ANTI-CORRUPTION MISSILE: PMX FIRES ONE OF HIS MOST POTENT WEAPONS FOR 2027 ELECTION

Thirst for a public justice over ill-gotten wealth could be a very strong election plank.

They say two crucial activities in Malaysia do not necessarily run on fundamentals but on emotions: the stock market and elections.

The PH’s led Madani government formidable election machine under PMX usually operates like an onion. But perhaps we are already witnessing a very potent poll weapon being put in motion. The anti-corruption missile.

The MACC have become extraordinarily active, and instead of the small-fish hunting of yesteryear, it is going after highly visible or effective middle-and top-rung political leadership. Former Prime Minister Najib is now serving a 12 year prison term for corruption. And now, Daim Zainuddin, the financial fulcrum of Tun Dr Mahathir, is under probe and his flagship multi -million-dollar Ilham Tower, a prime commercial building has been seized by Malaysia’s anti graft agency. So was the arrest and remand of Bersatu tresurer-general Salleh Bujuri by the anti-graft agency. Hamzah Zainuddin, the publicly hated rabble-rouser of the Party Bersatu is also under the scanner. Wan Saiful, Bersatu’s Information Chief was also charged with accepting a bribe close to RM7 million in realtion to the Jana Wibawa initiative. The freezing of Bersatu’s accounts, corruption and scandals are unfolding with the charging of former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for abuse of power and money laundering in connection with the awarding of government contracts during Covid-19 pandemic.

Other leaders of the party are also quietly doing the rounds of MACC offices. Other parties and other leaders are also nervously waiting their turn, including Muhyiddin’s son-in-law a fugitive now and his lawyer gone into hiding.

The government seems to be putting the emphasis back on black money. PMX recently said, return the property or money stolen from the people, or be prepared to be investigated. In Parliament, PMX said that he has instructed authorities to continue their probe into individuals named in the Pandora Papers, which linked several prominent Malaysians to offshore tax havens dealing with clandestine overseas income. Deposits made in unreported foreign accounts, undisclosed income of billions must be taxed.

But black money continues to rile up Malaysia’s hardworking and struggling middle and lower economic classes. Because PMX may have brought big-ticket corruption down, but it definitely is not out.

During the BN regime in 2017, Malaysia had ranked 62 in the Transparency International’s globally recognised Corruption Perceptions Index. Seven years later in 2022, Malaysia was at a slightly better 61th spot, behind nations like Namibia, Jordan, Greece, Armenia and Saudi Arabia.

It is admirable but not very impressive, given the massive hope people have on PMX. There is a fair bit of bloodlust left in the public to see big names dragged to dust for corruption, for stealing the exchequer and citizenry of lakes of billions

This thirst for a public justice over ill-gotten wealth could be a very strong election plank. It will win over the poor and the middle classes.

As a bonus, it helps break up parties which are held together solely by the glue of corruption, nepotism and opportunism instead of grassroots cadre work and deep ideological focus.


The old-world equation of the corrupt getting public sympathy for being hauled over embers does not hold. The new Malaysia is unsentimental about crooks, as long as they are sure that those punished are indeed crooks. It is willing to stand up and applaud the entire photogenic arc of the missile.

One suspects Anwar Ibrahim has already fired it with the target set for 2024.

Muhyiddin Yassin Is at a Crossroads – and His Party’s Future May Hang in the Balance

PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin who has played an instrumental role in the formation of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) has been sidelined now.

On Sept 4, four mentri besar of Perikatan-led states had a meeting with Dr Mahathir and have agreed in principle to form a strategic cooperation and investments group called State Government Four (SG4). PN Chairman Muhyiddin Yassin was not invited for this meeting.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s appointment as the unofficial advisor to the co-operation group of four PN/PAS-held states with the assent from the PAS’s top leadership is what rattled Muhyiddin the most.

Muhyiddin was not given the importance he was expecting within the Opposition Alliance. That he has been eyeing to be prime minister again is an open secret, even though he has been claiming that he does not need anything and is just trying to unite the Malay community together on one platform.

Such selfless talks coming from a man who has retained the prime minister chair for 17 months between 2020 and 2021 by declaring an emergency by shifting allegiance and changing ideology may appear incongruous to many discerning observers. Seeing his nature of switching sides for his own gains, it is being said that no one trusts Muhyiddin.

Will Muhyiddin change colour again? Can Muhyidden change sides once again? Why not! His political trajectory has been marked by remarkable flexibility when it comes to remaining in power by hook or by crook.

But also tension is brewing between Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin and supreme council member Azmin Ali and they appear to have had a serious falling-out, threatening to further destabilise Bersatu.

If speculations are to be believed, things may boil over in Bersatu in the coming months, with Hamzah supposedly already being given the cold shoulder by Muhyiddin. The coalition’s poor showing in the recent Johor state election has further aggravated the situation.

Muhyiddin has his own problems, still has three money-laundering charges. The graft charges revolved around the award of contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors allegedly in return for bribes, and approving an appeal by a business tycoon over the cancellation of his tax exemption. Even his son-in-law, Adlan Berhan, is now on the run from the law and is a fugitive.

For Dr Mahathir, however, perhaps, is attempting to beat Muhyiddin in his own Machiavellian game. It remains to be seen whether Muhyiddin swallows his pride again or treats the latest crisis as the final nail in the coffin.