Muhyiddin’s advice to Anwar: There’s still time to undo your mistakes

Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin has chastised Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for allegedly betraying the ideals of the Reformasi movement, but said there is still time to undo the damage.

“As an opposition party leader, I could take advantage of mistake after mistake that is being made by Anwar and his government.

“But as an ordinary citizen, I could not watch the nation’s dignity marred by the prime minister’s excesses. It is still not too late for Anwar to fix the situation,” he wrote in a Facebook post tonight.

Muhyiddin urged Anwar to resign his finance minister post and focus on this task as prime minister to help the nation and its people tide through a challenging time.

His deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should be ordered to take leave until his court cases have been resolved, while his daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar should resign as his advisor.

Muhyiddin said his successor must not repeat Najib Abdul Razak’s mistake, noting that Najib also held both the premiership and the finance portfolio at the time of the 1MDB scandal.

He said Zahid would be a national embarrassment if he makes an official visit abroad while there are still criminal cases against him at home.

“Wonder what would be the headlines in the countries he visits,” he mused.

As for Nurul Izzah, Muhyiddin said she is a talented leader with great potential.

“Don’t let a minor and inappropriate appointment become a black mark in her political journey towards what may be a brighter future,” he urged.

Muhyiddin’s criticism came after it was reported that Nurul Izzah has been appointed as the prime minister’s senior advisor on economy and finance, on a pro bono basis.

This has led to allegations of nepotism and questions about whether she is qualified for the role, despite the Prime Minister’s Office defending her academic credentials.

Promise of good governance

According to Muhyiddin, however, Anwar had “betrayed” the promise of good governance from the beginning when he appointed Zahid as his deputy, which he claimed was solely to return Zahid’s favour of rallying BN parliamentarians to support him.

Muhyiddin also accused Anwar of failing to keep his promise by concurrently holding the prime minister’s post as well as finance minister.

Previously, Pakatan Harapan had promised in its 2018 election manifesto that the prime minister would not hold another cabinet portfolio. However, the same promise was not made in the manifesto for last year’s election.

Anwar had said he took the Finance Ministry portfolio to foster confidence in Malaysia’s economy.

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