PETALING JAYA: Social media users have coined the term "PMX" for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has made it clear that he does not want to be called "papa" or by any other paternal nickname.
PMX is in reference to him as the country's 10th premier, with PM being the acronym for prime minister while "X" is 10 in Roman numeral.
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There have been multiple news articles and social media posts referring to the Tambun MP as PMX since he was sworn into office by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Nov 24.
On Tuesday (Dec 6), Anwar had pleaded for Malaysians to not call him papa, after a netizen wished him “Good morning papa” on Twitter.
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Anwar had responded with "Pls - dont do that”.
Anwar, who is married to Bandar Tun Razak MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, is called "papa" by their six children.
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Anwar's refusal to use a paternal nickname with the rakyat is seen as moving away from the practice of former prime ministers Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who were comfortable with portraying themselves as the nation's father figure.
Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin had been referred to as "Pak Long" and "Abah" respectively.
The tech-savvy Anwar has always been active on social media, where he could be seen engaging and bantering with netizens.
On Dec 4, Anwar, who is also PKR president and Pakatan Harapan chairman, said despite increasing responsibilities after he took the country's top job, he will still find time to reply to tweets.
"Many complain that I rarely reply to tweets. The responsibility is increasing, but I still follow the comments of friends on Twitterjaya. InshaAllah, I will try to find space and reply to all my friends' tweets," he said in a post.
