Malaysia’s new Finance Minister was jailed twice by PM Mahathir
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's new Finance Minister, relatively unknown in international financial circles, is a man he threw into prison twice.
Dr Mahathir announced three top Cabinet posts on Saturday, including Mr Lim Guan Eng, a former banker and chartered accountant, as Finance Minister. It is for the first time in 44 years that the Finance Ministry is being headed by a member of the Chinese community.
In the last administration, the post was held by ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was handed a thumping defeat by Dr Mahathir's alliance in Wednesday's general election.
Mr Lim, 58, is best known in Malaysia for being the Chief Minister of Penang, the second richest state and home to a popular tourist island and industrial port.
But economic analysts say he may need more than that at a time when the country has to make sweeping economic and fiscal reforms and reassure markets that the political change will not have an economic impact.
Malaysian markets have been closed since the election, but overseas investors have been nervous of what lies ahead because of Dr Mahathir's populist promises.
Mr Lim will be expected to oversee the new government's plan to repeal a deeply unpopular goods and services tax, which it has promised to do within the first 100 days. He will also have to manage the subsequent revenue shortfall .
"His initial focus will be mostly domestic issues - executing campaign promises and reducing inefficiencies so that the government can still maintain fiscal discipline," said Mr Hasan Jafri, who heads Singapore-based business consultancy HJ Advisory.
Some analysts said Mr Lim had built a good reputation as an economic manager in Penang, which recorded the highest gross domestic product per capita among Malaysian states in 2016.
"By almost all accounts... Guan Eng did a stellar job in rebuilding the finances of Penang," said Mr Oh Ei Sun, senior adviser for international affairs at the Kuala Lumpur-based Asia Strategy & Leadership Institute.
"He has both the expertise as an accountant and the credibility, especially incorruptibility, to run MOF (Ministry of Finance)," he added.
Mr Lim was a bitter foe of Dr Mahathir during the latter's earlier 22-year stint as prime minister. He was thrown in jail twice. Dr Mahathir jailed him during a political crackdown in October 1987 that he said was aimed at preventing racial riots and again in 1998 under the Sedition Act.
- REUTERS
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