“SO how is New York? I haven’t been able to see it,” asked Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with a laugh before the start of a press conference with Malaysian media on September 22.
We were at the Hilton Midtown in Manhattan on the last agenda of the Prime Minister’s four-day whirlwind visit to the Big Apple.
Anwar may have been in the City that Never Sleeps for four days but he mostly got himself acquainted with meeting rooms and suites as he courted American and International corporate leaders, thought influencers, civil society personalities like John Kerry, as well as world leaders from Turkiye, Iran, Iraq, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka, among many.
The little bits he saw of the skyscrapers and busy streets were during the walks he took between meetings with his entourage.
“It made more sense to walk than to take the motorcade,” quipped Datuk Yubazlan Yusof, a senior Wisma Putra official who led the team that facilitated the logistics of the Prime Minister’s delegation and media.
New York’s legendary traffic jams make it more efficient for the Prime Minister who instructed his team to slot in as many meetings as they could to maximise the short time that he had in the United States.
“He would be anxious if he had too much time between meetings,” said his private secretary Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah.
“We wanted him to pace himself a little as he also needs to rest but he would have none of it,” said Nashrul.
Anwar, indeed, was a man in a hurry. With a lot at stake back home with regard to a wounded economy and a widening B40 category, he needed to court as many investors as possible.
However, he probably need not have worried as much as before he arrived as Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Aziz had good news in the form of an immediate RM2 billion investment from Alton Industry and Top Line Furniture.
Potential investors were also met at the Bursa Malaysia-hosted Invest Malaysia and a roundtable with Fortune 500 companies.
The Prime Minister also had four-eyed meetings in his suite with the likes of Google, Siemens Healthineers, Phillip Morris and Boeing to name a few.
“I must say I have never seen this kind of enthusiasm for a Malaysian delegation in a long time,” said a senior Wisma Putra official.
His observation was echoed by Scoop’s very own executive director Datuk Ahirudin Attan @ Rocky Bru, a veteran of Prime Ministerial international delegations.
In fact Anwar himself revealed that there were many requests to meet with him but he could not accommodate all of them.
September 22 – Anwar’s last official day started with what is in fact supposed to be the highlight of his visit which is his maiden address as Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Anwar presented Malaysia’s stand on conflicts and rights abuses in Ukraine, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Palestine aimed at returning Malaysia’s voice on the international stage.
He also presented the MADANI concept which is clothed in the universal ideals of good governance and social justice.
Was the international community, especially investors curious about the unity government and its longevity where once warring factions have become partners?
“At the beginning, yes – but it has been 10 months and the question does not come up anymore,” Tengku Zafrul said.
“They have seen how we work together and that we are stable.”
Anwar, meanwhile, told Invest Malaysia that the solid number of MPs (147) in the Government bloc would mean an easier enactment of laws and decisions.
However the Prime Minister was a little grim when asked about how he is going to navigate the Government bureaucracy to ensure the hard work of drawing investors is not sabotaged by apathy and Little Napoleons.
“I have zero tolerance for bureaucracy,” he said, adding that his ministers will be facilitating in fast-tracking some of the approvals for foreign businesses.
He also expressed his embarrassment of being told by the foreign business community of how approvals are stalled by Malaysian red tape.
Talks of a Cabinet reshuffle have been imminent with the lax performances of some ministers and at least one under whose watch drew the attention of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Auditor-General.
However what one did not bank on was even before Anwar’s plane touched back down in Kuala Lumpur on September 24, several movements among the civil servants were already being announced with the transfers and promotions of several secretaries-general.
It appears that while Malaysia is open for business, in the coming days, Anwar will also be showing that he means business.
Anwar was also not coy about displaying his Islamic credentials and promoting moderate Islam at a time when PAS – dubbed by some Americans met here as a radical Islamic political party – appears to be making inroads, ruling four states.
He is the first government leader to be invited to deliver the Friday sermon at the prestigious Islamic Cultural Centre near Harlem.
Anwar took the opportunity to present a version of Islam that is inclusive, moderate and progressive – one that appeals to not spook foreigners who wish to invest, live and work in Malaysia.
The sermon culminated in him witnessing and facilitating the conversion of a young man, Andrew Vinals.
It is obvious that the international community is looking at Anwar-led Malaysia for regional leadership – especially with the increased tensions between the US and China.
“We are a small country. We are not saying that we can be a go-between the two countries but certainly we can help reduce the temperature,” he told the Invest Malaysia forum.
Of course, he was also challenged on the progress of some of his reforms with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) being posed as a question by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
This is a topic where Anwar cannot seem to win. That he does not interfere is something that many find difficult to believe – despite the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary and the prosecution arm being among his reform pledges in the past 25 years.
There is still the belief that the survival of Anwar’s fragile coalition hinges solely on Zahid’s freedom.
Another issue he had to navigate deftly was the issue of LGBTQ rights in a country that is still conservative and criminalises homosexual relations.
“Muslims and non-Muslims alike, there is a consensus – they do not accept open public displays of LGBT.
“But…I do not approve of any attempt to harass,” he told CNN.
But the Malaysian diaspora whom he feted at the Hilton appeared optimistic – some perhaps cautiously – that things could get better with him at the helm.
The Malaysian Consulate, which at times used to have problems filling up seats at similar events, this time around was overwhelmed by the number of requests from Malaysians as far as Minnesota who wanted to attend the dinner where they could pose questions to the Prime Minister and take the obligatory selfies. And this includes the pessimists and critics.
What was evident to the media at least in New York, is not the 10 months into his premiership, rather the 25 years of expectations that are weighing heavily on Anwar’s shoulders.
He will return to the US in November, leading a delegation to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in San Francisco – the pressure to deliver never abating. – September 29, 2023
Terence Fernandez is Editor in Chief of Scoop
