40 years of service – and moving forward

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has not only survived a testing year – he has survived 40 years in politics.

Joceline Tan, The Star

ON the day Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made his political debut 40 years ago, he said that a new chapter in his life had begun.

That chapter marked the start of a long political journey filled with ups and down but which eventually led to the Prime Minister’s office.

Today is 40 years to the day of Najib becoming the MP for Pekan, taking over from his father and Malaysia’s second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, who died of leukaemia.

Najib was then only 22, rather shy, serious and politics was probably not topmost in his mind. It is known that Abdul Razak’s brothers were also keen on the seat but Tun Hussein Onn who had taken over the Premiership preferred Najib as the best way to remember the late Abdul Razak.

Now 62, he is still a generally serious and reserved person but as his old friend Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad put it: “He came from the bangsawan (aristocrat) class, along the way, he learnt how to be a rakyat’s politician.”

Every single one of those 40 years has been spent in positions of some responsibility and power which makes him one of the most experienced politicians in government.

He is the only Prime Minister to have been a Mentri Besar. He was Pahang Mentri Besar from 1982 to 1986 and was a timely replacement for the then Mentri Besar who had fallen from grace with the Pahang palace.

Najib’s slow climb to the top has been likened to a marathon journey. Going by today’s standards, he moved up at a glacial pace, step by step.

He has often stressed that he has never toppled anyone from a position and has only vied for a post when it was vacant or available.

It is thus ironic that when he finally arrived at the top it was in the midst of the perfect storm – a political tsunami that swept in the strongest and most organised opposition front in history.

There has not been a single easy day for him since taking over the Premiership in 2009. But all that paled in comparison to what he went through last year, his annus horribilis as a result of the 1MDB issue and the all-out bid by Tun Dr Mahathir Mahathir to unseat him.

He had to endure the walloping of his life but, quite incredibly, he has survived the great Dr Mahathir.

“The first word that comes to mind is survivor. He is a survivor,” says Tawfik Ismail, a former MP, whose late father Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman was the deputy prime minister during Abdul Razak’s tenure,

The 1MDB issue has gone from boiling hot to a slow simmer while Dr Mahathir has gone from launching missiles to throwing stones.

The Chinese have this superstitious belief that the ninth year of each decade of one’s life is often the most testing and that the path will be less troubled if one passes the hurdle.

Going by that, Najib seems to have survived his 39th year in politics, the worst is over even though he is not exactly in the all-clear as yet.

Najib’s 40th year, as Tawfik noted, is happening in South-East Asia’s era of succession politics, alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Philippines president Benigno Aquino.

Tawfik has likened what Najib went through since becoming Prime Minister to Dr Mahathir’s own first six years as premier, teething years fraught with trials and tribulations.

It was only after Dr Mahathir cleared the deck of his opponents that he was able to become his own man and settle down to do what he wanted to do.

Najib is still struggling with image problems but by the end of last year, he had convincingly cemented his hold on power.

He showed that he had the numbers in Parliament to stay in power and he did this not once but several times. He has managed to bury whatever notion that the opposition bench had of pulling off a vote of no confidence against him in Parliament.

The Umno general assembly in December was another pivotal moment. The three-day party gathering turned out to a stunning display of support for and endorsement of his leadership in Umno, leaving the key critics in his party marooned and quite isolated.

It was quite sad to witness some of the catcalls directed at Dr Mahathir who was a VIP guest at the opening day of the Umno general assembly. He should not have to experience that sort of reception but, as some argued, he had it coming.

Najib is one politician who has mastered the art of using the carrot and the stick. The stick came down hard last year – he sacked his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his old friend Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal from the Cabinet.

During a closed-door meeting with Umno grassroots leaders, he had said: “I am a patient man. I seldom blow my top but all these baseless accusations are too much. I cannot keep quiet anymore.”

His administration also used the Sedition Act in a way that was reminiscent of how Dr Mahathir used the Official Secrets Act A on critics and opponents. The gloves have finally come off and nobody is calling him a “softie” anymore,

During an exclusive interview with The Star late last year, he made light of his “autocratic reputation”, saying that was against his nature as a leader. He insisted that he believed in a democratic and inclusive way of doing things.

All that was said with a broad smile that served to remind us of his other reputation – the “smiling tiger”.

Umno supreme council member Datuk Johari Ghani recalled how, during a dinner with some Umno politicians, they had chatted about how Najib had out-manoeuvred his adversaries.

Everyone burst out laughing when one of them said that for some of his opponents it was like going to see the doctor and being told that one had stage 4 cancer. They thought they could take him on, instead their political career came to an abrupt end.

In short, you do not want to “play-play” with this “smiling tiger”.

But surviving 40 years in politics has been a complex combination of hard work, ability, luck, being patient and having a political network that has become a trademark of his political style.

He has cultivated the ties that he formed with the Umno Youth chiefs during his time as the national Umno Youth leader. Many of them are now division chiefs and they were the ones who helped him survive the last year of attacks and challenges.

It is what a political insider has labelled the “batch system”. They move up as a batch and when the big man was in danger, they were there for him.

“They were important in his fight against Mahathir. When Najib looks behind him, he see all these men who hold positions in the party. But when Mahathir looks behind, who does he see? Maybe his son. (Tan Sri) Sanusi Junid and (Datuk) Khairuddin Hassan,” said one former division chief from Terengganu.

It is doubtful if any of the Umno Youth leaders after him will be able to replicate his formula.

Najib’s network survived the times because of his slow rise to the top. He went up in the slow lane and as such had time to take in the landscape, get to know his fellow travellers and become acquainted with the bystanders.

In contrast, present day politicians prefer the super highway to their destination. It is faster but it means they can only form superficial alliances rather than establish loyalties that stand the test of time.

“He has always been very shrewd in forming alliances. It’s all bearing fruit now, his wide network of friends and allies. He knows he can rely on them and he makes time for them. They are there for each other,” said Tawfik

For some of Najib’s fellow travellers, the 1999 general election was the worst experience for them and their man.

“I still remember it clearly – 241 votes. It was the worst feeling in the world for me,” said Tan Sri Al Amin Abdul Majid, who was Perak Umno Youth chief during Najib’s Umno Youth tenure.

Dr Mahathir’s sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had angered Malays throughout the country and rural seats like Pekan bore the brunt. Najib’s majority in Pekan plunged from about 11,000 in the previous elections to just 241 and it almost ended his political career.

It was a wake-up call, a lesson that no politician should take the voters for granted.

It was also a turning point in Najib’s politics and no matter how busy he is, he is in Pekan on a regular basis.

In fact, he is spending today in Pekan where it all began – for his father and then for him.

In Tawfik’s view, another defining moment in Najib’s career was during the Umno fight of 1987. Najib, who was then the acting Umno Youth leader, was pivotal in the delicate balance of support between Dr Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who were fighting for the Umno presidency.

Dr Mahathir’s premiership might have been short and not so sweet had Najib thrown his support behind Razaleigh.

Najib is also famous for keeping a cool head no matter how fierce the storm. Al Amin was on the golf course with Najib shortly after Dr Mahathir fired his first salvo more than a year ago.

“We were so worried but he showed no sign of stress and could focus on the game,” Al Amin recalled.

The big question now is, what now after 40 years? The opposition politicians, after failing to bring Najib down via a vote of no confidence, have been going around saying Najib is drawing up his exit plan and will resign before the next general election.

It is a fairytale to placate their supporters after all those failed attempts to topple him. They ought to realise by now that Najib is not backing down.

He intends to focus on running the country and the economy. Politics is about numbers and he intends to hold on to the numbers.

His immediate concern is the numbers in Sarawak. The state election will be taking place at a significant juncture of his career and he wants to do what he can so that Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem will win well. That, in turn, will help Barisan stay in power.

Najib has survived 40 years and the only way to go is forward.