TOKYO – Every time he is abroad for work, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will make time to meet with the Malaysian diaspora.
Usually, this meet-and-greet with Malaysians living, working, or studying abroad would take place at the hotel where he stays and would involve hundreds of people, under the watch of the host country’s security detail.
Usually, it would be over dinner. However, in the case of the 392 Malaysians in Japan who converged at the Imperial Hotel yesterday (the furthest attendee travelled from Hiroshima, according to the organisers), the meet-and-greet was done over high tea.
Usually, the PM does not really get to eat. Yesterday, stuck on the stage with the moderator, he asked on loudspeakers if he could please have a cup of coffee.
In New York (September), San Francisco (October), and Tokyo yesterday, the three most recent assignments Scoop had me cover, it was the same. He arrives, makes a short speech, and stays on the stage until the end of the designated time to answer questions from the floor.
“I’ll answer the easy ones. The hard questions, you ask Tengku Zafrul and Tok Mat,” he told the Malaysian diaspora in Tokyo, referring to the two accompanying cabinet members – Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
As the case was in New York and San Francisco, a primary concern of the Tokyo diaspora is the right to Malaysian citizenship for children of Malaysians married to foreigners.
Another is, can they not be made to travel all the way to our Embassy in Tokyo just to renew their visas? It is, after all, a long journey.
In San Francisco, Anwar said he liked the idea of Malaysian students gaining some work experience after graduation by working in their host countries.
This will help them serve the country better when they do return. And if they somehow decide to stay back longer or not come back at all, “Just make sure you send a lot of money home.”
The Malaysian diaspora, of course, finds Anwar’s views refreshing, even liberating.
“Don’t be afraid to use race and religion…to forge greater unity among ourselves.”
But some students – and their parents – are finding out that things are easier said than done. Anwar may be supportive of our students gaining job experience abroad but relevant authorities such as Mara, which gives out study loans and scholarships, may have other ideas.
“The PM says one thing, but the relevant authorities say they have not received the memo from the PM. So nothing has changed,” said a frustrated dad.
Anwar said the rights to Malaysian citizenship for diaspora babies will be taken up, presumably in Parliament, in the first quarter of 2024.
Follow-through will determine that the diaspora’s issues and other gains made during Anwar’s trips are properly executed and realised.
These include the international stature that the country has managed to regain as a result of Anwar’s “fiercely independent” but non-combating stand on Gaza, US-China’s ties, rules-based international order, climate change and Asean.
Newly-minted Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan has already gotten a taste of what is in store. Since his appointment, he has not even had time to report for duty at Wisma Putra.
“Straight to the deep end,” Tok Mat told reporters covering the Tokyo visit.
And there is the potential FDI that all those overseas trips have garnered. The keyword here is “potential”.
“Tengku Zafrul banyak berjasa membawa pelaburan besar ke negara kita (Tengku Zafrul has made many contributions in bringing big investments to our country),” Anwar told the Tokyo diaspora.
That is a fact – from all those overseas trips that he made in 2023, with or without the PM, Tengku Zafrul got companies from Germany to Japan to commit to RM353.6 billion worth of potential investments (includfing Tokyo’s latest tally of RM6.6 billion, which are mostly for expansion).
These are the FDI that the Malaysian economy sorely needs.
But if not realised, potential investments will amount to nothing.
To make sure that those companies actually invest, all the infrastructure, resources, and ease of doing business that has been promised to them by Anwar, Tengku Zafrul, and Tok Mat during all those trips must be realised and delivered.
And everyone – ministries, departments, chamber of commerce, GLCs, trade unions, and right down to the media – must get the same memo. – December 19, 2023
Datuk Ahirudin Attan, also known as Rocky Bru, is the president of the National Press Club and also the executive director of Big Boom Media, which publishes Scoop. In Tokyo, he discovers chimaki – probably the best dessert in the world after kuih lopes.
