Calling For A New Breed of Politicians
Book review: Saifuddin Abdullah: Politik Baru: Mematangkan Demokrasi Malaysia. English version: New Politics: Towards A Mature Malaysian Democracy. Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 2008. 88 Pages, RM 30.00 (Sabah & Sarawak: RM35).
It is now de rigeur for ambitious politicians to pen their autobiographies, or put in print their political thoughts. Barack Obama did both, presumably just to be sure, first with his autobiographical Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, and then his The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. That strategy obviously worked!
I am not privy to Deputy Minister for Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Saifuddin Abdullah’s political aspirations, but he has written Politik Baru: Mematangkan Demokrasi Malaysia, and its English translation, New Politics: Towards A Mature Malaysian Democracy. Both versions are included under this one cover.
Saifuddin has written three other books. Impressive! He is way ahead of another leader both in literary as well as political milestones. At a comparable stage in his life, Dr. Mahathir had yet to write a book or hold any ministerial appointment.
Clearly what we have in Saifuddin is a new breed of politician, a committed as well as a reflective one.
Straightforward Thesis
In Politik Baru Saifuddin puts forth a straightforward the thesis that Malaysian politics desperately needs players who are wise, knowledgeable, and with integrity. And to launch Malaysia into its next trajectory of development the government specifically and the political process generally must meaningfully engage the private sector and civil society.
He may be young but in framing the issues thus Saifuddin has demonstrated early his superior political skills. The politically tone deaf like me would have and had indeed stated the problems differently and more frontally. To me our current politicians are a bunch of opportunists who are also corrupt and incompetent, while our government acts in a highhanded fashion and ignoring the needs of the private sector as well as the sensitivities of civil society.
Had Saifuddin presented the problems as I did, it would be unlikely for a government-linked corporation to publish his book, much less have Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak launch it.
Saifuddin may also be demonstrating the halus (subtle) ways of our culture. Sometimes that may prove to be much more effective; the operative word there being “sometimes.” Mahathir catapulted his political career by writing his brutally direct if not frankly insulting The Malay Dilemma.
In his book Saifuddin frequently uses catchy if not poetic phrases, as in, “Politik ilmu dan bukannya politik ampu; politik hikmah dan bukannya politik fitnah; serta politik bakti dan bukannya politik undi.” (“Knowledge politics instead of ingratiate politics; wisdom politics instead of defamatory politics; and service politics instead of vote politics.”) Another, “UMNO perlu diisi dengan ahli politik yang ‘berjuang’ dan bukannya yang ‘berwang.’” (“UMNO must be filled with politicians who ‘struggle’ and not politicians who are ‘wealthy.’”)
As is obvious, the English version is not as cute; it lacks the alliterative or rhyming ring, but more on the translation later.
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