KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has admitted that Pakatan Harapan (PH) failed to convince the rakyat that it meant business when it came to addressing corruption during its 22 months in power.
The opposition leader said that despite overcoming the odds to take over federal power in May 2018, the coalition was not able to bring changes desired by the people.
Anwar, who is also PH chairman, added that the coalition also appeared to tolerate corrupt practices within the pact, but stopped short of elaborating.
“We succeeded (to form the government) in 2018, but not so much, as the changes we made were not able to prove to the rakyat that we really wanted to eradicate corruption, that we wanted to address the 1MDB issue and graft among Umno politicians.
“We seemed more tolerable with corruption among our own leaders, whom among them are traitors,” he said today, without mentioning names.
“And this was what led us to lose our direction in our struggle for reform,” he added in his speech during the launch of the 100 Arts and Literature Essays of the Reformation Era 2008-2011, here.
Earlier, Anwar had said that it made little difference if a new government only brings along minor improvements compared to its predecessor.
The Port Dickson MP said this does not represent the reform agenda that the PH coalition has been championing.
“Sometimes, we discuss reforms and are busy taking over power, but we do not represent (positive) changes and new views.
“If our programmes are almost the same with slight improvements, if corruption is only slightly addressed, and if we only assist the rakyat a bit more, this is not reform. Reform is doing our best to bring change,” he said.
Speaking on calls for a grand coalition either among Malay parties or one which includes other races, Anwar said this would mean nothing if the reform agenda is not championed. – The Vibes, December 29, 2020
