Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim today responded to the claim by a Bersatu man that Malaysia could still achieve “Asian Tiger” status if led by a visionary prime minister, saying the country could not be compared with “real tigers” such as China, South Korea, or Singapore.
Bersatu Supreme Council member Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal had said in an exclusive interview with FMT that such a prime minister should have the “vision to rally all Malaysians transcending race and religion”.
However, Zaid said that Wan Fayhsal should “stop dreaming”.
In a post on X, he said even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whom he had previously thought to be a visionary, was unwilling to dismantle current policies.
“Stop comparing us with the real tigers. Our politicians and civil service are not the best, and our education and economic policies are archaic. The corrupt and rent seekers are protected.
“We give preferences to selected groups, but they are not to be questioned.
“We are a feudal oligarchy cemented by a religious bureaucracy the Renaissance man himself dared not recalibrate and reform,” he said in what was believed to be a veiled reference to Anwar.
The term “Asian Tigers” was used in the 1980s and 1990s to describe the fast-growing, now high-income economies of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Malaysia was tipped to be the fifth “Asian Tiger”, but its economic growth was derailed by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Wan Fayhsal nevertheless said Malaysia checked all the boxes to achieve high-income status, pointing to its strategic location at the heart of Asean, its relative immunity to major natural disasters, and its diverse cultures and traditions.
“All of these ‘ingredients’ must be ‘cooked’ by a prime minister with the vision to rally all Malaysians transcending race and religion,” he said.
