What comes to mind when we think of a well-running engine?
For one, it has to purr like a contented cat with its parts seamlessly in sync with each other. Each part knows its function, and all are working together to produce the engine’s ultimate performance.
Now let us look at our current “Madani” (civil and compassionate) government. Is it purring like a well-run engine? Do the various ministries and agencies work well with each other for the greater good of the government and the country?
The Madani government at the moment seems to be anything but a well-oiled humming engine as it sends out mixed or conflicting signals to the public.
Some ministries and departments appear to have a mind of their own. Consider their resistance to adapting to the post-Barisan Nasional political landscape.
The clearest example is the Ministry of Home Affairs, which includes the police. The ministry’s heavy-handed actions against those deemed to be subversives are taken from the same old BN playbook.
It is as if nothing has changed in Malaysia since the 2018 general election. It is business as usual: silencing and intimidating government critics and raiding bookstores for banned books.
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Speaking of banning books, who does that these days when one can easily access any information online? Strangely enough, many of these banned books are in Malay while the English versions are still openly available.
Apparently in Bolehland, ideas are more dangerous in Malay, and so it is incumbent upon the ministry – or so it appears to think – to protect impressionable Malay minds from being corrupted by such ideas. This approach is deplorably infantilising, an exercise in futility – unless if the ministry’s real intention is to intimidate and instil fear.
The same goes for deterring public protests. The police were initially hostile towards the recent anti-corruption rallies in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur – an approach that appeared to be in violation of the people’s right to assembly, protected by the Peaceful Assembly Act.
The emasculated home minister, perhaps craving approval from the police, came out against the planned protests. The communications minister was also against the anti-corruption protest, claiming that organisers must first get permission from owners of the premises near the protest site – even though the protest took place in a public space.
This is rich coming from the two ministers who have built their political career on street protests against the then BN government. The ministers are also part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, which campaigned on reforms and expanding democratic space. So why the sudden about-face?
Who in their right mind would oppose protests denouncing chronic corruption in Malaysia? Facepalm emoji.
On the inter-religious front, we have a minister for Islamic affairs who seems committed to sowing more division in our already highly polarised society. His latest shenanigan was to introduce in Parliament a guideline that would regulate how Muslims can attend non-Muslims’ religious ceremonies.
Instead of promoting efforts that foster understanding and bridge religious differences, his office, which includes the financially bloated Islamic development department Jakim, decided to pander to conservative Malay Muslims who despise any form of inter-religious engagements. This is again done under the pretext of protecting their fragile faith from the influence of other religions.
In the examples above, the prime minister swooped in at the last minute to reverse his ministers’ ill-advised actions and to defuse tensions.
Was it by design that he came in to play the saviour-and-peacemaker role just as the political temperature started to rise? That sounds too diabolical, to be fair.
A more plausible explanation is that the PM does not have firm control over his cabinet ministers and the civil service. He appoints ministers based on party loyalty and political horse-trading, instead of competency, calibre and charisma.
No wonder we ended up with such ministers. We have weak ministers who are too eager to please their boss and kowtow to the highly resistant civil service that wants to maintain the status quo. We also get ministers who are working on their own personal agenda that might not be in line with the PM’s priorities.
Anwar understandably has to juggle various demands from his coalition partners and political supporters.
But he cannot escape responsibility for so-called realpolitik when compromises are made all the time. He must draw a principled line at some point and forcefully say that some matters – such as freedom of assembly and tough penalties for convicted corrupt politicians – are non-negotiable.
A slew of “discharge not amounting to an acquittal” cases, dropped charges and selective prosecution have fuelled public perception of the government as failing to carry out its reform agenda – despite having an unassailable majority in Parliament.
His appeasement of the competing demands from various stakeholders and his inability to get his cabinet to operate on the same wavelength have made the PM look feeble and indecisive.
This is not a signal he would want to project externally to the public but also internally to the roughly 1.6 million civil servants. Politics, after all, is about perception. A weak leader often results in dissension and rogue elements simmering within government ranks.
What the public sees is a PM who presides over a deeply fragmented government whose parts are working at cross-purposes – and who has little control over this.
To use the earlier analogy, the current government is a misfiring engine that requires a major overhaul to get all its components to work together towards the common goal of making Malaysia a better place for everyone.
Does the PM have the political will to undertake this major overhaul?
Azmil Tayeb
Co-editor, Aliran newsletter
4 March 2025
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