Monday, 9 September 2024 – In this seminar, YB Dr Radzi Jidin shared his journey in politics and discussed Perikatan Nasional’s perspective on Malaysia’s future.
MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR
Perikatan Nasional (PN), the alliance of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU), Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN) and Parti Maju Sabah (SAPP), has been Malaysia’s federal opposition for nearly two years. The Malaysia Studies Programme organised a hybrid seminar with YB Dr Radzi Jidin as guest speaker to analyse Malaysia’s current state of affairs and discussed Perikatan Nasional’s perspective on Malaysia’s future. Yang Berhormat Dr Radzi Jidin is the Member of Parliament for Putrajaya in the Dewan Rakyat, and a Vice-President in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU).
Moderator Dr Lee Hwok Aun asked Dr Radzi to share about three ‘Ps’: personal, party and partisanship. Starting with personal, Dr Lee asked what key lessons have been learnt since 2018, with 1MDB as a trigger. Dr Radzi shared about his 20 years spent in Australia, researching and teaching accounting and auditing, focusing on the effects of political connections on fraud auditing. While he had planned to stay at the University of Tasmania since moving there in July 2016, he noted that the big 1MDB scandal caught his attention. He said that he told some UMNO leaders then that it would be the “beginning of end of UMNO” if nothing was done. He said the only person interested in doing something was Muhyiddin Yassin. He and his wife thus registered as a BERSATU members after it was established in September 2016. In 2018, Dr Radzi resigned from his job to return to Malaysia to participate in the elections in Ketereh, being up against one of the UMNO giants Annuar Musa. While he lost the elections, he became a Senator in July the same year, then the deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and eventually the Senior Minister of Education in March 2020. He thus concluded that a lesson learnt is to “always do the right thing, all pieces will come into place”. Doing the right thing, Dr Radzi said, required effort and analysis. On this basis he said he made big decisions such as abolishing exams in primary schools.
Dr Lee then asked Dr Radzi about leadership and elections within BERSATU as well as rifts within the PN coalition, specifically BERSATU stepping in to mend ties between PAS and GERAKAN. Dr Radzi said that the party is growing though often overlooked given that BERSATU is a relatively new party. In terms of leadership transition, the party president announced that he would like to see Hamzah Zainuddin as deputy president and Azmin Ali as Secretary General. He noted that there are many young leaders in the party who are “here to stay” and they are stronger at the grassroots level. Regarding being in the PN coalition, Dr Radzi noted that for the Sabah state elections, they decided to use the PN logo for campaigning and eventually won the state elections, which strengthened the relationship within PN. Dr Radzi said that despite being told that Putrajaya was a difficult seat, he was confident he could win.
Addressing the question of rifts in the party, Dr Radzi said they have mechanisms to deal with them to solve through proper channels. He noted that while there are splits in PN, the coalition is still intact and a force to be reckoned with. Notably, PAS performed well prior to PN but not to the level of when they became part of PN. Such was the case for BERSATU too. Regarding mechanisms, Dr Radzi said that it is important to discuss things when the time comes. For example he said that Muhyiddin decided not to be the opposition leader after discussing with PAS, as “what is more important is the country”.
Dr Lee then asked how PN will gain grounds especially among East Malaysia and non-Malay voters. Dr Radzi pointed out that in East Malaysia, those in the current government in Sabah came from BERSATU. He said that when Muhyiddin became prime minister they worked with Sabah and Sarawak and there is “nothing new”. While he acknowledged that non-Malay voters were the weakest link, he pointed out the strong support from Malay voters. He claimed that claims of a possible “green wave” if PN comes into power is a strategy to “frighten non-Malay voters”. While it has worked well, he said that most Malaysian voters are rational and can see if PH’s promises have been delivered. He noted that PN should improve on communications in preparation for the next General Elections.
The seminar proceeded to a Q&A session. Dr Radzi fielded questions including: the strength of grassroots networks within BERSATU, how BERSATU distinguishes itself from UMNO and PAS, the basis of BERSATU’s support from Malays, how the 3R issues (race, religion, royalty) affects PN’s discourse and policies that he wished he could have implemented but could not. Malaysia Studies Programme Co-coordinator Dr Lee Hwok Aun moderated this seminar, which attracted 77 participants from the policy, business and academic communities.
