next episode in our longest-running political soap opera.MalaysiaNow
Mahathir’s allegation centres on the Malaysia–US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), signed by Anwar with Donald Trump.MalaysiaNow
According to Mahathir, this agreement “mortgages Malaysia’s sovereignty,” obliges us to follow US unilateral sanctions, risks interference in our regulatory systems, compromises halal governance, affects Bumiputera empowerment, and even gives the US a foothold over our precious rare earth strategies. MalaysiaNow
To complete the drama, Mahathir cited Penal Code sections dealing with sabotage and threats to parliamentary democracy—serious stuff usually reserved for Hollywood spies and people overthrowing governments, not prime ministers posing for photos with American presidents.
Tommy Thomas chimed in too, claiming Malaysia didn’t even negotiate. The US drafted, we allegedly nodded politely and signed. And yes, Anwar accepted a White House pen, which has quickly become a symbol of national humiliation—as if sovereignty is so fragile it can be undone by a souvenir ballpoint.https://www.malaysianow.com/news/2025/12/02/i-mahathir-bin-mohamad-wish-to-report-sabotage-historic-police-report-filed-against-anwar-over-trump-deal
But is this treason? Or simply another example of Malaysian policymaking done in haste and defended in confusion?
Treason implies intent—an active betrayal of the nation. Was Anwar secretly plotting to hand Malaysia to Washington?
Did he wake up one October morning and decide that decades of non-alignment were too boring and that Malaysia should become a junior partner in American sanctions policy?
One doubts it. Occam’s Razor suggests the simpler explanation: this was more likely a case of overconfidence, under-negotiation, and the Malaysian tradition of signing agreements abroad before explaining them at home.MalaysiaNow
Mahathir, of course, knows the power of the sovereignty narrative. His political career is built partly on standing up to the West, lecturing global powers, and occasionally picking fights with them for sport.
Now, in his twilight years, he is recasting himself as the last guardian preventing Malaysia from being swallowed by foreign influence.
Cicero once warned Rome that a nation could survive incompetence but not treason from within; one can almost hear that sentiment echoing in Mahathir’s report.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero
But in the theatre of Malaysian politics, treason is often more performance than legal reality. Accusing a sitting PM of it creates spectacle, draws attention, and reminds the nation that Mahathir remains an actor who refuses to exit stage left.
Whether the accusation is fair is another question entirely.
What we likely have is not a covert betrayal of the nation but yet another hasty, poorly communicated diplomatic move that has snowballed into a political crisis because the details emerged not from Putrajaya but from the White House website. That alone is embarrassing, but embarrassment is not treason.
Will the police investigate? Yes. Will anyone be charged? History suggests no. Will the public fully understand the ART agreement? Given that even MITI seems foggy on the details, unlikely.
But the outrage will linger because nothing animates Malaysian politics quite like the idea that sovereignty is perpetually under threat.
As Mark Twain wrote, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” OWU
In Malaysia, it doesn’t just rhyme—it recycles entire scripts.
So, once again, the cast remains the same: Mahathir, the eternal sentinel, and Anwar, the perpetually embattled reformer, locked in another battle over the nation’s soul—or at least its trade agreements.
Personally I think we shouldn’t have signed such an agreement hastily.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@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!
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