High-wire act for Anwar

MORE than numbers, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s fourth Madani budget is a credibility test for both his government and Malaysia’s fiscal reform path.

After a string of policy backpedalling on luxury tax, sales and service tax (SST), and fuel subsidy reforms – as well as the hasty passage of a government procurement bill widely criticised by civil society – Anwar can no longer afford half-measures that undermine his reformist credentials.