KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's call for past leaders to give away half of their wealth to help the Malays would not help with the sentiments raised in the Malay Proclamation or appease Malay voters.
Experts believe there will be little to no impact on Anwar's call as no concrete evidence has yet to be provided about any ill-gotten wealth amassed during the tenures of these past leaders.
They also pointed out there were not that many Malay billionaires anyway, so such sentiments may not be relevant to some segments of society.
Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Dr Azmi Hassan said it was critical for the prime minister to prove the wealth gained by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the latter's tenure otherwise the statement made no sense.
"Anwar needs to prove that Dr Mahathir and former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin amassed wealth through illegal means or used their influence when they were in power.
"Only then the statement made by the prime minister will make sense," Azmi told the New Straits Times.
Yesterday, Anwar challenged past leaders, who amassed wealth during their tenures in leading the country, to surrender half of what they had gained to the Malay community if they were truly sincere in helping the community.
Anwar also said there were leaders in the past who had become rich for themselves and their relatives but failed to help the Malays until today, adding that the same leaders only spoke about helping and saving the rights of the Malays when they were no longer in power.
He specifically named past leaders such as Dr Mahathir and Daim and hoped the message will be relayed to them.
Azmi said the ongoing court case between Anwar and Dr Mahathir was a "blessing in disguise" for the prime minister to prepare a defence and prove that the latter had enriched himself, his allies and cronies at the expense of the general population of the Malays.
"The ball is basically in Anwar's court to prove his claim. The court case is a good platform to determine whether these two leaders (Mahathir and Daim) were fairly accused.
"The public perception on the court case will also be very critical and is going to play a role in the upcoming state polls."
On May 5, Dr Mahathir filed a RM150 million defamation suit against Anwar through the Law Practice of Rafique at the Shah Alam High Court, with the current prime minister named as the sole defendant.
The suit cited Anwar's speech during a PKR special congress in which he accused Dr Mahathir as being racist and enriching himself and his family members during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.
Political analyst Dr Ainul Adzellie Hasnul said the recent Malay Proclamation could be affected in some sort of way, but he disagreed that highlighting Dr Mahathir's and Daim's wealth and blaming them for not sharing their wealth with the entire Malay population may have minimal impact on the state polls.
"In a way, it will diffuse the impact of the Malay Proclamation signed by several leaders from Perikatan Nasional. They may want to see Tun Mahathir and Tun Daim's reactions towards Anwar Ibrahim's statement.
"But this is not enough to sway the Malay voters to support the unity government in the upcoming state elections.
"People want the government to improve the economic situation at present and to help them in matters such as reducing the price of goods and other aspects that could take a toll on their income," he said.
The Malay Proclamation is a 12-point document by Dr Mahathir that has been signed by several leaders, including Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang to unite and save the Malay community.
Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies deputy director Professor Dr Kartini Aboo Talib @ Khalid said voters were able to read between the lines that it is not easy to share the wealth as a means to aid the Malays.
She said 95 per cent of the millionaires and billionaires in Malaysia are Chinese.
"Most Malaysians are politically literate and able to discern political gimmicks plus campaigns with the real agenda for change.
"Anwar should strategise wisely, advocate more on climate change, e-economy, new taxes for migrant workers, and proper migrants management as these will create new revenue for the country.
"He should also stop disgracing the Malays and past leaders as he was also one of them," she said.