The Echoes Of 1998 Will Anwar Drive Malaysia To Bankruptcy

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A couple of years back, my father warned of what would happen if Anwar Ibrahim were ever given the reins of this nation. Back then in 1998, as Deputy Finance Minister, Anwar presided over a financial crisis that saw the prices of motorcycles and houses skyrocket. People couldn’t afford to live even the banks had to bend. Loan terms were renegotiated not out of goodwill, but because even auctioning off properties was pointless. No one had the means to buy.
Fast forward 35 years. Today, Anwar is not just Finance Minister again he is Prime Minister. And what are we seeing? The same cycle of pain, this time multiplied.
From groceries to gas, rentals to school supplies everything has become unaffordable. Walk into any pasar malam, and you’ll hear the same complaint “Dulu RM50 boleh isi dapur. Sekarang cukup beli ayam dengan sayur pun susah.”
A survey by Merdeka Center confirms it, more than half of Malaysians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, and economic hardship is the top reason.
Even makcik at the Ramadan bazaar had to shout it out:
“Semua dah naik harga! PM tolong tengok sikit!”
But is anyone listening?
Don’t just look at the consumer. Look at the shoplots. Look at the once-busy cafés now shut. Scroll through social media countless businesses announcing “permanently closed.” Some say it’s GST, some say it’s lack of demand, but at the core of it is one truth: Malaysia has become too expensive to survive in.
Entrepreneurs are downsizing, slashing salaries, delaying payments. Many are simply giving up.
The so-called T20 the so-called “rich” are now feeling the squeeze too. Petrol subsidies gone, more taxes coming. The government says these are “reforms.” But let’s be honest when the middle class can’t even afford their lifestyles anymore, what’s left of the economy?
A man earning RM15,000 a month recently said:
“I’m not poor, but I don’t feel rich either. Everything is going to bills. What am I working for?”
That’s not reform. That’s desperation.
Anwar has always been a man of big words reformasi, madani, rakyat didahulukan. But the people are not feeling reform. They are feeling ruin. And the question now is: how much more can the rakyat endure before this country goes bankrupt economically and spiritually?
Because if we keep bleeding like this, there won’t be anything left to save.
History already warned us in 1998. But we didn’t listen.
Now, we are paying the price.
And if nothing changes, Malaysia will soon not just be broke.
It will be broken.
RAJA SARA PETRA
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