Exclusive | Daim Zainuddin to ministers in Mahathir’s Malaysia: work with civil servants, ignore Najib, stop talking behind colleagues’ backs
- Prime minister’s trusted adviser says officials in power need to deliver on pre-election promises – and that PM-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim is a ‘friend’
- This is the first in a series of three pieces on Daim. Tomorrow, he reveals his experience on the ECRL deal and dealing with fugitive financier Jho Low
Work with civil servants instead of distrusting them, stop dancing to the tune of critics, and avoid talking behind the backs of your colleagues.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Daim said – amid rising public disquiet about the government’s purportedly languid style – that ministers urgently needed to level up to deliver on the lavish pledges they had made to win the election.
Approval ratings, however, have since plunged – with one think tank’s poll suggesting the public had doubts about the greenhorn government’s ability to steward the economy and manage the tinderbox of ethnic relations in the multiracial country.
In the hour-long interview, Daim, a close personal confidante of Mahathir, acknowledged the administration had its work cut out to clean up Malaysia’s vast financial problems – which Pakatan Harapan blames on Najib.