Is Anwar waging a class war or anti-corruption war?

Given the unabated corruption among the Perikatan Nasional political elites during the terms of the last two governments and the real danger of it spilling over into the new administration, a hesitancy to give support to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is not an option.

If there is hesitation, victory over corruption will remain an illusion.

For starters, the people should be wary of the smear that Anwar’s effort to fight corruption rhymes with the communist slogan of a “class war”. In reality, his fight against corruption has nothing in common with the class war.   

It did not make sense when Bersatu supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan postulated in Parliament that Anwar’s Budget 2023 had a whiff of the classic communist “class warfare” within its pages.

It was as clear as daylight that Wan Saiful was trying his best to spin the Budget.

If the Bersatu politician wanted us to believe in his class war analogy, at least he should have shown some knowledge about the subject and proven that Anwar is waging a class war.

Instead, Wan Saiful gave zero facts about how Anwar is conducting a class war. This showed he did not know what he was talking about in Parliament.

Certainly, the whole “class war” affair that he brought into the House was a thinly veiled innuendo to discredit Anwar. This, he probably hoped, could cast aspersions on Anwar’s Islamic credentials.

It is political suicide in Malaysia to be a communist. 

Wan Saiful’s silly revelation of a “class war” was not meant to be debated intelligently because it had no substance but was just a crude smear.

One cannot debate about smears or falsehoods, which certain Perikatan Nasional politicians appear to be fond of.   

Thus, if we take Wan Saiful’s revelation not with a pinch a salt, but a large handful, shouldn’t Anwar’s class war Budget have been laced with the following communist economic ideals?  

• Shouldn’t there have been a hint that all banks would be nationalised and amalgamated into a huge single bank, just as in a communist state? And this one, single bank would not act as a normal commercial bank, but act as a book-keeper for the nation. So no more Public Bank, Maybank, Hong Leong Bank, CIMB, RHB, Bank Rakyat, Affin Bank and so on. In place, there would be one huge bank doing the “work of book-keeping, control, registration, accounting and counting for the…proletarian existence” [Socialist Economics, Alec Nove and DM Nuti, Penguin Books, 1971].

• Shouldn’t there be in Budget 2023 state ownership of the means of production and exchange? “Machinery, loco-motives, steamships, factory buildings, warehouses, grain elevators, mines, telegraphs and telephones, the land, sheep, horses and cattle, must all be at the disposal of society” [Nove and Nuti, 1971]. This means that all these means of production would have to be under the control of the state.

• Shouldn’t there be in Budget 2023 a restriction on the printing of the ringgit and a timeframe for its elimination from the Malaysian economy?

These are a few features that must happen if there is to be victory in a “class war”.

Finally, my advice to all Malaysian politicians is that they should read more because a little knowledge will eventually lead to falsehood.  

For starters, read Harry Truman’s book Give ’em Hell, Harry! Here are some excerpts from the book:

• You know, a fella could get rich in this (president’s) job, if he really wanted to.
• But I found out something a long time ago: that when you play ball with the money boys, you pay!
• Oh, I’ve done some favors for friends down through the years, just like any other influence peddler in Washington, but I never got anything for myself out of it. 
• And I’ll tell you something else: No man can get rich in politics unless he’s a crook! It can’t be done.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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