Mapping a politically exposed “princess”
A packed weekend read with loads of drama.
This was supposed to go out yesterday but I had some last-minute stuff to insert in this morning’s brief.
On the government side, PM Anwar Ibrahim temporarily assigned two vacant posts to two ministers. We have Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan taking over the Economy Ministry.
Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani was handed the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability on Friday. This was Johari’s original portfolio before taking up plantations and commodities.
These momentary fixes see a minister holding portfolios that are diametrically opposed.
What would Johari do if he found a dead tiger in an oil palm estate?
Another is that the purported meeting minutes of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) had been leaked.
Excerpts are circulating on social media, but some accounts that posted the snippets have been barred, following takedown requests submitted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). You can now only view them through a VPN.
It’s a mess and one that’s dragging down just about every important decision-maker: the JAC, the PM and the Agong. Anwar has to step up and publicly address the situation since it deals with appointing the country’s top judges.
Tomorrow the Malaysian Bar will march to the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya to defend judicial independence. Well, at least some folk are getting their dose of Vitamin D and their 10,000 steps.
And, PM Anwar’s social media team posted a clip yesterday of him complaining to an audience in Terengganu about the criticism over his frequent travels.
“Do you think I love flying overseas? I go abroad bringing Malaysia’s name,” Anwar said.
The PM has embarked on 46 overseas trips across 31.6 months since clocking into office. That’s an average of 1.5 trips per month.
It’s a Sunday evening, so I thought some comic relief would be great…
In today’s NIE:
🕸️ the promised network map on Nurul Izzah Anwar.
🧨 some extra bits on the nomination of polarising Nick Adams as US ambassador to Malaysia.
📡 an insider’s update on tech, tariffs and Trump.
📉 and some Sarawak swings (another past promise).
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The last time a social media user teased that he was going to “expose” Nurul Izzah Anwar’s alleged corporate entanglements, he got hauled up by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
His delivery was cringey but using the MCMC on him felt like overkill.
Still, the daughter of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been steadily collecting titles, launching a think tank, and settling into the murky middle of government.
It’s time to put her on the map.