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What Malaysia’s young opposition leaders want: A government with integrity, courage

Tan Ai Leng

Published Wed, Nov 9, 2022 · 05:50 AM

The official campaigning of Malaysia's 15th general election has started since Nov 5, with 945 candidates competing for 222 parliament seats. REUTERS
Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar said: “If we don’t have a change of government (in 2018), we would still be stuck in the past." ST FILE
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the president of Malaysian United Democratic Alliance, said: “What’s the point of having a stable government that is stably corrupt?” MUDA
Anthony Loke, secretary-general of Democratic Action Party, said the upcoming election gives every political party a reset, and hopes this could lead to reset of a new government with a fresh but relevant direction for sustainable growth. DAP

BEYOND political stability, young leaders from Malaysia’s opposition parties have stressed an urgent need to move away from corruption and make progress towards forming a better government, as this would eventually lead to more sustainable growth.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, the vice-president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and eldest daughter of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim – said that if not for the outcome of the last general election in 2018, which saw the Barisan Nasional (BN) government toppled from power, the country would be seeing even more money draining out through corruption.

“Malaysia was really salvaged from a kleptocratic scandal of a global nature,” she said, referring to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad saga that eventually led to the downfall of former prime minister Najib Razak.

MALAYSIA GE Asean Business Asean Malaysia politics

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