Whether calculated from when Anwar Ibrahim was appointed Prime Minister on 24th November 2022 or when the Anwar unity Cabinet was formed on 3rd December 2022, Anwar had passed the “100 Days” test while the Perikatan Nasional had failed the “100 Days” test.
The Anwar Unity Government had passed four crucial tests in its First Hundred Days — namely the convening of the 15th Parliament, the Vote of Confidence in Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Malaysian Prime Minister, the passage of the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address and yesterday, the second reading of the 2023 Budget.
The hopes that had boosted Malaysians in the first Hundred Days had not faded, and it remains the hope of many that the Anwar Unity Government can deliver to reset and return Malaysia to the original nation-building principles the nation’s founding fathers have written into the Constitution and the Rukun Negara constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, an independent judiciary, Islam as the official religion of the country and freedom of religion for all faiths, good governance, public integrity with minimum corruption, a clean and honest government, meritocracy, respect for human rights, an end to the various injustices and inequalities in the country, a world-class economic, educational, health and social system, and national unity, understanding and harmony from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural diversity.
While the Anwar unity government had passed the first Hundred Days test, Perikatan Nasional (PN) had failed dismally.
In both the parliamentary debates on the Royal Address and the policy debate on the 2023 Budget, the Perikatan MPs were conspicuous in their absence of constructive suggestions as to how the parliamentary opposition could contribute to fight the bane of Malaysian politics and how Malaysia could reset to become again a world-class nation — political stability and commitment to good governance, anti-corruption and abuses of power.
In fact, the very opposite took place. There was not only no suggestion as to how Malaysia could, in Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s words, be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”, there was no idea as to how Malaysia could stop being an area of deepening darkness in corruption and abuses of power, the Prime Minister-designate of Perikatan Nasional (PN) had been arrested to be charged in court on several counts of corruption.
This was very different from the nineties, when PAS under the leadership of Fadzil Noor and Nik Aziz Nik Mat was the spark of hope and fresh air for all Malaysians for a better Malaysia and played a seminal role in the reformasi days until PAS came out with the slogan “PAS for all”.
But now, PAS exudes a different chant, an intolerant and extremist version of Islam where it became a main instrument in the divisive and toxic politics of lies, falsehood, lies, race, and religion — with the PAS President Hadi Awang making the preposterous allegation that the DAP was promoting Islamophobia but which he was unable to substantiate for four months.
But what is even more shocking is Hadi’s equation of corruption with charity and his justification of corruption for Muslims.
PAS under Hadi is not concerned if Malaysia sinks lower in the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) or if Malaysia is overtaken by Indonesia, India, China, or more Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) states.
When will PAS become moderate again?
But the nation cannot wait for PAS to be moderate.
If Parliament can set up a Parliamentary Select Committee on Corruption, and in particular investigate the 1MDB scandal on three controversial settlements — the Apandi, IPIC-Aabar, and the Goldman Sachs settlements — and whether they should be re-opened, Malaysia stands a good chance of reversing the decline in the TI CPI in the last three years.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said he was “mystified” by Putrajaya’s decision not to reveal the details of the settlement with former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali overcompensation for the latter’s dismissal from his post, as Apandi had made his demand publicly and even named the amount of RM2.23 million.
Mahathir said “Yet the compensation the government made is a secret. Why? I have reason to find out why because I do not think he deserves to be compensated at all.”
On Feb 14, Azalina said in a written parliamentary reply to the DAP MP for Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran that the matter has been put under the Official Secrets Act 1972, in accordance with the agreement that the terms of the settlement be kept secret.
The Parliamentary Select Committee should hold a hearing and call up Mahathir Mohamad as he had said Apandi did not deserve to be compensated at all.
Author of the book “1MDB: The Scandal that Brought Down a Government” and commentator P. Gunasegaram estimates that the government’s US$1.8 billion (RM8 billion) settlement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over two UAE companies International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS with 1MDB represents a US$3.98 billion (RM18 billion) shortfall compared to the amount of US$5.78 billion (RM26 billion) that former attorney-general Tommy Thomas was disputing.
Thirdly, the former second finance minister and MP for Titiwangsa, Johari Abdul Ghani has raised the controversial Goldman Sachs settlement reached with the Malaysian government over 1MDB in July 2020 when Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister.
The relevant Ministers and principal officers of the Pakatan Harapan and the Muhyiddin Yassin governments should be subpoenaed by the Parliamentary Select Committee on 1MDB scandal so that the PSC can submit a true and full report of the three controversial 1MDB scandal settlements to Parliament.