There was a marked difference in the manner in which Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob addressed the nation earlier this evening.
He looked sharp in a dark suit and a maroon tie, quite a departure from the sometimes garish, colourful shirts that he usually dons on television during the weekends, which had been likened to traditional Malay kuih.
Ismail Sabri, was, after all, speaking for the first time as Malaysia’s ninth prime minister.
It was a brief speech straight off the script with the words “Malaysia” and “family” peppered throughout. It was his way of introducing his government’s concept of ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ (Malaysian family).
Through this family approach, Ismail Sabri hopes that those within, and outside the government, would work together to help the nation recover.
“We are all part of a family, despite our different religions and ethnicities. Every one of you is like my own family, young and old. We complement each other … we need one another, like the different parts of a single body,” he said.
In helping the Malaysian family, he announced that the government had purchased an additional six million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, which will arrive early next month.
Ismail Sabri promised his government would focus on two main objectives:
- to raise the purchasing power of the people; and
- to assist the private sector in being the nation’s primary driver of economic growth.
Ismail Sabri also assured the youths that their voices would be heard – a day after over 80 roads in the heart of Kuala Lumpur were either closed or diverted for fear of a youth-led protest taking place.
This, despite organisers, who days prior to the protest, had said that it had been cancelled following the resignation of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
Ismail Sabri had invited opposition leaders to be part of the National Recovery Council and Special Committee on Covid-19.
He ended his address by pledging that he would work with the people.
His speech seemed to have ticked all the right boxes but there would not be a honeymoon period for Ismail Sabri, who is also the Bera MP, as all eyes would now be on the selection of his Cabinet and the political tussle that could ensue.
Son of a farmer, Ismail Sabri’s rise to the top job in Putrajaya had certainly punctured the egos of his colleagues in Umno and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
He was after all part of the previous PN government that had been widely labelled as a “failed government” – failing to curb the rise in Covid-19 cases that had left hundreds of thousands jobless.
This despite the repeated lockdowns since March 2020, made worse by the conflicting standard operating procedures. Malaysia today recorded 19,807 Covid-19 cases.
All eyes would now be on Ismail Sabri, to see if he would be the much-loved Pak Long, or the uncle Malaysians wished they never had.