By EILEEN NG, Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Reformist leader Anwar Ibrahim has won a hard-fought battle to turn into Malaysia’s latest prime minister. But working with former foes to form a unity government as a polarized nation watches will immediately test his political mettle.
There isn’t a honeymoon period for Anwar, 75, who got straight all the way down to work lower than 24 hours after he was sworn in because the nation’s tenth leader.
National television showed Anwar clocking in Friday morning at the federal government administrative capital of Putrajaya. His first test might be the development of a Cabinet and the distribution of portfolios to appease the various members of his unity government.
Anwar promised Monday that his Cabinet might be leaner in comparison with the previous, oversized administration, and said he’ll forego his salary as prime minister amid the country’s economic slowdown. He said latest Cabinet members can be asked to chop their salaries, too.
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“My most important priority now’s the price of living,” he told a news conference.
Anwar pledged to work swiftly to search out ways to assist Malaysians fighting rising food costs, a currency at its lowest point in over twenty years and stagnating wages ahead of an expected economic slowdown next yr.
Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan, or Alliance of Hope, won 82 out of 222 seats within the Nov. 19 general election. To cobble a majority, he won support from two key rival blocs: the long-ruling National Front, which has 30 seats, and the Sarawak Parties Alliance with 23. Several smaller blocs have said they will even join.
Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-centric National Alliance unexpectedly won 73 seats. Muhyiddin’s hard-line ally, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party that touts Sharia, took 49 seats to turn into the country’s single largest party in a sign of the rise of conservative Islam.
Anwar’s victory with support from political rivals marked one other “watershed moment that heralded a latest era for Malaysian democracy,” said Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, political analyst with the University of Science, Malaysia.
It got here on the back of his alliance’s stunning victory in 2018 polls, which ended the National Front’s 60-year grip on power and led to the country’s first regime change since independence from Britain in 1957. But the brand new government crumbled after power grab that led to turmoil and saw a complete of three prime ministers in 4 years. Anwar was in prison on the time on a sodomy charge he said was politically motivated.
Anwar fostered a conciliatory tone after his appointment, welcoming all parties to his government so long as they adhere to the fundamental rules of excellent governance, no corruption and a “Malaysia for all Malaysians.”
Analysts said the makeup of his Cabinet will provide a clearer picture of his policies going forward, as he puts flesh to bones on his campaign guarantees to scrub up the federal government and heal deepening racial and spiritual gashes. His anti-corruption platform might be tested amid concerns that concessions might be made for some National Front leaders battling graft charges in return for his or her support.
An ethnic Muslim, Anwar must also earn the trust of conservative Malays, who viewed him as too liberal and opted for Muhyiddin’s right-wing bloc within the contentious election. Police have tightened security and Anwar’s supporters have been told to carry off celebrations which will provoke Islamic supporters.
In such a racially charged environment, Anwar’s goals — including replacing a decades-old affirmative motion plan that offers privileges to Malays in jobs, education and housing — could also be a minefield.
Anwar has assured Malays that their rights under the structure and the position of Islam because the national religion might be protected. But he stressed that other races must not be marginalized in order that the country could be united.
“Racial divide has been in existence in Malaysia since independence,” said political analyst Ahmad Fauzi.
“Anwar will come up along with his own formula to rein in the issue, but considering that he’ll have the option to extinguish it’s to expect the unimaginable from him,” he added.
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