IT was great to read news about the YAB 10th Prime Minister setting an example of working together as a team to ensure the nation’s progress. For too long since 2018, we have been plagued by inescapable politics, sowing distrust between politicians and civil servants.

It wasn’t unheard of that supporting letter, which are often innocent and subject to internal government rules on procurement and processing, were being leaked to the media for political opponents to score cheap political points. Admittedly, when the 10th Prime Minister was sitting on the opposition bench, his team, led by Communications Director Fahmi Fadzil, took the lead on this.

But times are changing now. Anwar Ibrahim has changed. His orders not to air the government’s dirty laundry in public will reverberate throughout the corridors of power. After all, it’s only the fourth of January, and Fahmi Fadzil, the K-KOM minister, was reprimanding Digital Nasional Berhad (an MoF company responsible for our national 5G execution) on claims about good 5G progress.

Remember, this was an international collaboration with the world’s leading 5G equipment provider, free of allegations of intellectual property theft or data breaches transmitted to a specific military server belonging to a superpower currently accused of violating our maritime borders.

It would seem that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had enough and ordered this nonsense to stop.

Unfortunately, his Cabinet member missed this directive when he openly laid the blame at the feet of FINAS for not censoring the controversial movie Pulau, which reportedly attracted complaints over its trailers portraying girls in skimpy bikinis. Once again, the minister of communication found himself in hot water.

His comments on DNB reportedly would be captured by the market, as DNB attempted to reduce dependencies on public funds and raise capital through banking facilities, which obviously listened to market stories before deciding to assist our national 5G projects and reportedly would attract hundreds of billions in economic growth thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). Media statements or tweets from a minister are deemed so powerful that they could change our nation’s future.

Similarly, his comments on passing the buck to LPF and Finas sent a signal to our censorship board that they are on their own. Excessive censorship would mean our film industry, which apparently now no longer enjoys a minister’s protection on freedom of creativity to make profit, would suffer immensely.

I’m curious how long it will take the 10th Prime Minister to realize that his communication minister is inadequate.
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By Adam Sumardi, Media Analyst