COMMENT | This clueless Madani government, headed by failed reformist Anwar Ibrahim, is so fixated on imminent elections that it has completely refused to take the right moves to deal with oil price increases, trying to please all but pleasing no one.

That stems from the return of Umno-style money politics, which is premised on handing out money and reducing pain for as wide a part of the electorate as possible in the erroneous belief that it alone will help win the elections.

The lessons of the 14th general election in 2018 have been forgotten. Those who believe money wins have no other weapon, implicitly and explicitly accepting corruption as the means to triumph at the polls.

Corrupt politicians use money to win, as they simply have nothing else to offer. They sugar-coat everything, are afraid to take bold steps to ensure the future and harp on race and religion to whip up sentiment against what is right and reasonable.

When Anwar came to power, even if it was with...