TEKS UCAPAN

YAB DATO’ SERI ANWAR BIN IBRAHIM

PERDANA MENTERI

 

 

 

SEMPENA

 

 

MAJLIS MAKAN MALAM ULANGTAHUN KE-50

KUMPULAN AMBANK

 

 

 

 

 

9 SEPTEMBER 2025 (SELASA) | 8:00 MALAM

HOTEL MAJESTIC, KUALA LUMPUR

 

 

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi wabarakatuh dan Salam Sejahtera.

 

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Azman Hashim

Pengasas, Pengerusi Emeritus dan Penasihat Kehormat Kumpulan AmBank;

 

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Md Nor bin Md Yusof;

dan Ahli Lembaga Pengarah, Jamie Ling; dan

seluruh Keluarga AmBank yang hadir.

 

1. Alhamdulillah, bersyukur kita kerana Allah SWT, malam ini kita dapat bersama-sama dengan Tan Sri Azman merayakan kejayaan gemilang 50 tahun bank Malaysia dan generasi saya, sebagaimana sebahagian daripada saudara dapat melihat perkembangan ini dan tentunya pada malam ini kita lebih meraikan Tan Sri Azman Hashim kerana ini kisah AmBank ini kisah kegigihan, ketekunan, kedegilan seorang tokoh usahawan dan anak tempatan yang dapat membina suatu bank yang dihormati dan punya integriti dalam negara kita. Tahniah.

 

2. Tentunya saya punya kesempatan sebab saya hadir di antara lain tentulah AmBank dan juga meraikan tapi tentu kaitan dan cara saya menghormati malah keluarga saya menghormati seorang tokoh yang mungkin sebahagian besar saudara-saudara tidak kenal atau tidak tahu. Dalam hidup dan pengalaman kita, dengan mengharungi liku-liku, pasang surut hidup senang dan derita, ini seorang yang bernama Azman Hashim tidak pernah menilai dan mengukur saya kerana kedudukan saya. Dia kenal baik saya semasa saya Menteri Kewangan, dia tanya khabar saya semasa saya di penjara dan dia hubungi saya sebagai Anwar Ibrahim, tidak punya apa-apa, tidak ada harapan masa depan pada ketika itu untuk itu saya sangat terkesan.

 

3. Hendak cari sahabat adalah dalam masa kita senang dan susah. Lebih ramai sahabat, misalnya kita ada kuasa dan pengaruh, lebih kurang sahabat malah hilang banyak bila kita tersungkur dan derita. Tetapi bagi pihak keluarga saya, Azizah dan keluarga, saya hendak beritahu Tan Sri Azman dan keluarga, bahawa kami tidak pernah lupa persahabatan dan keikhlasan saudara bukan kerana jawatan saya, tapi kerana saya Anwar yang bersahabat dengan Tan Sri Azman. Terima kasih sekali lagi.

 

4. Baik dan tentunya selaku Menteri Kewangan dulu pun saya ikuti malah dalam beberapa acara seperti Kad Visa AmBank Al-Taslif 96 itu saya luncurkan, kemudian bila ke Zoo Negara untuk sambutan 60 tahun umpamanya Zoo Negara itu peranan AmBank itu di antara yang signifikan untuk menjayakan projek-projek dari untanya kepada haiwan lainnya kerana Tan Sri Azman ini minat dia banyak, termasuk unta dan saya bukan belajar, saya mula minat jet ski itu mulanya pinjam dia punya dan masa itu dia lebih mahir, jadi selalu dia cuba tinggalkan saya.

 

5. Sampai kata
   “ingat, you pengurus bank, saya Menteri Kewangan, jangan tinggal saya jauh”. Saya ingat, sekali lagi, kita dari Port Dickson dengan jet ski. You don’t mind Tan Sri Azman I’m sharing this, I mean very personal nostalgia and I don’t think we need to rely too much on this protocol and formalities, it will go away. But the friendship remains when the protocol is no longer there. So I’m trying to break that protocol rule now. Kita naik jet ski, ini serious jet ski bukan satu jam, dua jam sampai habis kulit-kulit kita ini kena sunburn. Tapi kita naik, cross lautan itu masuk ke Sungai Linggi, Kuala Linggi masuk Sungai Linggi.

 

6. Dalam Sungai Linggi, dia pusing laju, saya cuba ikut, saya jatuh. Dia panik sebab dalam sungai itu ada buaya, jadi saya tengok dia cemas betul. You bayangkan, Menteri Kewangan jatuh digigit buaya dan diiringi oleh Tan Sri Azman, AmBank. Jadi saya tidak tahu sama ada dia hendak selamatkan saya atau nak selamatkan AmBank. Tapi he did manage to help me out. There was no…, I have not.. I didn’t see the crocodile tapi memang terkenal di kawasan itu banyak buaya.

 

7. Itu pengalaman-pengalaman manis saya dengan Tan Sri Azman tapi melihat kejayaan AmBank tentunya membanggakan dan sekarang fort itu dipegang oleh Tan Sri Md Nor, sahabat juga, dan rakan-rakan dan saya hanya hadir untuk menyatakan kebanggaan saya kerana kejayaan dan bagi pihak Kerajaan MADANI, tentunya kita akan lakukan apa yang munasabah untuk memastikan bank-bank tempatan ditambah pengaruh dan pemerkasaan dan dukungan daripada kalangan rakyat.

 

8. Now, we are in the midst of a great challenges you have heard, it’s unprecedented. Many developments unprecedented, it is tiring times, but we are fortunate because we have a formidable team. Politically it’s stable and what is more pertinent to my mind is the focus on policies that can propel economic growth.
9. They will require a clear economic concept which covers under the MADANI framework but clarity of policies be it the national semiconductor or energy transition roadmap, or digital transformation the clarity, people want a very clear, definite policy that would attract interest professionals, technocrats, domestic investors, and foreign investors and we are fortunate because we’ve been quite successful.

 

10. We are relatively peaceful and stable and you see the problems in our neighbours we are monitoring on a daily basis and because of that position that we hold, and the relative stability and economic and cultural vibrancy, many of our colleagues around the region have placed some trust in us.

 

11. So when they encountered this or observed this initial tension between Thailand and Cambodia, eruption of initial conflict, we were very fortunate because both countries then readily accepted our role and we managed to help and ease, in the sense to be able to sustain relative peace for now, for a few months. Of course we have to monitor on a daily basis the Chief Armed Forces, and it is a teamwork.

 

12. I did emphasize, as Tan Sri Azman has said in the bank, the team must have this commitment. Same vision, same commitment, and always feel an urge. I have that urge to protect the interests of the country.

 

13. So, although there have been changes, Anutin Charnvirakul has been appointed Prime Minister of Thailand, I immediately consulted him, and was very reassuring when he said that he would place the same trust for Malaysia to continue to mediate between Thailand and Cambodia, and would honor all our previous commitments with the previous government, insofar as to ensure there’s relative peace in this region.

 

14. And you know we have established good relations not only within ASEAN, but because our policies of centrality. Not easy to navigate, but we did, and we do try our best with the team. That’s why we have enhanced our bilateral strategic comprehensive relations with China. We take very seriously, not only in terms of investments and trade (which happens to be our primary goal), but at the same time to talk about culture, building trust, about civilization and at the same time, we are fortunate because, despite the issue of tariff, President Donald Trump called and informed me that he’s visiting Malaysia next month to coincide with the ASEAN meeting, and Premier Li Qiang will also be there. President Vladimir Putin met me in Beijing and said he’s seriously considering coming to Malaysia. Oh, I said, okay, so you have Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Li Qiang, so I give you notice there’ll be complete lockdown of Kuala Lumpur.

 

15. No, what does this show? That when the society, the private sector, the public sector and the civil society, the public at large love this country, want us to succeed, we will I mean, the international community would invariably appreciate and would benefit immensely our people. I’m not suggesting that it’s easy. You know, you monitor the economy, both domestic and also international and regional on a daily basis. You know these are trying times. But notwithstanding, I remain very optimistic because we have that resilience.

 

16. We have to build with this resilience — economic resilience and domestic resilience. There’s no reason, absolutely no reason, why we can’t overcome some of these problems, because our fundamentals remain strong, and we have a quality of very hard-working young professionals. I visit from France to Germany, to China, to India, to Brazil, South Africa. Almost without exception, people do express their admiration. Potential investors do say that our workforce is relatively much more disciplined and hard-working. And to me, that is a prerequisite to ensure relative success of our economy, our nation.

 

17. Now, having said that, just to conclude Tan Sri Azman because you are here for the dinner, not for my speech, I am fully aware of that. To conclude, I will say this; don’t discount the possibility of forces. They may be in the minority, but as you know, we don’t want a government too powerful to continue more authoritarian practices because we don’t want, we don’t accept tyranny in the majority.

 

18. But at the same time, as you have seen from the terrorist cells all over, there can also be tyranny of the minority — using the race card. Every issue must be seen from the prism of race. No country will be able to manage and survive. Of course, the majority are Malays and Bumiputera. If you ask me, yes, it is my duty to ensure that the Malays are protected and helped. But this country can only succeed if you have that clear policy and direction to embrace every single Malaysian to feel that they are protected and they are wanted, then we will survive as a country where we do show affection to all our people.

 

19. This is not necessarily a popular statement to many. I mentioned just last few weeks, I said okay, we have to promote Bahasa. It is a national language. I don’t accept Malaysians not able to be proficient in the Malay language. But you have to accept the fact that the level of proficiency of English is too critical, too important for this nation. Which means the Education Ministry must do more to enhance the level of proficiency of the English language.

 

20. At the same time, you believe this is a multiracial country. If everyone accepts the role of Bahasa Malaysia, there’s no reason why we should marginalize or make it difficult for others to try and excel their level of proficiency in the various languages — Chinese, or Tamil, or Arabic, or French. I mean that should be our attitude now.

 

21. But when I said that there’s a desperate minority, they went on abusively to say that Anwar has relegated the importance of Bahasa. You see, this will continue to happen. That is why even for bankers and AmBank family and fraternity must realize that other than your basic preoccupation, the understanding, the commitment to protect the interests of this country and to serve Malaysia as a whole must be there. You cannot allow a group of desperate minorities using the race card or religious bigotry to influence the direction of this country because politically, economically, socially, we can’t sustain. With that I present my message. Terima kasih sekali lagi, Tan Sri Azman.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabaratuh.