Previous governments were seduced by employers to allow the cheap import of labour to increase production, depressing wages for millions of Malaysians for decades after.

This was particularly vicious under the Umno government, during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 22-year first reign as prime minister from 1981-2003.

The import of labour was not only uncontrolled but gave rise to many corrupt activities resulting in employers and workers paying huge amounts in service fees which benefited neither them nor the workers but instead made many Umno cronies rich and even some ministers.

The first step in fighting poverty is therefore a phased control of migrant labour so that local labour gets its due wages. Malaysia cannot depend on cheap labour for production but must instead, move up to greater automation and better trained workers whose productivity is better.

It’s a lengthy process, starting with education and changing employers’ addiction to cheap overseas labour to keep their costs down.

The issue of vocational training too needs to be addressed and measures to increase self-employment. Tough as it is, it has to be done.

For a start, training programmes in certain key industries may be needed as imported labour is phased out. Also, when corruption and the infamous middlemen are cut out altogether, even the cost of imported labour can go down and the benefits passed on to the workforce.

Commit to minimum wage, eradicate graft

The government should commit to the minimum wage and set a target to increase it yearly by say three to five percentage points above the inflation rate.

That will force employers to increase productivity, aided by government incentives and training programmes for locals.

Next, corruption. The key problem is that dirty word called patronage where people in power dish out projects to their cronies at ridiculously favourable rates.

Thus, we have concession holders who reap billions in profits in areas such as independent power production, water and tolled roads, as well as numerous construction projects.

Each of these has layers of corruption including political donations, money into individual pockets for awarding work, kickbacks in numerous contracts, etc - all of which cost billions to the people and result in inefficiencies. Even outright theft of borrowed money as in 1MDB is a problem.

The country simply cannot afford that scale of corruption, perpetuated and developed to a coarse art, rising to intolerable proportions under none other than Umno which Harapan does not seem to be able to control despite its 81 parliamentary seats against Umno’s 26.

We have an Umno deputy prime minister who faced 47 charges of corruption but received an inexplicable discharge not amounting to acquittal.

Many other Umno bigshots brought to court in Harapan’s brief first time in power post the 2018 elections in similar situations have been similarly fortunate. Why?

In short, there is little substance out there so far which has been proposed or which has been implemented to deal adequately and tellingly with either poverty or corruption.

With huge challenges facing Anwar and little to show after one and half years in power, one should excuse us if we show some scepticism over what he says. It’s up to the prime minister to prove us wrong – and we would be delighted if he does.