🇲🇾 Who is up and who is down in Anwar's cabinet

Hello friends!

Bit of a spotty week this week. Stories have seemed large, but then ebbed away or have only been slightly pushed forward. I think the whole world is feeling too exhausted. 

Next week will be the last of the year from me! Touch wood nothing enormous happens because I have some fun newsletters planned so we can clear the decks for what is, I expect, going to be a hellish 2024. 

See you then,

Erin 

Anwar gets a helping hand in cabinet reshuffle

Last month, Anwar Ibrahim marked a year in the prime minister hot seat with declining approval ratings and demands to get a move on with reform and turbo-charging the economy. Can Tuesday’s cabinet reshuffle be the trick? 

Anwar’s also the finance minister, which I literally never remember, so that he’s tapped Amir Hamzah Azizan, the chief executive of the Employees' Provident Fund, as second minister is big news. “The ministry of finance, other than being headed by me, must have a strong professional team to ensure we are on the right track and focus on the economy,” Anwar said during the announcement on Tuesday, as per Reuters. 

No two ways about what this means, suggests Adib Zalkapli, director of strategic adviser BowerGroupAsia for the wire: “By appointing the EPF CEO, (Anwar) is addressing the perception that the ministry has been neglected due to his other responsibilities as the prime minister.” 

It might’ve been a bit of a missed opportunity to ditch some of the lesser performing ministers, Azmi Hassan of the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research told Channel News Asia. “The surprise here is that some ministers who have done far worse have not been axed. There have been grumblings from the public and this has perhaps not been addressed by this cabinet reshuffle,” he said. Deputy Prime Minister and albatross around the neck Ahmad Zahid Hamidi stays on, despite marked public outrage over his corruption cases. 

His endurance is part of a broader pattern in striking the balance between UMNO, of which Ahmad is a longtime cadre, and DAP. The two parties are natural enemies but constantly butt heads over power in the coalition government. 

All in all, it’s a bit ho-hum for us bigger-picture watchers (the deep Malaysia nerds are, however, loving it). “Key ministerial positions are left the same, meaning he’s confident that his administration is doing well despite what some polls may suggest,” analyst Khoo Kay Peng told Malaysiakini. 

Another week, another scuffle between China and the Philippines

Explain yourselves! The Philippines demanded of the Chinese embassy earlier this week after a “serious escalation” (Manila’s words) on Sunday between the two countries in the waters. 

“The actions of the Chinese vessels within the Philippine exclusive economic zone are illegal and violate the freedom of navigation,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. It’s the fourth time this year the Chinese ambassador has been hauled in — though he dodged it at least once. 

Chinese vessels were back in the Ayungin Shoal (the Filipino term for the Second Thomas) yesterday after the weekend’s scrap. ​Commander Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos told CNN Philippines that five Chinese militia ships were spotted within the shoal and another four nearby, raising alarms back in Manila. 

The Sunday scuffle saw the Chinese coast guard pummel Filipino vessels with water cannons and rammed one of the boats. Just a day earlier, other Filipino boats were hit with water cannons in the Scarborough Shoal.  “We condemn, once again, China’s latest unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous maneuvers against a legitimate and routine Philippine rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal that has put the lives of our people at risk,” the task force said in a statement, as per Associated Press. 

Allies, including the US, were quick to join the Philippines in condemning the manoeuvre. “The US stands with the Philippines and partners in vehemently condemning the PRC’s repeated illegal and dangerous actions against vessels,” US Ambassador MaryKay L. Carlson tweeted, as reported by AP. 

Manila is preparing for a busy year ahead. Carlos said Wednesday that war games are underway with a series of potential triggers playing out, including the forced boarding of Filipino vessels by the Chinese coast guard, as per Reuters. Yeesh, I’m getting stressed. 

“This highly unusual invasion of the shoal's interior appears to have been a calculated show of force by Beijing,” Ray Powell, project lead at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said of the Monday incident, as reported by CNN Philippines.

We’ll talk more about this next week as we look to the year ahead, but it really does feel that the ‘drip, drip, drip’ small-scale stuff is behind us and we’re heading toward something substantial one way or the other. 

Best frenemies: China and Vietnam

What’s higher than a comprehensive strategic partnership? Whatever it is, China and Vietnam want it. They’ve been on that level for an age now, but with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Hanoi this week even deeper connections have been signed including joint patrols in the Tonkin Gulf.

‘Today, while reading the famous poetic line by late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh that “so profound is the friendship between Vietnam and China, because we are both comrades and brothers,” the memory of those fiery and exciting years of the two peoples is kept alive, Xi continued, adding that the two countries remain firmly committed to their shared aspiration forged in the early days and are pursuing win-win cooperation,’ state media Xinhua reported yesterday. Now, I hate to see any Southeast Asia country’s relationship with China strictly through the US v China prism, but this is a funny juxtaposition to the US’, successful certainly, amends during Biden’s visit earlier in the year. 

It may be Xi’s first visit in six years, but he’s making up for it. He’s been feted by the top of the food chain in Hanoi including President Vo Van Thuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Nikkei Asia reports. Both sides are serious about the “shared future” to be developed through infrastructure development along the border.

Much has been made of Xi’s op-ed for the Vietnamese paper Nhan Dan. He’s spruiking a “community of shared future,” as it translates in Vietnamese — but it’s a “community of common destiny” elsewhere, Khang Vu notes for the Diplomat. So, what then of all the spats between the two, including the long-running and unresolved South China Sea dispute? Worry about that later, the meetings seem to suggest.