Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - Amid rising public discontent over a hike in electricity prices, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was forced to apologize after using a term deemed derogatory to Malaysian Indians during a talk at a university in Perak.
"Now, the term 'keling' is disliked by many, so I don't use it. I only quoted from the book," Bernama quoted Anwar as saying.
"If there is any misunderstanding, I apologise, it's not my intention (to insult). I'm the last person to cast aspersions, insulting any ethnicity or religion."
According to Anwar, he used the word as a citation from the book titled Hikayat Hang Tuah, and had not meant to insult any party.
The book recounts that a warrior Hang Tuah had a command of various languages, including Malay, Arabic, Siamese, and the "Keling language", derived from the term "kalinga."
POLITICAL CHAMELEON
Anwar is frequently criticized as being a political chameleon who speaks according to what he thinks his audience of the hour wants to hear.
His administration has been hit by scandals, accused of power abuse and backpedaling on election promises including social and constitutional reforms, reducing prices and costs of living standards.
While racial tensions in the urban areas have cooled somewhat since Anwar's unity government swept to power a year ago, prices have skyrocketed and are expected to shoot further as the ringgit plunges into uncharted territory, touching lows unseen before in the country's history.
ELECTRICITY TARIFFS HIKED
Just a day ago, the Energy Commission announced new electricity tariffs that will result in higher bills for those already paying bills of between RM230 and RM738. The increase could be between RM12 and RM32 for the period of Jan 1 to June 30, 2024.
The Energy Commission defended the hike on the grounds that the new rates will only affect about 15% of domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia. The rest, totaling some seven million domestic consumers, will not be affected, it added.
"This is typical Anwar double-speak. He used to say if you vote us into Putrajaya today, I will cut petrol prices tomorrow. Now look at him - the ringgit is the worst performer, petrol prices have not fallen but electricity prices have increased and are set for another increase," a political pundit told Politics Now!
"Anwar needs to go for a crash course in Economics and learn about knock-on effects. If a sufficiently large and influential section of the population has to pay higher bills, they will obviously transfer the extra costs in one way or another and this will travel downwards and all around the economy."
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now
Politics Now!
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