I AGREE with former deputy prime minister (DPM) Tun Musa Hitam that time is not on the side of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government which is why the seven-week Parliament in a fortnight’s time must be the most memorable one in Malaysian history to kickstart institutional reforms.
In his talk on “Resetting the Malaysian economy” in Parliament on Friday (Jan 27) night, Musa who served as DPM between 1981 to 1986 during the administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the time for the Anwar unity government to talk about the various issues faced by the country has passed and it is now time to take proactive action to solve them.
Referring to the earlier speech by the Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, Musa doubted that the political situation was stable and predicted that the public at most will give the Anwar unity government three to six months.
Musa said: “After that, they are not going to be polite with you” before warning that in the history of Malaysian politics, “they never could be sure what is around the corner”.
The Anwar unity government has started well in the last two months but as Musa said, it is time for action and not just talk.
Furthermore, this is the important lesson that the Anwar unity government must learn from the 22-month Pakatan Harapan (PH) government before it was toppled by the infamous Sheraton Move conspiracy which brought in two ‘backdoor’ governments in a span of 31 months.
The majority of the PH ministers never imagined that they would be toppled before the mid-term; they thought they had five years to fulfil their election promises.
The Anwar unity government Ministers should have the mindset that their tenure may be terminated at any time although they wanted to serve five years, hence they should implement their major proposals in the first six to 12 months.
The next major test of the Anwar unity government will be the six state general elections in Penang, Kedah, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kelantan and Terengganu in the next few months.
I have always been quite sceptical of the talk of an invincible “green wave” movement in the 15th General Election (GE15) but recent political developments seem to give Perikatan Nasional (PN) a new lease of life.
The Anwar unity government must give serious consideration to the various road-blocks which may shorten its five-year tenure although there are no political alternatives to the Anwar unity government which could perform two great national tasks.
The first is to unite a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation, while the second is to reset and return to the original nation-building policies of the country for Malaysia to take its place among first-rate world-class nations instead of ending up as a failed, divided and kleptocratic state. – Jan 30, 2023
Retired DAP supremo and former Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, 81, has a colourful political career spanning 57 years.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
