Anwar Blames Zionists as MACC Scandal Splits His Coalition
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- Anwar Ibrahim told Parliament on March 3 that a 'Zionist' PR firm planted Bloomberg reports alleging abuses by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), specifically chief Azam Baki owning RM14 million in shares across nine companies and officers colluding with businessmen in a 'corporate mafia.'
- Azam Baki first faced irregular-shareholding allegations in 2021, but it took Bloomberg's February investigations—citing numerous sources—to force action, prompting former economy minister Rafizi Ramli to reveal the Attorney-General's probe found RM14 million in shares across nine companies.
- Anwar has rejected calls for Azam's suspension and a Royal Commission of Inquiry from across the political spectrum, opting instead for an internal task force led by Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar that examined only the shareholding issue and then handed its report to the head of civil service, not Cabinet.
- Malaysian police have questioned 14 people—planning to double that number—over a supposed plot to topple the government, targeting the widow and children of the late former finance minister Daim Zainuddin after his family hired UK PR firm Teneo to rehabilitate his image following his January 2024 asset-declaration charge.
- Those questioned include opposition MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan, political science professor Syaza Shukri, former UMNO leader-turned-podcaster Shahril Hamdan, and Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism CEO Pushpan Murugiah—all named in Teneo-Daim correspondence as potential talking heads.
- Anwar's own Pakatan Harapan coalition has fractured over the response: PKR's Rafizi attended a rally demanding Azam's arrest, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke called the government's response 'inadequate,' and DAP disciplinary chief Tony Pua dismissed the PR-plot claim as 'ridiculous nonsense.'
- PKR admitted on March 3 that it engaged a US political consultancy firm in 2016 to lobby for Anwar's release from a sodomy conviction—hypocrisy critics noted after Anwar cast aspersions on Daim's use of foreign PR firm Teneo.
- Anwar's invocation of a 'Zionist' plot and foreign interference mirrors former PM Najib Razak's defense during the 1MDB scandal, and trades on Malay Muslim goodwill from his strident pro-Gaza stance since Oct. 7, 2023.
Why it matters: Anwar's refusal to suspend MACC chief Azam Baki or convene a Royal Commission of Inquiry—despite calls from his own DAP coalition partner—has cracked the unity government he built on an anti-corruption mandate, with at least three prominent coalition figures publicly breaking ranks. The police have instead investigated 14 critics and the family of a dead former finance minister, weaponizing a 'Zionist' conspiracy narrative that echoes Najib Razak's discredited 1MDB playbook and risks repeating Malaysia's cycle of using foreign-threat rhetoric to suppress graft accountability.
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