DECEMBER 17 — If PM Anwar Ibrahim is watching the World Cup finals this Sunday, he would do well to pay attention to the role of the midfield in the winning team.
These players play a crucial role in ensuring the execution of team strategies. Most importantly they provide on-pitch intelligence that shape set-pieces and tactical manoeuvres to create chances for their strikers to score.
In the last World Cup it was the critical roles played by midfielders Kante and Pogba that enabled France to edge formidable Argentina by 4 goals to 3.
For this year’s final both stars are grounded by injury and attention will be given to Tchouameni and his colleagues in midfield to repeat the wizardry of his predecessors in 2018.
Over the past three weeks PM Anwar has been focused on playing defence. On countering the barrage of criticism, insidious insinuation and even slander aimed at undermining his credibility and legitimacy.
He has had to dig deep to deploy multiple defensive strategies — from rapid counter-narratives against hate news, to initiating legal action against defamation; and from expelling political appointees of the previous regime, to splintering the Opposition by enticing defectors overcome by buyer’s remorse.
His newly minted Cabinet of ministers have their work cut out as they hit the ground straight into fire-fighting mode.
With food price inflation looming menacingly in the horizon, Malaysians woke up suddenly to a supply shortage of eggs. This is not an insignificant issue when you consider that Malaysia is the 6th highest consumer of eggs in the world — higher even than the USA.
How quickly Malaysia’s favourite breakfast protein returns to the menu will likely colour public perception of the PM’s first 100-days.
An early winner has been the Ministry of Transport and the repair of escalators in our public transport stations. Commuters have been impressed by the rapid response given to a problem that has festered for an unreasonably long time under the previous administration. Similarly the Ministry of Health’s highlight on period poverty has helped to shine the spotlight on the oft-neglected gender dimension of public health policies.
Urgent as these issues may be, it is crucial that the new team does not get bogged down by the minutiae of administrative response.
There are bigger and deeper problems that need to be addressed. Fixing the LRT escalator is one thing; solving the traffic gridlock that is chocking our cities is at another level of complexity.
From increasing costs of living to the high rate of under-employment, and from a persistently low consumer sentiment index to the declining quality of public service delivery, there are serious structural issues that need to be tackled.
The tendency of previous governments to gloss over these issues has deepened the fissures of our economic foundation.
In the meantime global economic headwinds and the shifting configurations of our multipolar world has left us vulnerable and exposed to external forces with destabilising powers.
Faced with a governance agenda of multidimensional complexity, and constantly distracted by crises on multiple fronts, how can the Government stay focused on the much-needed reform programme?
This is where PM Anwar needs effective midfielders to help him stay on course to deliver his strategies. The people who can focus not on the short term but on producing medium-term development outcomes.
The talent with the versatility to deal with technical issues while navigating the power relations that could potentially undermine or help achieve objectives. The professional experts who will resist dispensing superficial fixes when serious renovation and overhaul is needed.
In short, a team of midfielders with the ability to create new opportunities for PM Anwar’s cabinet of ministers to score.
The roles these midfielders will play are fundamental. They will need to formulate new approaches to rejuvenate our sluggish economic growth model. Creating the talent pool to drive innovation in Malaysian companies and attract foreign direct investments in new growth sectors.
Developing high-income farmers while building resilience into our agri-food supply chains. Empowering the urban poor in public housing projects to enhance the liveability of their homes and strengthening their employment and livelihood opportunities. And bridging the disparities between geographical regions and social classes.
Underlying this transformation is the recalibration of our public service delivery system — a twentieth century behemoth ill-suited for a digital Malaysia where eighty per cent of the population live in cities.
Challenging as this may be, we have actually achieved such a turnaround before. When Tun Razak assumed leadership in 1970, he inherited a country torn apart by ethnic strife, hobbled by an unstable economy, and held behind by the legacy of a colonial administration.
Many writers have credited him for building new institutions that helped reposition Malaysia on a stronger trajectory of economic growth and social improvement. What is less appreciated is the team of midfielders that he created to drive his ambitious reform programme.
Many of them were young professionals who were given leadership positions to establish new universities, development agencies, state enterprises and even a 35-year old officer to head the police force as Inspector General of Police.
Today PM Anwar has the opportunity to seize the mantle of development and chart a fresh pathway for a new Malaysia.
To do so he needs to build a team of capable and visionary midfielders. Young, ambitious and energetic Malaysians who have the drive and the integrity to undertake the hard slog of producing the key building blocks of nation building.
Now that the cabinet has been formed, the public awaits with great anticipation to see what Team-Anwar will look like.
To return to the football analogy, if France can replicate the prowess of its 2018 midfield — they will win — and become the first World Cup champion twice in a row.
But if they flounder, Argentina will seize the opportunity and make them pay a very heavy price.
* Dr Shahridan Faiez is interested in the intersection of finance and sustainable development and has investments in the fintech, sustainable food, and smart cities sectors. He provides advisory services to Governments and the private sector and has a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
