He said PN’s shaky position is a concern as policy decisions are being made just to prolong the coalition’s grip on power, “potentially at the expense of our national interests, national security and sovereignty”.
“Much of the world is aware that the PN government’s parliamentary majority is in question.
“Our allies and adversaries alike, be it officials of state or corporations and businesses, may attempt to use this weakness as an opportunity to extract benefits in their engagements with Malaysia,” said Anwar.
Despite the clarification yesterday by foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein that he had referred to his Chinese counterpart as “elder brother” and not the republic itself during their meeting, Anwar continued to insist that this showed the minister’s lack of diplomatic understanding and strategy.
“How and what he said may signal to the international community that Malaysia’s status as a neutral nation is changing under the PN government.
“The foreign minister’s attempt to downplay his comment illustrates a lackadaisical understanding of diplomacy, strategy, Asean politics and China in the PN Cabinet,” Anwar said in a statement.
The Port Dickson MP claimed that Hishammuddin’s action on Friday may have set Malaysia-China foreign policy back 25 years and undermined decades of hard work by seasoned Wisma Putra officials.
Hishammuddin had defended his statement and stressed that Malaysia remained independent in foreign policy. This came after some social media users and opposition politicians like Anwar slammed him for his remarks.
Anwar further said a prime minister who had lost the confidence of the majority in Parliament was duty-bound in the Westminster system to resign and allow the constitutional process to proceed.
“Instead, we have a prime minister who is hiding behind the emergency declaration and cutting deals left and right to cling to power,” he said, adding that this was leading to more mistakes.
China is Malaysia’s largest trade partner, but relations between the two countries have been tested in recent years by Beijing’s assertive foreign policy in the region, especially its maritime claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, some of which are in conflict with Malaysia’s own claims.