COMMENT | The “Turun Anwar” protest brought together thousands of ordinary Malaysians: students, workers, retirees, united not by ideology but by frustration.

For them, the act of showing up on the streets was driven less by partisan politics and more by empty wallets and mounting bills.

In a country where food inflation, stagnant wages, and an impossibly low minimum wage collide with the rising costs of housing, healthcare, and transport, this was not a protest of privilege. It was a collective sigh from a people slowly drowning in an affordability crisis.

For many, this crisis...