Anwar Ibrahim became Malaysia's 10th prime minister on November 24, 2022, after a long political career and following an inconclusive general election that produced a unity government. More than three years on, his administration's record offers a useful scorecard of what the Madani government has tried to do.
At the centre is the Madani Economy framework, launched in 2023, which set out to restructure Malaysia's economy toward top-tier Asian status while raising quality of life. It established measurable targets, including ambitions to rank among the world's top 30 economies, to improve global competitiveness and corruption-perception rankings, to raise labour's share of income, and to keep the fiscal deficit within sustainable bounds.
Fiscal discipline has been a recurring theme. The government legislated a commitment to meet fiscal deficit targets and pursued subsidy rationalisation — beginning with targeted diesel subsidy reform in 2024 and extending to the RON95 petrol subsidy through the BUDI95 programme, which retargets the benefit toward citizens rather than subsidising fuel for everyone. At the same time, cash-aid programmes were expanded significantly, reaching millions more households.
Governance and anti-corruption have featured prominently in the government's messaging, with a stated emphasis on institutional reform. Social spending has been channelled through successive budgets, culminating in the RM470 billion Budget 2026, themed "The People's Budget," which expanded cash assistance and tax reliefs for lower- and middle-income Malaysians.
Supporters point to economic stability, a stronger ringgit through much of 2025, record investment in states like Johor, and a clearer fiscal direction. Critics argue that some reforms have been slower or more cautious than promised, and that cost-of-living pressures persist in everyday categories despite moderate headline inflation.
As Johor votes in 2026, this record is on the ballot in an indirect but real sense: Pakatan Harapan's campaign rests heavily on the credibility of Anwar's national reform agenda.
