Bowing to racial groups no way to govern nation, says Rafidah

Chan Kok Leong Chan Kok Leong Updated 6 years ago · Published on 7 Aug 2019 3:26PM · 4 Comments

Former international trade minister Rafidah Aziz says a minority of Malaysians have shown xenophobic and parochial tendencies, and have begun to 'infect' policymakers. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Najjua Zulkefli, August 7, 2019.

POLICYMAKERS must not bow to extreme groups if they are serious about nation-building, said former minister Rafidah Aziz.

“That’s no way to govern the country. You can’t govern by trying to please racial or religious groups.

“As long as we pander to groups with ulterior motives that are not for national development… this nation will never be a nation for all Malaysians,” she said in her keynote address at a forum by the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.

Speaking for more than 90 minutes on “Factors impeding Malaysia’s economic progress and how to overcome them”, she talked about the “20% principle” as a personal rule of thumb.

“If 20% goes astray, it’s okay. You can work on them rather than trying to please everybody and cause the whole country to go down the drain.

“Worse still is trying to please the 20% as that’s your gallery. When politicians start playing to the gallery, that’s when the trouble starts,” said the former international trade minister, who is now AirAsia X chairman.

Rafidah cited US President Donald Trump’s politics as an example of how divisive “playing to the gallery” can become.

“When you have this gallery thinking, you will start formulating policies that are not for the nation as a whole, but for a small group of people. It’s like Trump, who talks about his base and forgets that he’s the president of the whole country.

“This is a phenomenon everywhere. Those who don’t play to the gallery find themselves out of the system. But it is better to be out of the system than in a gang of kleptos,” said the 76-year-old.

She said the majority of Malaysians, fortunately, are reasonable and accept differences in views.

However, she said, “there is a minority who have shown xenophobic and parochial tendencies, and they have begun to infect the majority of policymakers”.

“These kinds of elements have the potential to continuously cause interracial and interfaith friction.

“When faith becomes a pawn in politics, that’s when the Taliban starts, and when people go into fight mode. But they are only fighting someone else’s political fight,” said the Bersatu member, referring to the extremist group in Afghanistan.

She also urged Putrajaya to come up with a Malaysian agenda.

“This agenda can be taken up by successive generations. It needs to have core elements, such as basic aspirations and values.”

The government can then formulate policies that meet the needs of most Malaysians, “and not just parochial needs”, she said. – August 7, 2019.

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Comments

  • Dear Rafidah In a multiracial country the govt of the day shld Always take a Middle Approach to get a WIN WIN SITUATION. Politicians are Elected by the RAKYAT TO SERVE RAKYAT .malaysia is obssesed by race n religion. The dangerous game divide n rule by TDM govt has taken malaysia to the drain today. Religion is for human to be Kind Compassionate Tolerant but in malaysia muslims are like monsters who want to swallow every other non muslim. Is this Religion that muslim profess. Muslims hv to come out of their HIPOCRISY IN THE NAME OF islam.

    Posted 6 years ago by Mindy Singh · Reply

  • We don't see any politician from a multi racial political party stir up any racial or religious controversies. Look at PKR, DAP, AMANAH or Warisan , none of these parties plays up any sensitive issues. Only race or religion based political parties like UMNo, PAS,BERSATU or MCA played up sensitive and unsettling issues that divide and split the country. So Ms Rafidah pls tell your Bersatu leaders to turn into a multi racial party before the country goes back to the old system. It will be a total defeat from what u try to advocate and teach the young generation to think and act

    Posted 6 years ago by James Wong · Reply

  • Whatever policies to make, make sure not to base on race and religion. How well can our Malay politicians do this way? Even Anwar is prone to make very Malay statements. When they swear, they swear with Quran. Why the need to do that= beats all the non-Malays

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Our Constitution needs some rethinking before it can bring all of us forward to the next century.

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply