In his first parliamentary speech as Opposition Leader, Hamzah Zainudin’s calculated, deliberate and malicious attempt at tarnishing the reputation of the prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, severely backfired.

One would have thought that Hamzah would prove to the rakyat that he was worthy of the title “Leader of the Opposition”, but instead, Hamzah let his side, and himself, down.

With a smirk on his face, and egged on by his equally contemptible fellow Perikatan Nasional MPs, the overconfident Hamzah made reference to an obscure and unheard of Italian publication, Agenzia Nova, which had described Anwar as Malaysia’s first “full-blown homosexual PM”.

The cowardly Hamzah is aware that if he had made damaging allegations about Anwar outside of parliament, he would risk a possible lawsuit.

So, he abused his parliamentary privilege to launch personal attacks against Anwar using the flimsy pretext of “defending” the PM’s reputation.

Hamzah probably thought that the allegations would ruin Anwar’s standing, make parliamentarians reject Anwar, and deny him the crucial parliamentary vote of confidence. At the same time, Hamzah was desperate to court publicity.

He failed.

Having stooped extremely low to score a political point and failing to achieve all that he intended, Hamzah looked like the prize buffoon.

His deliberate smear tactic against Anwar failed, and in the end he was left with egg on his face.

If only had he not squandered the perfect opportunity for him to start afresh and propel the PN coalition onto a new footing.

The rakyat are weary of the bully-boy tactics and childish antics of our MPs in parliament.

Former Speakers, some of whom were spineless and were nothing more than political stooges, were unable to control recalcitrant MPs like Hamzah and his peers, like Shahidan Kassim, the MP for Arau.

Instead of leading by example, Hamzah has given us a taste of what’s to come. There will be more of the same-old, same-old rubbish of previous years.

On the first day of parliament under the Unity Government, Hamzah showed that under his tenure, the mainly Malay opposition PN coalition possessed neither class nor maruah (dignity).

For his maiden speech, Hamzah could have focused on the economy, on ways to reduce the burden of the rakyat, and engage with the government about tackling the cost of living crisis.

He could have questioned the Unity Government on a variety of topical issues: rising poverty, flood mitigation measures, policies to address climate change, food security, or how to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

He could demand answers from the Unity Government and ask them how they would handle rising unemployment, steps to encourage more people back to work, stimulate local economic growth, and how to help flood victims.

If many Malaysians are mistrustful of Hadi Awang, the president of PAS, then they will soon learn to be wary of Hamzah.

In March 2021, the outgoing Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Abdul Hamid Bador, made serious allegations about a police cartel that was working together with criminals.

A month later, Abdul Hamid alleged that Hamzah, the then Home Minister, had blocked the transfers of a number of police officers and undermined his (the IGP’s) authority of the Malaysian police force.

So, why had Hamzah interfered when Abdul Hamid was attempting to cleanse the image of the PDRM?

A few people claim that the ultra ambitious Hamzah, alleged to be one of the instigators of the Sheraton Move, is more dangerous than Hadi!

Hadi focuses on the religious side of things, whilst Hamza’s role is to undermine Malaysian democracy. He will stop at nothing to score political points.

Anwar’s former adversary, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, has been relegated to a footnote in Malaysian history. Mahiaddin Yassin was a mere opportunist and Ismail Sabri is just another accidental PM.

Hamzah wants to fill the vacuum left behind by Mahathir, then install himself as PM.

Hamzah had no intention of “saving” Anwar’s reputation when he made his contemptible remarks. His allegations about the Italian website and the article on homosexuality were designed to wound and denigrate Anwar.

Hamzah wanted the media to pick up on his story, write about it, then publish it. He knew full well that before long, people would start to discuss it.

This is Hamzah’s end game: to remind the rakyat about Anwar ‘s previous jail sentences even though these were politically motivated by his rivals.

Actually, Hamzah forgot one thing. Most Malaysians know his true intentions.

As for Anwar, he is aware that he cannot control what others say about him, but is confident that the Malaysian public are more mature and not so gullible.

The PM is too smart to retaliate and he will not respond to Hamzah. He also knows that he can prove Hamzah wrong.

Anwar’s focus is on uniting the country, stamping out corruption, improving the lives of Malaysians and boosting the economy.

He is aware that deeds alone will suffice. Actions speak louder than words.

Sources:

1. Malaysiakini: ‘Don’t try to scam’ – Fahmi warns Hamzah over ‘homosexual’ report
2. Malaysiakini: Opposition did not ask for bloc vote because we abstained – Taki

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)