FMT:
Timely to revisit federalism and revenue-sharing, says Nazir
5 hours ago
Alina Khai
The son of Malaysia’s second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein highlights his father’s use of a national consultation to achieve consensus over political expediency
Nazir Razak says his father’s focus on stability and development in trying times should be a lesson for today’s politically charged Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may need to embark on reforms in key areas, including economic policy, federalism and revenue-sharing, but such changes can only be put in place after extensive consultations — not in an ad hoc manner, says Yayasan Tun Razak chairman Nazir Razak.
As an example, Nazir, son of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, cited the New Economic Policy (NEP), a brainchild of his father’s government.
“It was never meant to last forever,” he said, pointing out that the NEP was intended to have a lifespan of 20 years.
“Is it still relevant for Malaysians today?” he said during an interview with FMT to mark the 50th anniversary of his father’s death.
“At some point, we need to revisit and see whether it can be refined.”
“I think it’s okay to relook even at how the federation is structured, how it is governed,” said Nazir, noting that recent political events have already resulted in the devolution of certain powers from the federal government to the states.
“Maybe we need to go through a process where we rebalance the economics — for instance, the tax collection,” he said.
Nazir warned that fragmented deals made between the federal government and individual states will only fuel resentment among the rest.
“We cannot have one state, then another state (requesting concessions). You will have chaos everywhere, with everyone saying: ‘How come you have it but I don’t?’”
In recent years, pressure from Sabah about its constitutional right to a share of tax revenue has led to similar calls from other states, such as Johor and Penang.
How Razak did it
Nazir recalled how his father embarked on extensive consultation processes which ultimately gave rise to the NEP and the Rukun Negara.
“That can be a healthy part of getting people back together, saying: ‘Maybe the (revenue-sharing) formula wasn’t quite right, or wasn’t implemented right.’ We want to be able to debate this.”
Parliament, Nazir said, may not be the correct forum for this sort of consultation process.
He said one failing of the democratic system was its total reliance on the political party system. Politicians in parliamentary debates often speak not from conviction, but according to political expediency or party lines, he explained.
“And that, I think, is not an effective process for national recalibration,” said Nazir.
“We should look at how Tun Razak did the overhaul in 1971, and take into account today’s challenges and the aspirations of Malaysians today.”
Nazir said his father’s processes involved people from across all aspects of society.
“There are so many different communities, different social groups, so there’s always (a need to) give and take to reach a middle ground that we can all go forward with,” he said.
Disagreements would naturally occur, said Nazir, and leaders “cannot unite everybody because not everyone is going to buy in.” That is why there is a need for majority consensus after extensive national consultation, he said.
“You have to go through a process where leaders buy in, and then leaders do the job of cascading down their buy-in to their followers. And that’s how one would do it,” said Nazir.
Focus on stability
Reflecting on his father’s legacy, Nazir said the late leader’s emphasis on stability and development in turbulent times offers a lesson for today’s politically charged Malaysia.
“After the May 13 riots, Tun Razak was effectively a dictator for 22 months, then very uniquely, returned government back to the people and parliament. Most dictators won’t give it back, right?” he said.
“But even when he did that, I think he had it clear in his mind that Malaysia was not ready for too much politics. Hence, Barisan Nasional.
“He wanted us to be able to focus on development without every single thing being too politicised. Now this system, this political equation, if you like, has evolved to what it is today.”
Today’s challenges may appear daunting but Nazir believes they can be overcome. Leaders of his father’s time had much tougher circumstances, he said.
“We had the communist threat that was pretty intense. It wasn’t safe to even drive from KL to Kuantan those days. Then you had Konfrontasi (the confrontation with Indonesia), which was a real war.
“And then, of course, we had ethnic tensions, which ultimately led to May 13,” he said.
“(These may be) challenging times, but we faced even more challenging times (previously) and our leaders dealt with it.”
Challenges for Petronas
Commenting on the ongoing Petronas-Petros dispute, Nazir emphasised the importance of clear and transparent negotiation processes grounded in both commercial logic and development needs.
“There’s no shortcut to it. One needs to deliberate,” he said. “These conversations just need to take place with full transparency and understanding.”
“Thankfully, Petronas is not a listed company. It can take decisions based on commercial and also developmental perspectives.”
Nazir, however, cautioned against expanding Petronas’ responsibilities beyond its core mandate to the point of affecting business viability.
“Petronas has quite a specific mandate. Poverty eradication and those other responsibilities of government, that is not Petronas.
“Petronas is about oil and gas, and that’s its focus. I don’t agree with the idea that Petronas should go beyond its remit,” he said.
Nazir said Petronas must be mindful of its own needs, noting there were capital expenditure issues within the company “that we need to be careful about”, he said.
“A lot of people say: ‘Oh, Petronas makes so much money’, but Petronas needs to reinvest a lot of money going forward. So that needs to be balanced.”
Petronas was set up by Razak’s government in 1974 as a corporation under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and vested with complete ownership of petroleum resources and all rights to the exploration and exploitation of petroleum in Malaysia.
The act specifies that Petronas comes under the control and direction of the prime minister, whose directives are binding.
Razak died on Jan 14, 1976 but his values and legacy continue to be upheld by Yayasan Tun Razak, a foundation set up later that year in his honour.
Now under Nazir’s chairmanship, the foundation runs a youth leadership programme. It is also preparing a documentary and a book on Razak’s legacy.
More information on Yayasan Tun Razak is available at its website http://yayasantunrazak.org.my.
As an example, Nazir, son of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, cited the New Economic Policy (NEP), a brainchild of his father’s government.
“It was never meant to last forever,” he said, pointing out that the NEP was intended to have a lifespan of 20 years.
“Is it still relevant for Malaysians today?” he said during an interview with FMT to mark the 50th anniversary of his father’s death.
“At some point, we need to revisit and see whether it can be refined.”
“I think it’s okay to relook even at how the federation is structured, how it is governed,” said Nazir, noting that recent political events have already resulted in the devolution of certain powers from the federal government to the states.
“Maybe we need to go through a process where we rebalance the economics — for instance, the tax collection,” he said.
Nazir warned that fragmented deals made between the federal government and individual states will only fuel resentment among the rest.
“We cannot have one state, then another state (requesting concessions). You will have chaos everywhere, with everyone saying: ‘How come you have it but I don’t?’”
In recent years, pressure from Sabah about its constitutional right to a share of tax revenue has led to similar calls from other states, such as Johor and Penang.
How Razak did it
Nazir recalled how his father embarked on extensive consultation processes which ultimately gave rise to the NEP and the Rukun Negara.
“That can be a healthy part of getting people back together, saying: ‘Maybe the (revenue-sharing) formula wasn’t quite right, or wasn’t implemented right.’ We want to be able to debate this.”
Parliament, Nazir said, may not be the correct forum for this sort of consultation process.
He said one failing of the democratic system was its total reliance on the political party system. Politicians in parliamentary debates often speak not from conviction, but according to political expediency or party lines, he explained.
“And that, I think, is not an effective process for national recalibration,” said Nazir.
“We should look at how Tun Razak did the overhaul in 1971, and take into account today’s challenges and the aspirations of Malaysians today.”
Nazir said his father’s processes involved people from across all aspects of society.
“There are so many different communities, different social groups, so there’s always (a need to) give and take to reach a middle ground that we can all go forward with,” he said.
Disagreements would naturally occur, said Nazir, and leaders “cannot unite everybody because not everyone is going to buy in.” That is why there is a need for majority consensus after extensive national consultation, he said.
“You have to go through a process where leaders buy in, and then leaders do the job of cascading down their buy-in to their followers. And that’s how one would do it,” said Nazir.
Focus on stability
Reflecting on his father’s legacy, Nazir said the late leader’s emphasis on stability and development in turbulent times offers a lesson for today’s politically charged Malaysia.
“After the May 13 riots, Tun Razak was effectively a dictator for 22 months, then very uniquely, returned government back to the people and parliament. Most dictators won’t give it back, right?” he said.
“But even when he did that, I think he had it clear in his mind that Malaysia was not ready for too much politics. Hence, Barisan Nasional.
“He wanted us to be able to focus on development without every single thing being too politicised. Now this system, this political equation, if you like, has evolved to what it is today.”
Today’s challenges may appear daunting but Nazir believes they can be overcome. Leaders of his father’s time had much tougher circumstances, he said.
“We had the communist threat that was pretty intense. It wasn’t safe to even drive from KL to Kuantan those days. Then you had Konfrontasi (the confrontation with Indonesia), which was a real war.
“And then, of course, we had ethnic tensions, which ultimately led to May 13,” he said.
“(These may be) challenging times, but we faced even more challenging times (previously) and our leaders dealt with it.”
Challenges for Petronas
Commenting on the ongoing Petronas-Petros dispute, Nazir emphasised the importance of clear and transparent negotiation processes grounded in both commercial logic and development needs.
“There’s no shortcut to it. One needs to deliberate,” he said. “These conversations just need to take place with full transparency and understanding.”
“Thankfully, Petronas is not a listed company. It can take decisions based on commercial and also developmental perspectives.”
Nazir, however, cautioned against expanding Petronas’ responsibilities beyond its core mandate to the point of affecting business viability.
“Petronas has quite a specific mandate. Poverty eradication and those other responsibilities of government, that is not Petronas.
“Petronas is about oil and gas, and that’s its focus. I don’t agree with the idea that Petronas should go beyond its remit,” he said.
Nazir said Petronas must be mindful of its own needs, noting there were capital expenditure issues within the company “that we need to be careful about”, he said.
“A lot of people say: ‘Oh, Petronas makes so much money’, but Petronas needs to reinvest a lot of money going forward. So that needs to be balanced.”
Petronas was set up by Razak’s government in 1974 as a corporation under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and vested with complete ownership of petroleum resources and all rights to the exploration and exploitation of petroleum in Malaysia.
The act specifies that Petronas comes under the control and direction of the prime minister, whose directives are binding.
Razak died on Jan 14, 1976 but his values and legacy continue to be upheld by Yayasan Tun Razak, a foundation set up later that year in his honour.
Now under Nazir’s chairmanship, the foundation runs a youth leadership programme. It is also preparing a documentary and a book on Razak’s legacy.
More information on Yayasan Tun Razak is available at its website http://yayasantunrazak.org.my.
No comments:
Post a Comment