ANIFAH MUST SURELY UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOOD YESTERDAY IS NOT NECESSARILY GOOD TODAY. DURING HIS TENURE, MOST PEOPLE UNFORTUNATELY COULD ONLY SEE HOW HE WORKED HARD TO COVER HIS BOSS AND HIS EX PARTY’S CORRUPTION
COMMENT: Why did Anifah Aman, our former foreign minister, have to be mean to the new foreign minister, Saifuddin Abdullah?
It was reported that he had some pointed words for his successor, telling him (Saifuddin) do preparatory work, and to consult his officers during a motion in Parliament on October 15th to debate the Prime Minister’s United Nations speech outlining Malaysian foreign policy.
Anifah was apparently upset that Saifuddin was saying Malaysia was introducing new foreign policies.
He tore into Saifuddin describing the motion as “one fit for school students”.
Anifah was basically saying nothing wrong with our foreign policy, therefore, no need to tinker around.
New broom sweeps clean and Saifuddin is no exception; he needs to review whether policies from the last government are still suitable to the current world situation in the context of our own interests.
Anifah must surely understand that; what was good yesterday is not necessarily good today.
It is the new minister’s prerogative to make the necessary adjustments or changes, of course, certain core policies will remain as the bedrock, that’s no brainer.
If we recall when Dr Mahathir was in his first premiership, our foreign policy was clear as we stood tall at the global stage.
During Anifah’s tenure, most people unfortunately could only see how he worked hard to cover his boss and his party’s corruption, be it in Singapore, China or the US.
Was there consideration for the country when our sovereign fund was scammed by foreigners in cahoots with our own people, leaving Malaysians to pay the huge debts for years to come?
And what about allowing China’s government-owned entities to take us for a ride from one sided contracts which put Malaysia on the debt trap path? Let us not even talk about projects paid to them not based on work done!
And who can forget former Prime Minister, Najib Razak, sucking up to the Trump Administration with the hope of getting a reprieve for 1MDB and the DOJ to drop their investigations by offering to be a party to make America great again, which was laughable?
The foreign policy then was rather confusing with no clear goals or objectives except what was perceived as pandering to US, China, and even Saudi Arabia who were busy killing fellow Muslims in Yemen!
It is time for a re-look at our foreign policy reflecting the New Malaysia that puts our nation and people over and above everything else.
Anifah need not get his knickers in a twist over this.
MOST OBSERVERS THINK ANWAR SHOULD NOT BE TOO EAGER TO WORK OUT NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCES OR ALIGNMENTS AS THE COUNTRY IS IN NEED OF EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION IN ORDER TO CHECK AND BALANCE THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Is a new political alliance in the offing?
A picture of Anwar Ibrahim with six Sabah opposition politicians taken at his office in Petaling Jaya has gone viral in social media.
This has got people talking. Even the media got excited.
While any political play is never too early or too late, and since Anwar is going to be the next Prime Minister only in one and a half years, it is only natural for politicians, especially those wanting to stay relevant to hedge their bets. And the people to speculate.
Of course the players themselves keep the cards close to their chest. When asked, Dr Jeffery Kitingan who was one of the six, said it was a “courtesy call”, to congratulate Anwar on his Port Dickson by-election victory.
Most people also know Anifah Aman who was also present, was close to Anwar since their UMNO days, notwithstanding that in October 2016 Anwar had to pay Anifah RM100,000 in costs after losing his appeal over a defamation lawsuit.
It is anybody’s guess who initiated the courtesy call.
Whatever the game plan is, most observers think Anwar should not be too eager to work out new political alliances or alignments as the country is in need of effective opposition in order to check and balance the new government.
After all, some of these politicians are known to ‘double deal’, hoping to get the best for themselves, and indeed some of them are speaking to the other side too.
And those in the previous government, because of their experiences, make good opposition.
Furthermore, politicians in this country must not any longer think that the only way to be successful ones, they must support the side that is winning.
That’s old school.
With the new institutional reforms announced by Dr Mahathir in Parliament last week giving powers to some of the important agencies in the country to enforce the rule of law, politics is going to be played differently.
Frogging here and there by politicians should be a thing of the past soon.
It’s time for politicians to work for the constituents who put them up there and just forget the bad old BN days of abusing the system to enrich yourself.
If you want to be rich, go into business and not politics.
Politics after all is public service.
That’s easy enough to understand, hopefully.
