Can another National Consultative Council happen?
The first NCC was preceded by much turmoil and bloodshed. Is the Prime Minister waiting for a similar tragedy to strike the country before he finally acts to right the ship of state?
Lim Teck Ghee, The Heat Online
At the recent Khazanah Megatrends forum, CIMB chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak spoke on the need for “creative disruption” in the country’s socio-economics and politics. He provided a point of view on current affairs which he alluded to as probably bordering on the X-rated, and not deemed to be suitable by the “adults” in the country who make the decisions on these matters.
In his speech in which he pointedly avoided mention of his brother, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the 1MDB scandal, the eminent banker expressed concern that the country was facing a challenge equal to that faced in the aftermath of the racial riots in May 13, 1969.
According to him, we are also losing in the realm of international economics which determines the fate of the nation’s economy because of the failure to undertake structural reform and also because of the elephant of “politics and the socio-economic structures that have evolved in tandem over the years”.
To meet this challenge he proposed that we borrow a leaf from history by bringing together the best and brightest to huddle together in a national consultative council (NCC) to formulate a new socio-economic and political re-engineering plan for the country.
Although he emphasised that his views are still evolving on how the NCC2 could proceed, he identified six areas for recalibration. They are:
1) Constitutional reforms;
2) Electoral reforms;
3) Economic reforms – affirmative action, role of government;
4) National unity and the social contract;
5) Preserving and strengthening the integrity of the federation; and
6) Institutional integrity – checks and balances between various branches of government and within government itself.
So what is the possibility of this wide-ranging reform proposal which covers all the major hot button issues – save that of religious reform, a subject which Nazir Razak perhaps deliberately avoided for fear of being castigated by the religious right – that have emerged during the past few years.
Will this NCC2 proposal by one of the country’s foremost business leaders be taken seriously by the “adults” or political elite in power running the country?
Without wanting to sound unduly pessimistic, I would say that the prospects of it making to what in the American game of baseball is considered to be the first base of policy consideration – for now – is practically nil.
Ensuring national unity – is the NCC the right answer?
Big Brother knows best
Firstly, it is clear from past events that Nazir’s brother, the Prime Minister, has little regard or time of the day for his youngest sibling’s moderate and often enlightened views on politics and other contentious issues in the country. The age difference of 13 years and early loss of their father possibly indicates a lack of brotherly closeness. It may also explain the political divide.
Whatever normal brotherly relationship between the two also seems to have worsened recently.
