No time for a honeymoon

CALL it nervousness or excitement, but even a seasoned politician like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must have felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the Balairong Seri at Istana Negara under the watchful gaze of Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’aya-tuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.

At the swearing-in ceremony as the 10th Prime Minister on Thursday, Anwar must surely have been feeling a little dazed as he received his letter of appointment from the King.

The palace is a place where protocol is followed to a T, and perhaps not many people noticed it during the live broadcast but Anwar, instead of at first reading out his oath and loyalty letter before the King, walked straight to another desk to sign the document. There were a few seconds of confusion before a senior palace official quickly signalled to the newly-minted Prime Minister to follow protocol, and Anwar quickly regained his composure and retraced his steps to stand before the King again.

The swearing-in ceremony was over in barely 20 minutes but the next five years will be long ones for the 75-year-old Anwar as he attempts to lead Malaysia back on track.

As the euphoria settles, the country is waiting for Anwar to appoint his Cabinet. In a brief press conference after checking in at his office at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya, Anwar promised the size of his Cabinet will be smaller than the previous one.

Just like in the last one week, when a series of meetings between political parties were held to put together a coalition with the majority to form a government, the next few days will also see meetings not only among politicians but, hopefully, also with senior civil servants on the direction that this unity government will take.

Anwar is a name that is well-known internationally and he has foreign networking with certain countries that few Malaysian politicians can match.

Anwar’s first press conference – which Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil described as a “wonderfully messy affair” in an AlJazeera interview – was interrupted when an aide told him Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the phone. For a few minutes the Turkish President was put on loudspeaker for the world to hear Anwar being congratulated by his friend. A similar conversation took place separately with Indonesia’s Joko Widodo, which Anwar also put on speaker. That call was uploaded on his social media.

“He is too excited. He should exercise more decorum and find a private space in which to speak,” said one diplomat.

One of the Cabinet posts many look forward to being filled is the Foreign Minister. Former foreign minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the Foreign Ministry needs a minister who is flamboyant in his intellect and style.

“He should be an international person who is confident, eloquent and can articulate effectively,” said Syed Hamid, who is one of the country’s longest-serving foreign ministers.

“He must be knowledgeable and have superb interpersonal relationships with staff. Definitely he has first to learn how the Foreign Ministry functions. He should be able to understand the difference between policies and initiatives and operate within those constraints,” he added.

For a very long time Wisma Putra used to be Malaysia’s leading agency on global issues, be it human rights, the environment or geopolitical developments, but over the years that leading role has been taken up by other ministries and agencies.

When the issues are diverse and cut across several other subjects, ministries should be coordinating with each other but that appears to be lacking, and as a result Malay-sia’s leading role on several issues has lost steam.

“There is a gap in what is being discussed at the international and domestic levels. Some agencies want to monopolise issues.

“Sometimes we should only blame ourselves for being ‘syok sendiri’ and thinking we are too good. When we talk on certain issues, other countries have so many initiatives and, unfortunately, we are not there,” said an official.

“We are so bogged down with our own problems that we have become narrow in our focus and we lack that element of how to project Malaysia’s role on some of these issues,” he said.

Whoever is appointed to lead Wisma Putra must remember that in conducting foreign relations, apart from having basic skills such as ability and willingness to engage with counterparts, Malaysia’s national interests as a sovereign nation must be given the utmost priority.

Malaysia must not falter or waver at the slightest threat from another country, especially the superpowers.

“We need to be principled and believe in the very core of our foundation,” said a diplomat.

Foreign policy is an extension of domestic policies and, sometimes, the foreign minister must work together with his or her Cabinet colleagues and convince them that Malaysia must meet certain international benchmarks, whether they are laws, conventions or practices.

The future foreign minister should hear the views of different parties with an open mind.

Malaysia is respected at the international level despite our size due to our principled positions on various issues, and many times we have proven to be a bridge between major powers as Malaysia is friendly with many, if not all.

Let’s not lose our way.