Never let it be said that the lot of a finance minister is a happy one, especially when your brief is to keep the fiscal ship of a national state stable after a storm that blew it off course, tossed much of the old crew overboard.
But from last place just three years ago, Malaysia is making steady progress and is now up to ninth place in our finance minister of the year annual rankings.
Lim Guan Eng assumed control of the Malaysian economy and ministry of finance in May last year. It was part of the most monumental democratic power shift seen since the country gained independence in 1957, when Mahathir Mohamad swept back into power and Najib Razak was cast out, tainted by the notorious 1MDB corruption scandal.
And just when Lim must have thought things were going rather well – with better-than-expected fourth-quarter GDP growth of 4.7%, despite the US-China trade war and wider regional slowdown – the spectre of impropriety has reared its ugly head.
