But Umno rabble-rouser Dr Akmal Saleh slammed Tiong, saying he had no right to enter KLIA and reveal alleged wrongdoings. 

“You should remember, you are a minister, not a bak kut teh seller”, chided Akmal. 

He added that Tiong should be stripped of his Malaysian citizenship. This was a full display of the entrenched, privileged deep state in action.

Anwar responded with a so-called “surprise visit” to KLIA and pronounced that only “a small group” are responsible for problems.

Meanwhile, a supermarket in Teluk Intan, Perak, had to close down for one day of ritual Islamic cleansing after a clueless lady from China brought her small dog in on a trolley.

Should allegedly tainted government departments also undergo purification - by the MACC?

Some sign of a spine growing was the release of the Tabung Haji royal commission report, but this happened only after Umno backstabbed Anwar in two recent state elections.

So here are more reforms for Harapan’s final kamikaze mission.

1) Local council elections

This is what affects urban dwellers’ everyday lives - be it garbage collection, potholes, the butchering of trees, or the killing of stray dogs.

But racial politicians have been screaming that this will give power to non-Malays, even though many cities now have Malay majorities. Not just Alor Setar, Kuantan, Shah Alam, and Kota Bharu, but also Kuala Lumpur.

In February 2024, Nga Kor Ming, the housing and local government minister, gave another excuse - he was instead focusing on potholes plus cleaner public toilets and drains!

The truth is, all politicians want to keep control over rich cities, with lucrative planning permissions and contracts. But now that Harapan looks set to lose, please forget about such narrow interests.

2) Reduce soaring medical insurance costs

This is the biggest concern of middle-class urban Harapan supporters. 

Control the profits of private hospitals and insurance companies, or create a good, affordable Madani health insurance.

Call it Anwar-care if you like.

3) Allow refugees to work

Imagine hiring a maid without having to pay RM20,000 to crony agents to import them from overseas. Apart from families, small businesses will also rejoice.

Refugees are already in this country, so why not allow them to work? The current system forces them into semi-legal sources of income and creates social backlash.

This is a no-brainer to win votes - unless Anwar and his shady human resources minister are too busy protecting dubious foreign worker cartels.

4) Reform elections

Redraw boundaries to create more mixed-race seats to reduce toxic racial politics. Politicians must then appeal to all races.

This can be done with a simple majority in Parliament as long as the number of seats is not increased.

Johor Amanah deputy chief had also pointed out that it’s unfair that urban votes are much less valuable compared to votes in smaller rural seats.

To further reduce racial politicking, state seats can also be added in Penang and Selangor. 

Prof Wong Chin Huat explained that these extra assemblypersons can be chosen by “proportional representation”, ie: the proportion of votes received.

Extra assemblypersons were recently appointed in Johor (May 2026) and Malacca (July 2026). But they were not elected democratically.

Instead, they were appointed by the winning party to tighten political control. Harapan can and must show a better way forward.

Malay fears can be addressed, as even smaller parties like Pejuang and soon Bersatu and Amanah can survive in this PR system. 

Idealistic parties like Bersama, Muda, and PSM may also get seats if they obtain a certain percentage of ballots. 

Thus, people can vote for policies they believe in, rather than fearing they will “waste their votes”.

This creates healthier politics, rather than the juvenile fearmongering of “you must vote for us, or the Big Bad Wolf will get you”.

5) Fight corruption quickly

One of our open secrets is that some officials are clearly living beyond their means. 

If Anwar is sincere about cracking down on corruption, he must pass a UWL or “Unexplained Wealth Law”.

So if a civil servant earning RM7,000 monthly has three bungalows and five luxury cars, they can be quickly seized if he can’t explain how he could afford them.

There’s no need for court cases dragging on for years.

Other reforms to consider

• Ban political interference in government-linked bodies; learn from Tabung Haji.

• Pass a Racial Harmony law to stop the endless poisonous politicking.

• Set up a National Ombudsman to resolve complaints against civil servants.

• Allow electric tuk-tuks to provide jobs and cheap transport.

• Recognise the Unified Examination Certificate as Penang, Selangor, Sabah, and Sarawak already do.

• Free the MACC and public prosecutor from political control.

• Ensure fair, equal funding even for opposition MPs. Harapan will soon need this! 

• The Iran war shows we can no longer afford blanket subsidies. Aid should be given based on need, not to subsidise petrol for luxury cars.

Conclusion

Since Harapan will probably lose power in Putrajaya, it’s time to throw away narrow political calculations and do what’s right - at long last!

Harapan will then have some bullets, some good record to regain power after greedy Umno and incompetent PAS screw up, get into new scandals, or fight each other.

Who knows, if they can show voters what a great job they can do, Harapan may even score a last-minute goal and pull off an injury-time victory.

Malay political operatives are always accusing each other of being race traitors. Malay political operatives are always claiming that the Malay polity will lose its power to non-Malays. What Helmi wrote is merely taking this position to its logical extreme. Honestly, people have either overtly or subtly implied what Helmi said in social media outlets.

Worse of all, political operatives who claim to champion “universal religious values” of inclusivity throw those ideas under the bus when in power.

This is what the Selangor state administration said last year as reported in the press: “The Selangor government will continue its efforts to monitor, detect, and enforce laws against any individual involved in promoting religious liberalism and pluralism, to safeguard the sanctity of Islam in the state.”

This is what Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in 2022: “In my speech (in Jakarta), I said there are certain issues that I might not necessarily share, but on core issues of Islam, modernity, inclusivity, we are on the same page.

“How do you compare this to Malaysia? I think Malaysia lacks that sort of tolerance. Here, they just say ‘we disagree with you because you are a liberal’, ‘you are a plural’… I don’t think they have a clear understanding of what they are talking about.”

Connective tissues

First off, we were a progressive secular democracy before the ethno-nationalists used race and religion to turn this country into a “moderate” Islamic state.

Those nascent values of secularism and egalitarianism, which meant something to nation-building, were ditched by the ethno-nationalists to create political and religious hegemony. Shamsul and Malays like him detract from hegemonic narratives of Malay unity.

What these race and religion-based parties have done over the years is chip away at the secular foundations of this country, enabled by non-Malay power brokers for self-serving interests.

By their very definition, race and religion-based parties are anathemas to the Constitution, which is broadly progressive, secular and democratic. This is what Malays like Shamsul are fighting against.

Indeed, just look at the Rukun Negara to understand why race and religion-based parties are anathemas to every point in the Rukun Negara. Shamsul rightly points out that the Rukun Negara seems to have been kicked to the curb by the religious and racial supremacists but also by so-called reformers.

The connective tissues between the racial and religious agendas of successive Malaysian governments that desire a narcotised majority and a disenchanted, aggrieved minority have everything to do with the gerrymandering and unequal weighting of votes.

How can we have a progressive majority when every institution and every political operative confirms that the majority in this country have to subscribe to a certain mode of thinking and support a certain kind of Muslim leader?

Now you understand why Malays like Shamsul or those advocating any kind of deviation from fascistic group are demonised.

More’s the pity that a young man whose quote opens this piece finds no traction with the aggrieved polity in this country.

Things began to look up over the years, and from the 1980s onwards I moved on from a mainly agriculture-based economy into heavy industries, electronics exports, petroleum production, and the services industry.

Now I have moved further into the technology sector, investing in all these mind-boggling things called data centres, 5G rollouts, and artificial intelligence.

Turning national pride into political dismay

But hold it! After 69 years of living free from the yoke of colonialism, including fighting off all those pesky commies during those emergency days, I should be rejoicing over the great achievements made over the decades. Right? Not really.

These days I hear ominous noises emanating mostly from people who call themselves politicians. They are giving me a lot of headaches.

This breed of people “runs for office, wins elections, joins the government, and helps make laws for the public”. If only they stick to their duties. What got me all riled up is the way they behave and think subsequently. They didn’t live up to the high standards expected of the representatives of the people.

I hear so many disturbing reports about the many bad things they do, which give me a bad name. You can say these people are “experts at doing what is bad but failures at doing what is good”.

One man in particular, in whom the public had placed their trust and elected him to the highest office on land, came to grief because he chose a crooked path. He’s now languishing in prison. Serves him right!

After many changes of the guard, one would expect life today to be better because we are “masters of our destiny”. It didn’t actually turn out that way. Instead, I hear shrill voices making all sorts of provocative remarks that make the bowels of my earth churn.

Many times they vented their spleen openly whenever it suited them. They stepped on me in the hundreds as they tramped down the streets yelling slogans and waving flags to display their political identity.

I distinctly hear them being classified as bigots, rightists, extremists, village champions, supremacists, diehard conservatives, boycott specialists, to name a few.

All their hate speeches, political rhetoric, and grandstanding make me sick to the bone. Don’t they realise how dangerous all this can be? Their irrational conduct is pushing me to the brink.

As far as I am concerned, I will stick a common label on all their foreheads and call them all “plain troublemakers”. Sometimes, I feel like opening up my earth and swallowing them all to keep the peace.

Lamenting rising racial rhetoric and division

Take, for example, one man who is the boss of one state who has been creating waves with his inflammatory remarks.

I was outraged when he dared to say my vast land is the only home of the dominant race. He’s insinuating that all the others can always pack up their bags and return to their ancestral homeland.

This firebrand even brazenly claimed that a piece of my land belongs to his state and he’s going to court to take back the “Pearl of the Orient”. What nonsense! I will state categorically that my land is all of one piece and no one can tear a piece of me to become part of another state.

Stop it! All you troublemakers! I, Malaysia, am the home to all races and faiths, and no one can claim exclusive rights to me.

Well before independence, I have welcomed warmly many migrants who have made me their homeland. They laboured to extract raw materials from my earth, tapped my barks, tilled my soil; in short, all of them have made me what I am today.

As I see it, my future is becoming increasingly uncertain as I see no end to this constant flow of diatribe which can only do more harm than good. I don’t understand why all these rabble-rousers want to ruin my beautiful land that has been in existence since time immemorial.

Soon I will hear the thudding of hundreds of feet on me as my fellow citizens march to mark my independence. It should be a day full of meaning and unity, but beneath the surface I can only watch with trepidation as I, Malaysia, shudder to think what lies ahead amidst all these unhealthy developments.

Tunku wanted me to be a “beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” but, sadly now, I am becoming more disturbed and distracted by all these domestic troubles. The light is becoming dimmer with each passing year.

Asyraf said he attended the 2017 signing ceremony with Al-Rawda Real Estate Development and Project Management Co Ltd because he was representing the minister as Malaysia's Chief of the Haj delegation.

We're not saying Asyraf was responsible for the investment, but Al-Rawda eventually resulted in a RM1.86 billion impairment, making it the largest loss among Tabung Haji's 14 problematic investments.

The Finance Ministry said there was no bank guarantee, the due diligence was incomplete and the transaction proceeded on a promissory note.

So, someone approved it, assessed the risks and decided it was acceptable. Who? That is the question.

The Finance Ministry also said 14 problematic Tabung Haji investments resulted in almost RM13 billion in losses.

READ MORE: RCI: Governance failures, politics, 'creative accounting' led to Tabung Haji's financial crisis

These are not small accounting errors. Yet we repeatedly hear: I didn't know. I wasn't involved. I had no authority. It was management.

How does an institution entrusted with billions of ringgit approve a transaction of this scale without adequate due diligence or a bank guarantee, and who was responsible for saying, "Stop. This isn't safe"?

Who was watching?

Meanwhile, former auditor-general Madinah Mohamad says she turned up to give evidence to the RCI, waited over 30 minutes, and was never called.

Her office had audited Tabung Haji and flagged two matters in its 2017 clean audit opinion.

So, we have to ask: If the chairperson didn't know, the deputy minister had no authority, and the auditor-general wasn't heard, who exactly was watching the shop?

At the time, the finance minister was Najib Abdul Razak.

However, the RCI did not establish which minister personally approved the individual payments, and Najib, former second finance ministers Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah and Johari Abdul Ghani were not interviewed by the commission.

So again: Who approved them? That question deserves an answer.

Repeated governance failures

We have seen variations of this story with Felda, Malaysia Airlines and other government-linked institutions.

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ALSO READ: KINIGUIDE | FGV delisting: End of Felda's 'experiment'

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The commonalities are: Political appointments. Questionable decisions. Huge losses. Investigations. Reports. Royal commissions of inquiry.

This is how responsibility somehow becomes elusive. Impunity grows because when nobody is held accountable, the next person has little reason to fear getting it wrong. Eventually, the taxpayer pays.

The Tabung Haji RCI report was withheld for years after its findings were completed. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said earlier disclosure could have caused panic and prompted depositors to withdraw their money.

We understand the concern, but surely there is an irony here: If transparency is too dangerous because people might lose confidence, what does that say about the confidence in the first place?

And delay has consequences.

An inquiry is supposed to establish what happened while the evidence is still fresh. Instead, Malaysians were left waiting years after the RCI completed its work. A royal commission should not become a time capsule.

And now, in 2026, we are asking questions about events that happened almost a decade ago.

Justice delayed

That matters, because justice delayed isn't simply justice postponed. Evidence deteriorates. Witnesses disappear. Memories change. People die.

And the longer we wait, the easier it becomes for responsibility to disappear into the cracks. Delay can make accountability harder, not easier.

Former minister Rafizi Ramli alleged the report was delayed for political reasons to avoid upsetting Umno. That remains an allegation, not an established fact.

Regardless of the reason, why did Malaysians have to wait so long?

Now the government has the opportunity to do what should have happened from the beginning: Follow the money. Find who approved the decisions. Find who knew. Find who failed to act.

And if the evidence shows wrongdoing, prosecute. No political protection. No special treatment. No "not me".

If the evidence leads to Umno, investigate the party. If it leads to Pakatan Harapan, investigate the coalition. If it leads elsewhere, follow it there.

Nobody should be above the law.

Tabung Haji is not simply another government-linked institution. Millions entrusted their savings to it, to help them fulfil a deeply important religious obligation. They deserve better than a merry-go-round of explanations.

RM13 billion is too much money to disappear into a fog of "I didn't know".

Prime minister, this is your opportunity. Don't just tell Malaysians that accountability matters. Show them.

Give Truth-and-Accountability a seat at the table, and this time, don't let her leave hungry.

“I was already cleared by the then-MACC chief commissioner in 2021. If the media wants to see proof, I can share the official letter which was given to me,” he said.

Azeez also said he spoke to the police two weeks ago, and claimed he was told the case file had been completed and was only awaiting a “no further action” directive.

So, did MACC read the report? On what basis were its investigations conducted and why did it choose to exonerate Azeez?

But Azam is a man whom Anwar last May described as having shown “extraordinary courage” in tackling high-level corruption.

“I believe, having observed the MACC over the decades, this is the first time they have dared to raid all the big bosses.

The MACC’s efforts, he said, will extend to high-profile individuals with honorific titles, and this requires political will and public support to maintain momentum.

So, is it reasonable to assume that the political will and public support arrived only last week, at the tail-end of an election campaign?

Reports must lead to action

Delays, excuses, and political calculations cannot be allowed to bury the truth. Every report - whether from an RCI, the auditor-general or MACC - must trigger action. It must be investigated and, where warranted, enforced without fear or favour.

Otherwise, these reports become little more than expensive paperwork: shielding the guilty while eroding public trust.

The Tabung Haji saga shows how withholding findings in the name of “stability” can breed impunity. For over three years, those implicated were free to go about their lives while depositors were kept in the dark.

Justice delayed is justice denied. If enforcement agencies could clear individuals without even reviewing the RCI’s findings, then the system itself is complicit.

Selective accountability, timed for political convenience, is no way to fight corruption. Reports must trigger investigations when they are produced, not be pulled off the shelf when political circumstances become convenient.

The public deserves answers, not excuses. Until every investigative report is treated as a call to action, corruption will remain a recurring headline rather than a resolved crime - and creative accounting will continue to find creative ways to flourish.

When the deputy prime minister got his discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA), Anwar had the gall to claim that those charges were faulty and part of a wider political persecution by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

And of course, laundering the reputation of a scandal-plagued politician like Zahid means that the same rule applies to the prime minister, as MIC helpfully pointed out in the prime minister’s KWAP row.

“At that time, Anwar relied on the same principle in making that appointment, namely that a person should not be punished before their guilt is proven in court.

“When Zahid was facing 47 charges in court, Anwar appointed him deputy prime minister. By the same principle, it is wrong for anyone to demand that he (Anwar) resign?” said MIC president SA Vigneswaran.

Umno rebuilds to Harapan’s cost

And what did Zahid do with his ministerial portfolio and as the second-most powerful man in the country?

Well, he rebuilt alliances within the civil services, engineered sub rosa alliances between Umno and various PAS emissaries at the state level, all the while making Madani look like a sham (which it was) but, more importantly, destroying the credibility of the prime minister and, of course, the DAP.

All those appointments Zahid made to strategic posts within and outside the government, all those moves sanctioned by Pakatan Harapan may seem like a fait accompli.

But look closer - all these positions are in some way connected not only to the mid-level echelons of the bureaucracy (which have vast influence) but also to service grassroots-level proxies in various states.

Folks go on about political appointments, but here is the thing: this was done not for the benefit of party stalwarts but mostly for Umno. And Umno, of course, smugly noticed.

Akmal claimed that Anwar understood the BN way of doing things when the prime minister said: “We must offer positions to qualified individuals as a gesture of appreciation for their decades of commitment and sacrifice.”

And what do you think all these Umno people did? Do you think they were working for the betterment of Madani? Do you think they wanted to see this unity government succeed?

When Madani was busy cracking down on progressive voices in the majority community, who do you think benefited? When the prime minister was busy burnishing his racial and Islamic credentials, who do you think this benefited?

Keep in mind that the prime minister had even extended an invitation for PAS to join Madani.

What does it say about the Madani government if PAS, which routinely demonises non-Malays, goes against the wishes of the royal institutions, and has proclaimed itself as the gatekeeper of Islam, joined this unity government?

Anwar’s coddling of the civil service - even apologising to them at one point, strengthening the religious bureaucracy, and cracking down on free speech benefits only Umno and whoever is hitching a ride on their coattails.

Lesser of two evils? Not anymore

These days, Harapan cannot even claim to be the lesser of two evils when it comes to corruption due to Madani’s perceived selective prosecution of certain individuals while protecting others.

This is what the Tabung Haji scandal clearly demonstrates. When former economy minister Rafizi Ramli said: “At that time, Anwar was very careful to protect Umno’s feelings, so the decision was made to bury the report,” you have to wonder what other corruption cases were covered up solely to protect Umno?

The fact that a jaded rakyat is resigning itself to BN again is perhaps Harapan’s greatest failing.

Now, Zahid wants Umno to go at it alone in the upcoming Malacca election, saying the party will only cooperate with others who come in good faith. This translates to any party that bends the knee to Umno.

This is how power is used, and it was given to Umno freely by Anwar and Madani.

Although I love dogs, punishment is needed when pets injure others.

But it’s more fuzzy when stray dogs with no owners attack others. One side says that unlike fierce breeds, street canines usually don’t bite people - unless they are provoked.

The other side says all strays are dangerous and must be hunted down mercilessly. This encourages boys to throw rocks at dogs, as some deem them “binatang kotor” (unclean animals). But dogs can detect hatred and may react in self-defence.

Yet many other animals are deemed “unclean”, including carnivores with fangs (lions, what about cats?), birds with talons (eagles) and also reptiles (lizards, iguanas).

Yet they don’t evoke the same hatred as dogs. Is it because canines are bred by non-Malays?

And not all dogs bite; some just bark. But some people on motorbikes panic and end up crashing as a result.

This happened at Taman Teluk Gedung Indah in Port Klang, when a youth was allegedly chased by several dogs. He lost control of his bike at a road bump and then crashed.

He injured his head and went into a coma, but has since recovered. The photo of him on a hospital bed went viral and seemed to be the trigger that sparked the vengeful mob.

Somehow, this was twisted into claims that Rocky had bitten someone.

But running triggers a dog’s natural instinct to chase you. As a teen, I once tried to outrun a barking dog on my bicycle and then fell.

The dog caught up with me but didn’t bite - my bruises were caused by my own panic. I never repeated that mistake.

The correct response is to stop, get off the vehicle, then look calmly at any aggressive dogs -  with compassion if possible - and they will back down. That’s how I’ve dealt with growling street dogs around the world without any problems.

Apart from freaking out, perhaps the motorcyclist didn’t wear a helmet. Is that how he injured his head badly after falling? Dog haters may hurl abuse at me, but let’s be honest and objective about what probably happened.

Compassion in Islam?

It’s disturbing that the crowd was still aggressive even though the lady was on her knees, wailing and begging for Rocky’s life. Even if the dog had no licence, surely some compassion could have been shown?

Islam teaches kindness. Muslims say “Bismillah” every day, invoking the name of the Most Gracious and Most Merciful God. But no quarter was shown to Rocky.

Were people with a “ketuanan” mindset bullying an Indian lady? If the dog was owned by a Mat Salleh, would they have behaved the same way?

Selangor’s Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin expressed deep sadness and anger over recent incidents of cruelty towards pets and stray animals.

Amazingly, this was the fifth time Her Majesty had spoken up about local councils in Selangor mistreating dogs, including in Banting, Shah Alam, and now MBDK. Surely a “royal” body should have higher standards?

I see this as a failure of the Pakatan Harapan state government, which controls Selangor local councils. We need elections for them to ensure they listen more to residents.

They should do this last good deed before they lose the next elections to the BN-PAS Malay wave.

Sadly, the royal reminder didn’t stop Malays from hurling dog hatred online and even insults against Her Majesty.

One comment went – when it comes to the pets of “bangsa asing” (foreign races), everybody makes noise, but when our children are bitten, all are quiet. One abusive fellow wrote, “Pi mampus la, anjing dah gigit org (go and die, the dog bit someone)”.

Another netizen accused Her Majesty of “talking too much” because the “Chinese were upset”. Another joker slammed her as an elite “T20 person” who didn’t understand reality.

If non-Malays had said similar things, they would have been quickly traced and arrested for insulting royalty.

Several Malays blamed the Indian lady for the dog’s death. Others shifted the topic to drunk drivers, the Carlsberg factory in Shah Alam, and even the death of fire and rescue personnel Adib Kassim during a riot. Anything to justify their prejudice.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman posted on Facebook that the threat from a few dogs cannot be used to justify another injustice.

But abuse was hurled at him in response, including that his fiancée, Bella, should be bitten by a dog. He then removed his post.

A mob mentality of online bullying seems prevalent. Did the dog hunting “volunteers” in Port Klang have a similar mindset?

Is this sense of racial grievance and victimhood due to political fearmongering? And provocations by cyber troopers that the Malays are “under threat”?

Fair compromise solutions

Three probes into the Rocky killing by the police, Veterinary Services, and the Housing and Local Government Ministry have been announced.

Amid this heated racially-coloured debate, we need calm, clear heads to find fair, compromise solutions.

1) Responsible pet ownership means keeping dogs on a leash outside the house. Local councils should follow the humane trap-neuter-release approach of the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) to control strays.

Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin advocated this in 2024. It’s also done in the Muslim city of Istanbul. Yet Selangor local councils have ignored this. Why?

2) What about cats? I once had a neighbour with eight cats that kept invading my garden to deposit their stinking poop. Nobody compensated me for this nuisance and source of disease. 

The dog haters should ask if people can go around catching or poisoning cats? If not, why is cruelty against dogs allowed?

3) Education is crucial. Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid said Islam doesn’t support cruelty towards dogs, but instead calls for compassion.

The correct ways to deal with stray dogs, as mentioned earlier, should be spread online too.

4) Any dog catching operations must be limited to council officers, not “volunteers” who may become vigilantes. Offering money to catch strays, as done in Shah Alam in 2024, only encourages more cruelty.

Some may even catch licensed dogs for the money. High redemption fees to release captured dogs are a blatant attempt to tax dog lovers. It’s probably more useful to offer money to catch litterbugs, dirty eateries, and corrupt officials. 

Sadly, the killing of Rocky has become a racial issue and exposed how Malaysian society is “retak menanti belah” (cracked and waiting to be split open). We can’t go on this way.

Did Anwar break his promise? When asked about the appointments in late 2022, he reportedly quipped that the public can expect some political appointments to be made in GLCs, dismissing suggestions that he is outright against the idea.

“I never said that individuals involved in politics cannot be part of (GLC) management. However, they should be bound by certain conditions and have the required qualifications in the relevant fields.

“There is a possibility that several political figures or MPs will be assigned (to GLCs), but we will set the guidelines on the required level of an individual’s professional ability, his past performance, and compliance with the rules of governance.”

Changing stance

But by May last year, he appeared to shift his position.

A Malay Mail report cited Anwar during his winding-up speech at the PKR national congress, where he said appointments are a “reward” that individuals deserve for their service and contributions to the success of the political party that eventually forms the government.

The immediate retort came from Ideas: “This narrative sends a dangerous message that public roles can be handed out like political souvenirs, rather than earned through merit and competence.”

The royal commission of inquiry report on the mismanagement of Tabung Haji was explicit – apportioning blame, among others, to politicians who sat on the boards of the organisation and subsidiaries.

Political involvement in its management, which extended to after the change of government from BN to Harapan in 2018, undermined the institution’s credibility and influenced key financial decisions, the report noted.

This exposed the pilgrimage fund’s decisions to political criticism and ultimately damaged public confidence in the institution, the report read.

The inquiry found that political considerations influenced major financial decisions, including the rate of profit distribution, or hibah, haj payments, and the provision of haj financial support.

A passive director

In response, former Tabung Haji chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim maintained that he had no absolute authority over the pilgrimage fund’s management, saying he only played a non-executive role during his 2013-2018 tenure.

Azeez stressed that he was not involved in the fund’s daily operations or investment decisions, explaining that all proposals were vetted by Tabung Haji’s management before being served to the board.

According to the former Baling MP, the board met once a month to deliberate on papers that covered investment proposals, governance matters, bonus and hibah payments, as well as other administrative issues.

“I had no authority to sign cheques or ask people what they were doing. No, no. Everything would only be reported to the board every month,” Azeez added.

But the Companies Commission states that a director must exercise reasonable care and skill expected of a person of his experience and be diligent in managing the company's affairs.

“Thus, there is no such thing as a passive director. A director who is passive by not being involved in the company’s management may have breached his duty of care, skill, and diligence.

“When evaluating significant deals, contracts, new hires, investors, and business partners, directors may rely on the advice or opinion of the board member, engage experts or professional consultants who are believed to be reliable and competent to provide information.”

So, Azeez’s assertions and excuses are indefensible. Is he admitting incompetency or a breach of the Companies Act by being ignorant of his statutory duties?

Test of Anwar’s reform credentials

Anwar came to power promising to dismantle the patronage system. Less than three years later, that promise lies in tatters. The revolving door of political appointees has swung wide open, ushering in Umno warlords and party loyalists who treat statutory bodies and GLCs as spoils of victory.

The Tabung Haji scandal is proof of what happens when politics infects governance: credibility collapses, financial decisions are warped, and public trust evaporates.

To describe appointments as “rewards” is to reduce public institutions into political spoils - a contradiction of the reformist agenda Anwar campaigned on and a dangerous precedent for Malaysia’s future.

The question now is whether Anwar is willing to confront this contradiction.

Will he review these appointments and follow the principle of merit-based governance, or will he allow Umno’s grip to tighten and let reform remain only a slogan?

If he fails to confront this rot, history may not remember him as the leader who promised change, but as the prime minister who allowed political expediency to overwhelm reform.

Malaysia deserves better than recycled patronage presented as governance.

Also, as far as optics go, a politician would normally attempt to gain some coverage by taking pictures with folks who were on the receiving end of injustice by the system. But here in Madani, everything is backwards.

Rational Malaysians have to wonder why Liow would wander into a Madani shindig after all the state has alleged about his activities and is embraced by the political class.

This is the kind of chutzpah that is only cultivated in Malaysia. This is about a system that a majority of Malaysians vote for and then complain and engage in culture wars over, which buries the class conflicts embedded in the system.

While mainstream political coalitions are busy finding easily identifiable “enemies”, PSM identifies systemic deficiencies and misguided policies that essentially encourage the working-class to vote against their long-term interests.

The sight of Jeyakumar, PSM committee member R Karthiges, its Perak Youth member P Kesavan, and a farmer identified as Ho Pon Tien being carted away by police in Tambun during an eviction of farmers and then released is a reminder of Harapan’s failure.

The progressive forces in this country, which were supposed to bring hope to a certain section of the public, have completely failed the people who voted for them.

Liow et all getting their acquittals and DNAA shines a spotlight on the nexus between class, political power, and alleged criminality.

Indifference

It says a lot about the shamelessness of political operatives in who they choose to be seen with, not to mention gives a fig leaf of respectability to those who would ordinarily be shunned by the right-thinking citizens.

What happened in Tambun, the prime minister’s own parliamentary constituency - the scuffles, the bloodied face, and the arrests - are, in reality, the culmination of bureaucratic and political indifference and not some sort of performance theatre.

It is disheartening to read about huge crowds collecting money and food for people who are suffering injustice in another part of the world while looking at the photos of hardworking people who are toiling the land for our benefit but are marginalised by the supposedly reform-minded forces in this country.

These families have a history of doing the hard, often thankless jobs of working on farms and, let us be honest, far from the democratic and societal norms that privilege a certain class of urban people.

What PSM was doing was not only shining a spotlight on the system’s inequalities but also highlighting an integral part of Malaysian life, far from the bourgeois politics of the urban enclaves.

The prime minister knows exactly how to play the class card. Attempting to raise populist sentiment, he once called out the fat cat Malay plutocrat class, who claimed to have the best interests of the Malay polity at heart but in reality merely exploited them.

Anwar also said the quiet part out loud when he said, “I want to tell the leaders with the titles of ‘Tun’ and ‘Tan Sri’ who are rich - if you really want to save Malays, give them half of your billions in profits tomorrow.”

It is talk like this which frightens the more intelligent members of the religious extremist coalition going up against this coalition government.

If you look at Malay operatives from PSM, their class struggle rhetoric often highlights the socialistic underpinnings of their religion. That is why the state strictly controls religious narratives.

Ultimately, the existence of PSM and its failure to gain traction with the voting polity is an indictment not of the system but of a segment of the voting polity agitating for reform but content with the current paradigm.

Recognising southeast Sumatra as the Malays’ earliest home does not take anything away from what they went on to build on the peninsula.

If anything, it explains it.

How the peninsula became Tanah Melayu

For more than 2,000 years, the Straits of Malacca connected the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea - one of the busiest sea lanes on earth.

Rather than dividing Sumatra from the peninsula, the straits bound them together. Traders crossed back and forth. So did scholars, religious teachers and ruling families.

Alliances were made, trade networks grew, and cultural habits moved freely between both shores long before Malacca ever existed.

It was this constant traffic across the straits that eventually pulled the centre of gravity of Malay civilisation away from Sumatra and onto the peninsula.

The turning point came with the founding of the Malacca Sultanate around 1400. Its founder, Parameswara, was a prince from Palembang - in other words, from the old Sumatran heartland.

His crossing to the peninsula was not an isolated event; it was really just the most consequential instance of a movement that had been building for generations, as Malay rulers, traders and settlers kept crossing the straits in search of new opportunities.

Malacca had one enormous advantage: location. Ships from China, India, the Middle East and across the archipelago all converged there, turning it into more than a trading post – it became a hub of diplomacy, scholarship and religious exchange.

Malay became the language of regional trade. Islam embedded itself in the political and social life of the region. Malay ideas about kingship, law and court culture became the template that later sultanates across maritime Southeast Asia would copy.

It is fitting that Andaya calls Malacca the “standard-bearer” of Malay civilisation.

As Malacca’s influence grew, so did the meaning of the word “Melayu” itself. What had once described communities on the Sumatran coast gradually stretched to cover a much wider cultural and political identity.

By the early 1500s, the peninsula - not Sumatra - had become the centre of Malay political power, trade and culture.

That shift, not some original point of origin, is the real reason the peninsula came to be called Tanah Melayu.

What this means for Malay identity

This history also tells us something about what being “Malay” actually meant. Anthony Milner has made the point that “Malayness” was never just about bloodline.

Over centuries, it developed into something closer to a civilisational identity - built around language, Islam, loyalty to Malay rulers, and adherence to Malay custom.

Communities from Java, Minangkabau, the Bugis lands, Banjar and Aceh were gradually absorbed into this wider Malay world through assimilation.

Families of Arab, Indian and Chinese descent who adopted Islam, spoke Malay and lived by Malay custom were, in time, accepted as Malay too.

Malaysia’s Federal Constitution still reflects this. It defines a Malay by religion, language and custom - not by descent.

Why this matters?

Does any of this actually matter, beyond academic interest? I think it does – because our understanding of history should rest on evidence, not on inherited assumptions that nobody bothers to check.

Recognising southeast Sumatra as the Malays’ earliest home does not undermine the constitutional position of Malays today, nor does it diminish the peninsula’s central role in Malay history, or the achievements of the Malay sultanates and rulers.

Those belong to a different – later - chapter of the story, and there is no need to conflate the two.

If anything, the historical record makes the Malay story more impressive, not less. Starting from southeast Sumatra, the Malays built a civilisation whose reach went far beyond its original borders.

Their language became the lingua franca of maritime Southeast Asia. Their political traditions shaped one sultanate after another. Their literary, legal and cultural legacy is still felt across the region today.

History rarely stays still. It is not about fixed homelands or unchanging identities - it is about movement, adaptation and renewal. The Malays are a good example of exactly that.

Conclusion

So, was the Malay Peninsula the ancestral homeland of the Malays? The evidence does not really support that claim.

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READ MORE: COMMENT | History, homeland, and who belongs in Malaysia

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The earliest surviving written references to “Melayu”, together with the conclusions of leading historians, point instead to southeast Sumatra as the Malays’ original homeland.

It was only over the following centuries that the centre of Malay civilisation crossed the straits to the peninsula, where it eventually reached its fullest political, cultural and intellectual expression.

This is not just a technical correction. It is a reminder that peoples and civilisations rarely stay put in one place, frozen at one moment in time.

What makes the Malays remarkable is not a claim to some single, unbroken homeland - it is their ability to build, again and again, a civilisation that shaped the history of an entire region.