IF you were Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, how would you address the low expectations of your premiership?

Chances are, you would come up with fancy slogans such as #keluargamalaysia, praising the merits of unity and inclusivity to unite Malaysians divided along political, racial, and religious lines.

Having said that, #keluargamalaysia has not prevented the continuation of affirmative action policies which sanction great disparity between fund allocations for Malays and non-Malays.

Controversy over  the name of the Timah whisky and alcohol licensing has also caused further anxiety and disillusionment among non-Malays.   

The 100-day performance target of the prime minister seems rather odd given the nature of his appointment.

Usually, such a target is the preserve of a newly elected government with a democratic mandate. The 100 days would see the new PM and his cabinet striving to fulfil what has been promised in the election manifesto.

As Ismail is a prime minister without an electoral mandate, what is to be achieved by his government in that 100 days is entirely decided by Ismail himself. This lacks any democratic legitimacy and the result may not necessarily be what the nation needs at this time of pandemic, economic downturn, and political instability.

This is also why, in contrast to the culmination of Pakatan Harapan’s first 100 days, Ismail’s commemoration of his own is more like a year-end  more like celebration to promote #keluargamalaysia.

In all likelihood, the 100-day target is primarily to differentiate Ismail’s government from that of the embattled Muhyiddin in its last days.  

Nevertheless, what the people want from the Ismail government is some semblance of political stability in a time of pandemic.

On that account, the appointment of Ismail and the subsequent signing of a reform deal with the opposition did make for a less tumultuous political situation.

The Ismail administration is superior to his predecessor’s, which had declared a controversial state of emergency including suspension of parliament.

The MOU appears to have smoothened a politically tense situation while allowing more engagement and a more conciliatory approach between the government and opposition, which many Malaysians are be happy to see.

In terms of legislation, while Ismail can claim to be the prime minister who allowed 18 year olds, there is very little else to be said for him in the way of achievements.

The easing of Covid-19 restrictions is mostly due to the high vaccination rate achieved by the national campaign spearheaded by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

While Ismail as the security minister had previously decided to reopen various economic sectors, it is most likely that Muhyiddin would have done the same if he had not lost his parliamentary majority.   

On the question of personal charisma, Ismail pales in comparison to previous prime ministers. He appears to be a quiet leader who prefers to stay out of the media spotlight.

While it is unclear whether this is by design, the relative anonymity of the prime minister has actually allowed other cabinet ministers to take on more responsibility and thus receive more media attention.

This is one of the stark contrasts from the previous government where public and media attention was mostly concentrated on Muhyiddin Yassin.

The 100-day gauge has never been a good measure to assess a new leader and besides, it is only applicable he has entered office by way of election instead of via the revolving doors of political machinations.

However, at a time when Malaysians are most concerned about political stability, Ismail has delivered on that score.

The challenge now is for the prime minister to deliver on the promises of economic recovery and preservation of democracy while keeping the new Covid 19 variant at bay. – December 12, 2021. 

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.