Pig, temple and Azam.
Politics is all about perception, and the public perception now isn’t positive for the Anwar administration. The Madani government is perceived as increasingly untrustworthy, racist, radical, double-faced, double-standard, hypocritical and worse – even anti-Chinese and anti-Hindu. That’s really bad for the Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan alliance, which depends on ethnic Chinese and Indian votes.
The Malaysian prime minister’s approval rating was 68% in December 2022, shortly after taking office. Even then, Pakatan Harapan won only 82 seats in the 222-seat parliament, insufficient to form a simple-majority government on its own. A year later, it dropped to 50% in 2023. Approval of Anwar’s performance plunged to 33% before climbing to 46% by the end of 2025, but it remains below the 50% threshold.
The cost of living, corruption, expansion of the Sales and Service Tax (SST), tax refunds delay, new electricity tariff structure, inflation, job opportunities, and ethnic rights were some of the dissatisfactions with Anwar’s performance. If another survey is to be done now, chances are his approval rating would have dropped again due to three new factors – pig farming, Hindu temples and Azam Baki.
It’s not hard to see how the pig farming crisis in Selangor, the most developed state and the crown jewel of Anwar’s own political party PKR (People’s Justice Party), would cost Pakatan Harapan so many Chinese votes that its component parties – PKR, DAP and Amanah – could lose the state in the next election. Phasing out all pig farms in the state governed by Pakatan Harapan is a recipe for disaster.
Sure, hardcore supporters could argue till foaming at the mouth that it was the Sultan of Selangor who decreed the total ban on pig farming due to environmental pollution, odour issues, land constraints, and whatnot. But why shut down all pig farms and not chicken farms? Ahh, that’s because only non-Malays eat pork, whilst Malays do not. That’s the Chinese perception.
It doesn’t matter that Selangor Chief Minister Amirudin Shari, a vice-president of PKR closely aligned to Anwar’s dynastic politics, is cracking down on pig farming under the pretext of complying with the royal decree. The Chinese community only know one thing – it’s the Pakatan Harapan government (not even the previous racist Barisan Nasional government) that is responsible for ending pig farming in the state.
The Pakatan state government simply cannot explain satisfactorily why, after decades of pig farming, it has become a toxic issue now. At best, the Amiruddin administration was not interested in protecting the Chinese interests. At worst, the Pakatan Harapan government was working silently behind the scenes to systematically wipe out Chinese culture under Anwar’s radical Islamisation agenda.
Either way, the demoralised ethnic Chinese have little incentive to continue voting for PKR, DAP or Amanah. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) was handed 40 parliamentary seats by 95% of Chinese voters in the November 2022 General Election to defend and protect minority interests. Yet, under the spineless and cowardly leadership of Anthony Loke Siew Fook, the Chinese continue to be bullied and oppressed.
The fact that Transport Minister Loke had to reassure the Chinese Malaysian community that there would be enough pork to go around for the current Chinese New Year speaks volumes about the Chinese anger. The calm before the storm could see a Chinese tsunami hitting DAP in Peninsular after the party, drunk with power and arrogance, was annihilated in the Sabah state election last year.
The Chinese, making up 22% of the country’s 34 million population, sent 40 DAP MPs to the Parliament not to play or scratch marbles. If they choose to keep silent while the Chinese essential cuisine is taken away, then the voters have no reason to vote exclusively for DAP. The Chinese can split their votes for DAP, MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association), Gerakan, or even opposition to teach Pakatan Harapan a lesson.
As the largest party in the ruling coalition, it’s both pathetic and deplorable that Anthony had to beg the community, which his party claims to represent, to believe that there is sufficient pork. If the DAP secretary-general can’t even stop a low-ranking UMNO racist like Akmal Saleh from terrorising Chinese businesses, what guarantee can he offer that roast pork would be available at every yearly reunion dinner?
The forked-tongue PM Anwar could easily use the flimsiest excuse to ban the import of pork to gradually deny the Chinese access to pork, and there’s nothing DAP under the weak leadership of Anthony Loke could do. Crucially, Selangor, supposedly a progressive state, could set a bad precedent for other states to also ban pig farming, making it even harder for the community to access pork.
While Selangor state, under Amirudin, is busy cracking down on pig farms, the federal government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has happily issued an executive order to crack down on Hindu temples. Stating that the government will not tolerate the construction of temples or shrines on land that is not legally owned, Anwar’s order – interestingly – was also supported by the Sultan of Selangor.
Again, like the pig farming, the Indian voters will remember it’s the Pakatan Harapan government that declares war on the Hindus’ house of worship, potentially crushing 687 unauthorised Hindu temples in Selangor alone. Adding salt to the wound, Anwar appears to be mocking the Hindus, lecturing them to obey the law when building temples, but in reality, the enforcement of law and government policies gives preferential treatment to certain races and religions.
Anwar’s holier-than-thou lecture is a repeat of how he mocked the Indian community in May 2024, telling them not to be “jealous” of the government’s double-standard efforts to assist the Bumiputera (Malay and indigenous) community. He bragged about RM100 million allocated for the Indians, but gave away RM2.6 billion for the notorious JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) and even RM200 million for Hamas-Palestine.
The Premier claimed that the temple’s issue was about equal application of the law, not denying religious rights. However, when applications are made for houses of worship for Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, most of the time they are met with obstacles. This has led to the spread of religious structures built without approval, thanks to administrative failures and discrimination.
Rather than tactically relocating decades-old temples, Anwar recklessly wanted to demolish them to show he’s a Malay-Muslim hero. Last year, the prime minister provocatively declared “Victory” after he arrogantly bulldozed the construction of the “Madani Mosque” in Kuala Lumpur. To make way for the mosque, the 130-year-old Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple was forced to be relocated some 50 metres away.
While Anwar conveniently accused the temple of being old and not legally approved, the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple actually applied to convert the land title to that of a land reserve for a non-Muslim place of worship in 2012, but as expected, the application was rejected. Having been scammed by Anwar’s MGR’s dance to fish for Indian votes, the Hindus now would think twice about voting for Pakatan Harapan.
Inspired by Anwar’s brilliant anti-Hindu temple order, four Malays happily trespassed and demolished a temple in Rawang, Selangor. The PM pretended to be concerned, warning against taking the law into one’s own hands, but the damage is done. The culprits would never be sent to jail because their skin colour, race and religion are the same as Anwar Ibrahim.
It was already bad that banning pig farming and demolishing temples had made the Chinese and Indians furious. It becomes worse when Anwar, still drunk with power, is fighting tooth and nail to defend his indefensible corrupt errand boy – MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki. Despite Bloomberg’s reports of Azam’s irregular stock buying and involvement in “corporate mafia”, the PM insisted that the anti-corruption agency is clean.
Even King Sultan Ibrahim appears to disagree with the prime minister, warning that the MACC is on his radar. Anwar’s stubbornness in protecting Azam has sparked displeasure from ethnic Malay, the same community that had abandoned the previous ruling government – United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) – under ex-PM Najib Razak due to the infamous 1MDB scandal.
Azam Baki’s scandals could blow up in the face of Anwar, the same way Najib lost power in the May 2018 General Election. Anwar shares Najib’s ignorance and arrogance of power. More importantly, Anwar’s astonishing stubbornness in not suspending the MACC chief has raised suspicion that the prime minister is as corrupt as Najib and creates a perception that he has some dirty laundry in his closet.
Exactly what is so special about Azam Baki that he enjoys the special privilege of not having to take leave during the investigation into his scandal, but other heads of agencies must? Every Tom, Dick and Harry can predict the distraction of the so-called Special Investigation Committee headed by the Anwar-appointed Attorney General. In fact, every member of the committee reports to the prime minister.
The distrust in the Special Investigation Committee has led to a public protest against Azam Baki on February 15, calling for the arrest of the anti-graft chief. The demonstration was the biggest since Malaysians rallied to demand government action against Israel over the Gaza war in October. It would be too late if Bersih organises a mega rally against the Madanistan government due to one man’s arrogance.
With the Malays, Chinese and Indians stacked against Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan, it’s not hard to predict how it could lose Selangor. It’s worth noting that the coalition already lost 11 seats in the 2023 Selangor state election, winning only 34 seats from 45 previously. A swing of 17.8% Malay votes saw the alliance’s popular vote plunge to 1,621,820 votes in 2023.
And Anwar’s PKR was the biggest loser, losing 9 seats to the opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition. In the next election, a swing of only 10% could see DAP, PKR and Amanah losing at least 10 more seats in Selangor – effectively sending them to the opposition. Clearly, you don’t need so many disgruntled Chinese or Indians to boycott Pakatan Harapan by staying at home.
No amount of censorship imposed by Propaganda Minister Fahmi Fadzil in blocking and blacklisting websites critical of Anwar’s leadership would help reverse the protest votes simply because the prime minister and his obedient sidekick, Anthony Loke, have done a marvellous job in making the Chinese and Indians super angry. The best part is that Pakatan Harapan’s top leadership is still in denial even after it was wiped out in Sabah. – Finance Twitter