Anwar should take care of his own backyard.
You know Anwar Ibrahim is desperate to distract from domestic problems when he is inviting – again – people to attend solidarity with the Palestinians. Exactly how many times does he plan to flog a dead horse? What was he actually trying to achieve by screaming, whining, moaning and bitching till foaming at the mouth over a foreign conflict that not even the Arab World has any interest in solving?
Sure, it’s indeed nice to lead thousands of Malay-Muslims to express support for Hamas-Palestinians, flying Palestinian flags and cursing the Zionist regime. Hilariously, previous prime ministers had done the same for the past 30 years, but nothing has changed. Actually, ex-PM Mahathir Mohamed was the one who started the anti-Israel propaganda during his 22 years of iron-fist rule (from 1981 to 2003).
Back then, Dr Mahathir, fond of describing Jews as “hook-nosed” and known for “anti-Semitism”, desperately needed a common Muslim enemy to unite the ethnic Malay, the only vote bank of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which he was leading. It was super easy to brainwash the Malays then, using the government-controlled news media like newspapers and television.
Anti-Israel was just a rhetorical and political tool to trick the UMNO-Malay lemmings into thinking that only UMNO can defend Islam and protect the Muslims. It was similar to the racist and discriminatory policy NEP (New Economic Policy) derived from “Ketuanan Melayu”, the ideology of Malay supremacy espoused by UMNO. The purpose was clear – to maintain political power.
While Ketuanan Melayu was to instil the dubious perception that the Malays under UMNO are first-class citizens (and allow Elite Malays like Mahathir and Najib to quietly plunder the national coffers) and an incredibly special race, which justifies the bullying of minorities Chinese and Indians to second or even third-class citizens, anti-Jews was to project an image that UMNO has a fearless and outspoken Muslim world leader.
Yes, the Palestinian issue – whether sincerely or not – has been an excellent political tool. Historically, Arab rulers used the Palestinian cause to build legitimacy for their rule. Heck, even the ISIS terrorist group had tried to hijack Palestinian Jihad as its own and to create the utopian Islamic State. In fact, the Hamas’ October 7 attack displayed tactics that were remarkably similar to those of the Islamic State group.
On paper, the Gulf states appear to love Palestine and wish to see all Israeli aggression against the Palestinians stopped and the occupation ended. In reality, they only use the issue to boost their own image by having useless meetings for photo opportunities. The best proof was Anwar’s jetting to attend the Arab-Islamic Summit in Nov 2024 and leaving empty-handed after a photo session with Arab leaders.
Because Israel-Palestine has been one of the unifying factors for the Arabs and Muslims in terms of nationalism, every Muslim and Arab leader is milking it, including Mahathir and now Anwar. Likewise, Iran uses its support for Palestine as a tool to advance its geopolitical objectives, including challenging the US and Israeli influence in the Middle East, as well as to undermine its bitter rival, Saudi.
Hamas, a military and political organisation funded by Iran, was nothing but one of the terrorist branches of Tehran. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel aimed to torpedo approaching diplomatic normalisation between the Jewish state and Arab heavyweight Saudi Arabia. Despite so-called public support for the Palestinians, in truth, nearly every Arab state has long viewed the Palestinians with “fear and loathing.”
There’s a reason why, when Israel began its revenge by attacking Hamas and Gaza, Arab states like Egypt have continued to refuse to admit Palestinians from across the border. This is where desperadoes like Anwar Ibrahim do not fully understand the history from the Arab side – the reluctance of other Arabs to come to the Palestinians’ aid in spite of Israel’s slaughtering.
While Saudi Arabia continues to hold the door open for a peace agreement with Israel, its allies like the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain didn’t even withdraw ambassadors. Jordan did, but of course, with about half of its population being Palestinian, Jordan has a particular problem. But Jordan still remembers how the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) tried to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy in 1970.
Before that, on 20 July 1951, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated while visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by Mustafa Shukri Ashu, a Palestinian tailor’s apprentice associated with a radical group seeking an independent Palestinian state. And it was not a coincidence when Jordan’s Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tel was assassinated in November 1971 following the PLO’s eviction from Jordan.
Almost all the Arab governments were united on one point – the Palestinians were a threat, a foreign population that should be weakened if not exterminated. It is noteworthy that there is no Palestinian population in Egypt. The only Palestinians in Egypt are those who fled there to escape the war in Gaza. Egypt fears history will repeat itself, and a large Palestinian refugee population from Gaza will end up staying for good.
Actually, the current war in Gaza can end almost immediately if Hamas frees all hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has declared to destroy Gaza City if Hamas does not agree to disarm and release all remaining hostages. The burning question is why PM Anwar Ibrahim has never urged his Muslim Brotherhood Hamas to do so?
That’s because Hamas will lose its last bargaining chip if it releases all remaining hostages, leading to its own demise. It demands not only a permanent ceasefire, but also a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza before doing so. But if Hamas were to release all the hostages, the Jewish state would also lose all its legitimacy to remain in Gaza. Hence, Hamas actually wants the war to continue.
In other words, if all hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed or loses power in Gaza, Israel would have no choice but to withdraw. But a peaceful Gaza means bad business for politicians like Anwar, as he can no longer weaponise Palestinians for political gains. This is the only conflict where Muslim leaders can profit politically, unlike conflicts elsewhere where Muslims butcher fellow Muslims.
Instead of worrying about a foreign conflict which is more than 7,000 kilometres away, which Anwar can’t possibly solve anyway, he should instead take care of his own backyard. Rather than wasting public money and resources in organising another fruitless rally in solidarity with Palestine, the prime minister should rally against rampant bullying, corruption, racism, and extremism.
As bullying in Malaysia has been rising at an alarming pace, with thousands of cases reported in schools and other educational institutions each year, PM Anwar’s useless and clueless education minister, Fadhlina Sidek, has been sleeping on the job. The Education Ministry recorded 3,883 reported cases of bullying in primary and secondary schools in 2022 alone, and the number skyrocketed to 6,528 cases in 2023.
All hell broke loose after the recent death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir in Sabah due to bullying, so much so that it is threatening the Anwar government. Her death in July led to street protests in several cities and unleashed grief and anger across the nation – partly over double standards in meting out justice, and largely over accusations of a cover-up by the authorities to protect a powerful political figure.
Johor resident Siti Suhana Misdi revealed how her 10-year-old son, Izzul Islam Azuan Isaidi, was bullied twice in 2025 – in February and August. In another case – one of the worst in the country – 20-year-old Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, a military cadet officer at the National Defence University of Malaysia, was tortured with a steam iron at the military university’s hostel by fellow students.
Obviously, the PM can’t bash the Zionist regime in those domestic bullying cases, not to mention he can’t milk it to gain Malay votes, as both the culprits and victims were mostly Malays or Bumiputeras. So, he had to keep quiet till the anti-government protest exploded. Even when the bullying involved non-Malays and Malays, the spineless Anwar still kept quiet as the bully was UMNO-Malay.
The undisputed bully – UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh – has been wreaking havoc in the country thanks to PM Anwar’s silence of approval, leading to bullying, intimidating, threatening and destroying of ethnic Chinese businesses. Worse, racist Akmal received an open endorsement from UMNO deputy president Mohamad Hasan to continue his bullying crusade.
Like it or not, to a certain extent, the current bullying culture can be traced back to UMNO’s 60 years of discrimination, racism, extremism and bullying politics. Monkey sees monkey do – it’s not a coincidence that the majority of the bullying happened in government schools. They saw – and learned – how UMNO-Malay thugs got away after attacking the Chinese and Indians, the “punching bags”.
But bullying was just one of the problems the prime minister tries to distract from using the Israel-Palestine conflict. Corruption is still business as usual even after Anwar Madani crossed the mid-term since the November 2022 General Election. He shamelessly used the current multi-coalition Unity Government to justify the lack of reforms and to lie about combating corruption.
From dropping corruption charges against UMNO leaders such as Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi to slashing the jail sentence for former Prime Minister Najib Razak, and from promoting a pro-UMNO Chief Justice to covering up corruption committed by Sabah politicians aligned to him, the pathetic Anwar is doing everything to encourage cancerous corruption rather than fighting the disease within society.
The arrest of former Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) intelligence officers linked to a network of smugglers in the tobacco, cigarette and cigar smuggling was just the tip of an iceberg in Malaysia’s corruption culture. It was only after King Sultan Ibrahim ordered the Defence Ministry to scrap plans to acquire ageing Black Hawk helicopters – calling it “flying coffins” – that PM Anwar began parroting the monarch’s disappointment about corruption.
However, there’s one massive scandal that could bring down Anwar that he is trying very hard to distract from – corruption plaguing his former political secretary-turned-crony Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak. If Mahathir had enriched his family through cronies like Vincent Tan, Ananda Krishnan and Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, crony Salvador to Anwar is like partner-in-crime Jho Low to Najib.
If the premier is really serious about fighting the Zionist regime, he should send Malaysian troops, armed with unsinkable Scorpene submarines purchased by his buddy Najib, to Gaza to free the Palestinians. He should also ban – not invite – Donald Trump from attending the upcoming ASEAN summit in October. After all, the US is the biggest military supporter and financier of Israel.
Clearly, the pro-Hamas Anwar is desperate to divert attention from dozens of domestic issues, especially the escalating cost of living, stagnant wages, higher electricity and water tariffs, scrapping of fuel subsidies and unaffordable housing. The Gaza crisis can end tomorrow if Hamas releases all remaining hostages. But like Hamas, Anwar doesn’t want that to happen. – Finance Twitter