KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — As Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took the podium to deliver his much-anticipated Budget 2024 speech, Malaysians were in for a surprise.
In a speech that was not your typical, run-of-the-mill Budget address, Anwar flexed his linguistic muscles and peppered his speech with references to Chinese and Tamil classic poetry.
It was as if the prime minister had decided that crafting the country’s financial plan required a touch of artistic finesse and a dash of poetic inspiration.
First up was the venerable Chinese philosopher Mencius, who’s also affectionately known as “Master Meng” or Mengzi.
In a move that left many impressed, Anwar invoked the spirit of this 4th century BC thinker, whose importance in the Confucian tradition is second only to Confucius himself.
“Ren represents righteousness, Yi represents propriety, Li represents wisdom, and Zhi represents truthfulness or trust,” Anwar proclaimed.
These four pillars of Mengzi, according to the prime minister, are the moral foundation that Malaysia needs.
It was almost as if Anwar was suggesting that if we all had a little more Mengzi in our lives, we could transform the government into a bureaucracy-free haven and eradicate systemic corruption.
In short, this ancient Chinese wisdom, according to Anwar, is the secret recipe for building a stable political landscape and making the people’s suffering a thing of the past.
Anwar wasn’t done weaving his linguistic tapestry just yet.
As he pivoted to discussing the improvement of the people’s quality of life, he reached deep into the treasure chest of Tamil poetry, specifically Thirukkural.
Thirukkural, a classic Tamil text, is a literary masterpiece with 1,330 short couplets covering subjects like ethics, statecraft, and citizenship.
Anwar chose a verse that resonated with his vision for Malaysia, reciting, “Lyatralum Eettalum Kaatthalum Kaattha Vaguthalum Vallathu Arasu.”
Translated, it means, “Anyone capable of amassing wealth from various sources of income must channel that income to a central place, protect that accumulated wealth and manage its expenditure in a protected manner. This is what a King is.”
Anwar essentially used this ancient Tamil wisdom to encourage wealth management that would make even the most skilled financial advisor nod in approval.
Anwar’s latest Budget is the biggest federal spending yet at RM393.8 billion to date.
As Anwar’s government seeks to rationalise existing subsidy spending with the intention of consolidating the country’s fiscal position, Budget 2024’s amount is over RM7.66 billion than the one tabled last February according to Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Outlook and Federal Government Revenue Estimates 2024 report.
