Did Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim listen hard enough to the rakyat?

Just look at his attempt to consolidate his grip on Putrajaya following last month’s bruising by-election defeat in Kemaman.

Did our trust and confidence in the Madani administration grow with his new cabinet?

Former human resources minister V Sivakumar was sacked, and in a surprise move, former Pakatan minister of health Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, whom many consider a “safe pair of hands” returns to head his former ministry.

Anwar loyalists retained their portfolios or were moved around like chess pieces. That is not reassuring!

Sivakumar should have gone much earlier especially when an aide and several senior officials in his ministry were arrested over allegations of corruption.

The popular Dr. Dzulkefly, who was part of the former Harapan administration, did an excellent job containing the spread of coronavirus when the threat was first identified.

When the Sheraton coup took place, Dr. Dzul had already built a solid foundation of competent people to help tackle the outbreak.

Should we be impressed with Anwar’s new cabinet? There is much unfinished business to be resolved but is he listening?

If he were, why did he retain Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail?

Fadhlina helms a heavyweight ministry and has thus far failed to impress us with her performance.

She does not appear to realise the enormity of her responsibilities and task. The future of our children, the solid foundation on which this nation is built, and our investment in our children are all in her hands. Do we have faith in her?

Anwar threw her in at the deep end when he made her minister in December 2022.

Her expertise lies in syariah family law and we were prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt, but thus far she has failed to prove herself.

Her first brush with the public was her poor handling of the SPM Preparation Workshop for Malay pupils in January.

The event was held to help around 40 Malay students prepare for their SPM examinations.

Why were students of other races excluded? We would not have known about this if not for the exposé by a parent.

Fadhlina should have put a stop to the discriminatory practice and nip the growing problem of education being politicised.

She failed to do so and instead went to the defence of the headmaster and the Johor education department.

Months later, she was involved in the Hadith-40 module in schools.

The rakyat need to rebuild their trust and confidence in the Madani administration with actions, not just a cabinet reshuffle.

Education is due for a major overhaul, but Fadhlina appears to share the same Islamic agenda as her boss, Anwar.

There is a long list of much overdue reforms in education, but Fadhlina remains clueless about them.

In the past fortnight, Home Minister Saifuddin leapt to the defence of the arrogant and abusive immigration official who humiliated a mother and her daughter in public simply because their Malay was poor.

If Saifuddin cannot recognise bad manners, then is he blind in other matters too? No one, not even a minister should be rude or condone abusive behaviour. What happened to the simple human values that the Malays were once praised for?

In the reshuffle, Anwar appears to have overlooked the fact that he is still the finance minister. How does he focus when holding onto two ministerial positions?

The public are not interested in Anwar’s attempt to be a Palestinian hero as they are more worried about the Malaysian economy, their job security, their employment, and the cost of living.

The anti-corruption ticket was Anwar’s campaign cry in November 2022, but Zahid Hamidi, the Umno-Baru president, remains as deputy PM.

What will the new King say about this as he has promised to eradicate corruption his way?

The Malays have become disillusioned with Umno-Baru as we saw in the last by-election, but both Anwar and Zahid are in a symbiotic relationship. Without the other, the Unity Government would not have materialised.

Zahid Hamidi’s position as deputy PM is unacceptable, but Anwar will not dare to remove him.

Moreover, Zahid cannot hope to survive, if Anwar were to abandon him. He would not just lose politically, but risks losing his freedom and other liberties.

Retaining both Fadhlina and Saifuddin and clinging onto the post of finance minister shows that Anwar is no better than his predecessors.

Did they ever put aside their own selfish agendas and put the interests of the nation and the rakyat first?

This new cabinet will not be enough to convince the rakyat that Anwar is the solution to Malaysia’s problems.

Non-Malays do not demand preferential treatment. They just want to be given the same basic opportunities and be treated as equals in multiracial Malaysia.

The rakyat need to rebuild their trust and confidence in the Madani administration with actions, not just a cabinet reshuffle.

Anwar tries his best to woo the conservative Malays who have rejected him, but sadly, he fails to acknowledge that he has alienated his core supporters.

If only Anwar were courageous enough to undertake the reforms and fulfil his promises. Instead, he risks becoming just another one-term PM, if he is lucky to last that long.

Imagine the devastation of the Kemaman effect sweeping the nation.

Full list of the new cabinet line-up

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)