Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay is a “new voice of reason”, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said. The PM praised Vijay’s focus on principles, values and good governance but said sustaining those standards in power would be a challenge.
He, though, acknowledged that governing was not simple and that a leader had to deal with several competing pressures. “It’s not as simple. There are a lot of forces that need to be disciplined or made to understand. Anwar Ibrahim drew on his own experience in government to explain the challenges Vijay could face.
But thus far, he’s started well, but he should be able to sustain that well,” the Malaysian prime minister said. He said that discussions around governance could quickly become entangled with issues such as security, race and religion. “I’m not saying that because, similarly, my limited experience now that we’re in the government, it’s not as simple as it seems because you talk about governance, they talk about the security of the race, or the impact on the Muslims,” he said.
The Malaysian prime minister said Vijay’s office tried to adjust his schedule, but the Tamil Nadu chief minister had prior commitments while Anwar had a limited window between his visits to New Delhi, Kerala and the Maldives, The Edge Malaysia reported. Ibrahim met Leader of Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over breakfast in New Delhi on Sunday on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit. Anwar was expected to visit Chennai after attending the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, but the visit did not take place as the schedules of the two leaders could not be aligned. Congress shared pictures of Rahul and Priyanka with the Malaysian prime minister from the breakfast meeting.
Anwar Ibrahim said a proposed meeting with Vijay remains possible and could take place either in Putrajaya or Chennai.
