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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   1730 thread views

Transnational Thursday for January 25, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Malaysia

Malaysia has been going through a cycle of corruption cases against high level politicians. You’ve probably heard of the 1MBD scandal, an embezzlement operation of staggering proportions, with billions of dollars going up in smoke. The Prime minister at the time, who had pocketed several billion himself, was sentenced and sent to jail, but the environment afterwards created a kind of mini-hysteria against corruption, where real allegations were intermixed with candidates accusing their political rivals of corruption, and precious little to show for results:

In one of his first initiatives as Prime Minister, Anwar [bin Ibrahim] ordered a review of government projects approved by past administrations, describing the earlier decision processes as improper.

But the yearslong anti-corruption drive promised by different leaders has thus far resulted in many charges and few convictions.

This week [September 8, 2023], the Malaysian High Court agreed to drop 47 graft charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid, who’s also the president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)—the same party that Najib had led until 2018. Zahid had been accused of criminal breach of trust, bribery, and money laundering related to a charity foundation he founded, and was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on Monday upon an unexpected request from prosecutors…

Zahid is just the latest in a string of politicians who have recently received favorable court decisions on corruption charges. Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who led the country from 2020 to 2021 and is now the chairman of the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional, was charged with corruption in March, only to be similarly acquitted in August. And Najib himself was acquitted of tampering with a 1MDB audit report in March, though he is still serving a 12-year prison sentence for earlier graft convictions.

Despite dropping charges where it suits them, a few weeks ago they also charged a political rival, the finance minister of the previous party and ally of Mahatir Mohamed, Malaysia’s long time former Prime Minister, whose son is actually also under corruption charges. Yesterday Mahatir formally accused Anwar’s government of pursuing corruption charges solely for politically motivated reasons (perhaps a little ironically, because Mahatir previously charged Anwar with politically motivated sodomy charges).

Despite the lack of convictions, political analysts report that all the corruption charges are seriously deterring investors and choking off FDI, which is kind of the worst of both worlds. Anwar’s popularity has been flagging as he fails to address his central campaign promise of anti-corruption, while the Malay supremacist party grows in popularity in the polls. He’s overseen a cabinet reshuffle in hopes of glowing up his administration’s image.

Speaking at a televised press conference on Tuesday, Anwar appointed Amir Hamzah Azizan, formerly chief executive of Malaysia’s biggest pension fund, as second finance minister.

He also said he was moving Mohamad Hasan, the deputy president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), from the defence ministry to the foreign ministry. The former foreign minister takes on higher education instead.

Anwar also moved Fadillah Yusof, one of two deputy prime ministers, from commodities to the newly created post of energy transition and public utilities minister.

Veteran UMNO politician Johari Abdul Ghani was returned to cabinet to take on the commodities portfolio, while Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, popularly known as Dr Dzul, was named as health minister…

A survey published last month by the Merdeka Center, a local polling firm, found 60 percent of Malaysians felt the country was going in the wrong direction, with nearly four out of five identifying the economy as the nation’s biggest problem.

While there won’t be another general election until 2028, Anwar runs a coalition government that could certainly collapse if his popularity doesn’t pick up.

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