EVERY week in Malaysian politics, a few predictable things are bound to happen.

A politician would make an incendiary comment on race and religion. Another would make an absolutely outlandish remark that you have to read twice to believe it was even uttered, and thrice to digest the fact that it was said by a senior leader.

For the past year or so, a predictable news item would be someone making a comment about the leadership transition involving Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, and someone else responding to it, followed by a visit by Anwar to Dr Mahathir to discuss “the economy” and a vague statement after, saying all is good in Pakatanland.

If only this much care, attention and publicity was actually given to what is being done about “the economy”, Pakatan Harapan’s support base would have grown instead of dwindled.

Dr Mahathir has repeatedly said his emphasis is to recover the economy, and while he has stated his commitment to reform, he seems to have left much of that to his ministers, advisers and other members of the administration. The common, usually muted, lament of this government’s members is that, while desiring reform since their opposition days, they are cognisant of the fact that they can no longer push too hard against this man who is now their ally, and most seem to be waiting for Anwar’s scheduled takeover before pushing harder for institutional reforms. In the meantime, small victories are mumbled about, with few people aware that things like the death penalty and judicial appointments are now being scrutinised openly.

Does change really require hard power to implement? In his now-viral speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Mohamad Sabu spoke of hard and soft approaches to power (or influence) as a two-pronged approach to tackle extremism. The defence minister used a term made popular by Joseph Nye, a well-known American political scientist who further expounded the idea that non-propaganda is growing to be the best form of propaganda, because people value credibility more as it becomes increasingly rare.

In the same vein, MPs and members of the administration who do not hold cabinet positions or appointments – coincidentally, usually those with the strongest ideals – are perfect to play a role in this. That was why, in fact, Anwar was envisioned to lead, prior to his economic meetings with the PM or his Port Dickson online tuition initiative.

The handover of power is, of course, important as it involves the national leadership, but perhaps, more critical at this juncture is a well-published plan of what the government has done, is doing and plans to do with its major policies.

Some ministers seem to have taken up such effort on their own, while others appear to be cycling around the circus ring with the same single trick. Worse, there are those who are not even on the public radar.

The national narrative still appears to be hanging in the balance, with everyone trying to maintain the status quo. In the absence of a proper narrative, media outlets fill in the blanks themselves with whatever they can gather from the piecemeal information on policies and plans given to them, and the result is a general public perception that the government does little. There is a gap here that needs to be filled, fast.

The economy and institutional reforms are not mutually exclusive; they can and should be pursued at the same time. One to two years to the handover is a long time, and plenty needs to be done in the meantime.

It is time to really focus on a solid plan to turn the country around, beyond Dr Mahathir, and beyond even Anwar. With the media focus on this plan, and when the people know what is being done, how it is executed, and more importantly, their role in it, the country can be empowered again, rather than left in the dark and talking in a loop about sex scandals, handovers and two-hour flight delays. – June 26, 2019.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.