YOURSAY | Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures

YOURSAY | 'Tolerance for ambiguity is such a vital trait in uncertain times.'

'Extraordinary situation' required PM to helm Finance Ministry – Rafizi

OCT: Malaysia is facing a complex and complicated situation that requires desperate measures to address desperate times. There is no silver bullet to resolve Malaysia’s problems. There are too many of them. You name it, Malaysia has it, from race, religion, party, economy, corruption, and many more.

It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong. When Malaysia is on the road to recovery, that will be the right solution. It’s not easy to fix national issues. The old guard is waiting to disrupt and steal back power if the government is not careful. So let’s support the government for a good start. You never try, you never grow. Like the Hokkien song, compete to win. It takes 70 percent hard work and 30 percent luck.

Just step outside, smoke a cigar and keep quiet. Stop quarrelling, close ranks, develop good guiding principles and best practices, and adopt proven technology. There are always spoilers, showstoppers and troublemakers around to see the government fail. Believe in yourself. Build a new Malaysia. The rakyat asks for an honest day’s work. Nothing more and nothing less.

MS: Economic Minister Rafizi Ramli is, of course, correct.  But Malaysians, by and large, cannot understand “extraordinary situations”. It is so alien to those who have been brought up to believe in a neat, unambiguous, world with good guys on one side and bad on the other. A binary world is made up of those who govern and those who oppose. Tolerance for ambiguity is such a vital trait in uncertain times.

Max Fury: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the finance minister, has the assistance of Petronas Adviser Hassan Marican and others so he is under their watchful eyes.

We should be in good hands. Let’s give Anwar a chance before we keep jumping on him. If he doesn’t perform then we can jump on him but until then we should just support him for the future of this country. Under the circumstances, the Finance Ministry is better held by Pakatan Harapan than by the other parties. We shouldn’t complain.

Goldstein: Anwar is the most qualified and experienced to take on the finance portfolio. It was during his time as finance minister back then that Malaysia recorded budget surpluses, where our nation’s income exceeded expenditures. Anwar was also recognised as the world’s best finance minister by Euromoney magazine and Asia’s Best Finance Minister by Asiamoney magazine back in the mid-90s.

Hence, I reckon it is highly likely that foreign investors and institutional foreign funds will be more confident to invest in Malaysia. Anwar will steer Malaysia out of the economic doldrums that we are facing now.

Nuyiko: You could solve the dilemma of who should be appointed finance minister by doing one of the following:

• Appoint a non-partisan well-respected professional as finance minister;

• Or Anwar quits PKR to be a non-partisan prime minister and finance minister.  

The fact that the post given to Anwar from Pakatan Harapan already crashed Rafizi’s defence.  Rafizi himself told us how having the same person holding the prime minister and finance minister posts can lead to power abuse and corruption. Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu once famously told us a joke when the former prime minister and finance minister Najib Abdul Razak needed money from Najib, Najib approved it and Najib gets the money.

Now, in less than two weeks after being in power, you have already eaten your words. Is this part of your manifesto? What kind of “reformasi” are you bringing? Come on, don’t start making Perikatan Nasional chief Muhyiddin Yassin and even PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang look better than you.

Milshah: My opinion, based on my experience with many of the commentators over the years, is that they do not accept the prime minister and finance minister to be the same person. They do not accept Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as deputy prime minister. They do not accept Umno-BN. They have been bashing Umno since the dawn of time, and then now act like Umno are the good guys?

Come on, who are they kidding?

The alternative will be a PAS-led government. This is what clouds their judgment towards accepting Zahid and Umno. Nothing more, nothing less.

A case of do what I say, don’t do what I do. Well, it is up to voters to decide whether they are okay with this arrangement or not. We will see proof of this in future by-elections and state elections.

BaiJeBo: It is not a perfect scenario that the prime minister also holds the portfolio of finance minister, admittedly. But at the same time, it is also a fact that the current situation faced by the government - or, to be more precise, by the prime minister and the coalition having the most number of seats, in this case, Harapan - is unprecedented, in that they need the support of their erstwhile nemesis, BN.

Hence, I accept Rafizi’s explanation. In this regard, I hope the opposition can perform an effective role of check and balance. And, the government can take the initiative to have a shadow cabinet formed to monitor the performance of the various ministries, including the finance minister.

Sugar Glider: I think under the circumstances, Harapan should think of appointing a qualified professional/businessperson who is not a member of any political party, in the same way Religious Affairs Minister Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, a senator, was appointed.  

That way, you can fulfil the basic accounting internal control doctrine of segregation of duties. There is also the possibility that if Anwar turns out to be a good finance minister, he might be a  lousy prime minister because these are two separate roles requiring different full-time personnel.

People are still fearful of how the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fiasco occurred with the prime minister and finance minister being the same person. Remember, Malaysia had the infamy of having the biggest fraud/corruption case in the world. Will we never learn?

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