PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has many advantages his immediate predecessors did not enjoy – tacit support from the palace, solid support from middle Malaysia in urban and mixed seats, and a firmer, warm alliance with his Bornean allies.

Also, unlike his immediate predecessors, there does not seem to be any attempt to sabotage or unseat him from within the ranks of his party or their allies. 

As such, the observable lack of decisiveness as shared by some, most notably, the Tengku Mahkota Johor (TMJ), is surprising, as there is no reason to sugar-coat, tiptoe or pussyfoot around issues, and we certainly have plenty of those. 

We have put off many difficult economic decisions since the first Pakatan Harapan administration in 2018.

The emphasis then was reform, which has since been hampered by political realities and realigned interests, along with a heightened sense of racial sensitivity, which make most discussions near impossible at this juncture without severe social and political ramifications. 

Even something as universal as fixing the economy has taken a racial slant.  

The Madani economic framework carefully avoided these pitfalls and kept its focus on catalysing the economy via industrial revitalisation and enforcing governmental fiscal discipline, while keeping in line with global expectations on energy and sustainability.  

This is a medium-term plan, and the government needs to appease the masses while waiting for these measures to have an impact. 

How it has chosen to push this narrative, however, is mind-boggling. 

At the beginning of his term, Anwar chose moderate Islamism as his raison d’etre. This was probably to reduce the political temperature at that time and attempt to win over his main detractors, the Muslim vote bank, who have more than half their support to Perikatan Nasional in the past elections. 

One year in, this does not seem to have yielded the desired result, and led to rumours that the alliance was considering including PAS to solidify its position. 

More recently, the government had elected to champion the Palestinian cause, and rightly so.

However, the involvement of a school-related programme that quickly grew out of hand has somewhat alienated the non-Muslim crowd who have difficulty relating to this issue.

Although Palestine greatly affects Christians and their heritage, the concept or historical polity of Israel overlaps with many church ideologies, narratives and allegories, and makes it difficult to separate from the present government of Israel. This inability to distinguish between nation and notion gives rise to the reluctance of condemnation, which is likely misread by proponents of the Palestinian cause as being pro-Israel and by inference, the atrocities committed.    

This is especially true for Sabah and Sarawak and their large Christian communities. 

In keeping with the “Semua anak Malaysia anak saya” theme, Anwar should equally focus on building internal solidarity with each other, not just with another country.

Only with a strong united nation can we speak as one voice against injustice in the world, be they in Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon or Palestine. 

The way to Malaysian hearts and minds is by unifying us on a single cause and capturing our imagination like Malaysia Boleh, 1Malaysia or the Rukunegara had done for us in the past. 

While we see components of these being worked on, the bigger picture seems to elude most Malaysians. 

Perhaps the communication is weak, or the vision, unclear. Perhaps we are trying to do too many things at the same time, or too few projects per area to actually make a noticeable difference. 

Or perhaps, as TMJ pointed out, it may be time for Anwar to have a better team. – November 1, 2023.

* 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.