Anwar Ibrahim’s Bungled Budget 2021 Gambit

One day, should Netflix release The Anwar Gambit series (we’re calling it!), we’ll look back upon last Thursday’s Budget vote at the Dewan Rakyat and, depending on how this ultimately plays out, laugh or cry.

So after all that hue and cry over Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Budget 2021, and threats of rejecting it, Pakatan Harapan reps barely lifted a finger as the money plan passed the policy stage via a voice vote.

Eventually, though, the finger pointed to Mr ‘Strong, Convincing, and Formidable‘ himself – opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Seems the PKR head honcho unilaterally instructed Harapan lawmakers to let the budget pass the first vote. 

The official story is he wanted to avoid Harapan being seen as objecting to all those shiny new incentives announced by the gomen. However, the speculation is the PM forever-in-waiting wished to prevent a vote count which would show how much Parliamentary support Moo really has and which could legitimise his PM-ship (and show how little support Anwar has!).

Whether this was a wise move on Anwar’s part – or a selfish, short-sighted one – remains to be seen as the budget vote heads to the committee stage on Monday. For now, though, it’s Muhyiddin 1 – Anwar 0.