Malaysia needs a new economic champion. Who will Anwar pick?
- Malaysia’s new prime minister is looking for a finance minister who can steer the economy’s fragile recovery amid concerns of a global slowdown
- The job is widely seen as a training ground for future prime ministers – and there’s numerous names in the mix given the coalition Anwar now heads
The job, which involves overseeing big projects to boost the economy and setting strategy for Malaysia’s state investment funds, is widely seen as a training ground for future prime ministers. Past leaders at times have appointed loyal technocrats or simply taken on the finance portfolio themselves.
There’s no reason to pick a political nobody, “except in the case where the prime minister wants to stay in charge,” said Woo Wing Thye, professor emeritus at University of California at Davis who focuses on East Asian economies.
“The finance minister’s job is to identify good projects and have the political standing to be able to push what he thinks to be the right economic stance for the government,” he added.
Anwar has numerous candidates to consider given he heads a coalition made up of at least four political groups. Here’s a look at the top candidates:
