`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Razak wanted multiracial politics but died too soon, says former aide

Tan Sri Michael Chen Wing Sum helped second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein to have an image acceptable to the Chinese community. – The Malaysian Insider pic by by Seth Akmal, January 15, 2015.Tan Sri Michael Chen Wing Sum helped second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein to have an image acceptable to the Chinese community. – The Malaysian Insider pic by by Seth Akmal, January 15, 2015.
Malaysia's second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had help from his Chinese parliamentary secretary, Tan Sri Michael Chen Wing Sum, in honing an image acceptable to the ethnic community in the 1960s and even after the race riots of 1969.
Razak was frank about his image problem with the Chinese, Chen said, and in his politics, he had wanted to include all races, although the idea of multiracial parties was not welcomed at the time.
"He wanted to transform BN to be more multiracial but unfortunately, the process did not go through because he died three years after its formation," Chen told The Malaysian Insider in an interview as part of a series to commemorate the 39th death anniversary of Razak who died on January 14, 1976.
Chen had his maiden foray into politics by winning the Chinese-majority Damansara parliamentary seat in 1964 as an MCA candidate.
He was subsequently handpicked by Razak, who was deputy prime minister then, to be his parliamentary secretary.
Chen lost his seat in the next polls in 1969 but continued to help Razak in the aftermath of the May 13 racial riots to rebuild ties between the various races in the country.
Between 1973 and 1979, he headed several ministries and was senate president from 2000 to 2003, before going back into legal practice.
Now 82, Chen is still active, going to his legal office occasionally to meet with clients. He shares his view of Razak's approach and economic policies, and comments on whether current prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is living up to his father's legacy.
TMI: What is Tun Razak's legacy to Malaysia today?
Chen: He contributed to the economy through the Felda schemes which succeeded in upgrading the livelihood of the Malays.
In education, while he was the education minister (1955-1957), he drafted the Razak report whereby he wanted every kampung (village) to have a primary school and every district to have a secondary school, and this has also materialised.
In terms of political stability, he has been very successful. After the May 13 racial riots, he managed to turn the tragedy around, restoring parliamentary democracy in one-and-a-half years and managed to get all races to be united and prosperous.
TMI: What kind of person was Tun Razak to you?
Chen: He was an outstanding and brilliant personality. I was appointed his parliamentary secretary in 1964, one of the first Chinese to be appointed into a Malay ministry, the Rural Development ministry.
I had rejected his offer but he persisted, and I relented. I asked him why and he was very honest and frank about it – he had an image at that time that was not Chinese-friendly, so he said, and he needed a person to help him.
Since I had won a seat with 85% of Chinese voters, he said it meant I must have some charisma that the Chinese voters cannot resist.
When I joined him in 1964, he spent half of his time on the ground. Mondays to Wednesdays he would be in Kuala Lumpur, (and he would visit) kampung all over Malaysia from Thursdays to Saturdays.
To improve his image with the Chinese, I suggested that instead of the usual visits to three kampung a week, it should be two kampung and one new village so that the Chinese can meet him, to which he agreed.
I also told him that he should wear a suit and not put on a songkok (for the pictures that would appear) in the Chinese papers on his visits to the new villages. I also arranged for him to meet with Chinese leaders.
All these finally paid off a few years later when his image improved among the Chinese community.
TMI: Can you share some of the memorable things he said, or personal experiences you had with him?
Chen: (On evenings when he was free), he would invite a few friends and together with their spouses, they would go to the Lake Club to have dinner, listen to music and dance. The only thing he didn't do was sing, he would get his wife Tun Rahah Noah to do it.
When (Philipine) president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife arrived in Malaysia for a state visit in 1968, they invited him to sing to reciprorate the performance that Marcos had given. But he couldn't sing at all, so he got his wife to do it.
I also remembered his official residence as a simple bungalow, with no special facilities. Someone had advised him to construct a pool and when the JKR (Public Works Department) came back and said it would cost RM50,000, he said it was too expensive and the money could be used to build a few more clinics.
During his time, he did not take a single sen from the government for his own benefit.
TMI: What can you recall of him from the time he replaced Tunku Abdul Rahman as prime minister following the May 13, 1969 riots? Did you agree with the pressure against Tunku?
Chen: When Tunku decided to call it a day, Tun Razak took over (the prime minister's office) but in politics, there is always hoo-ha despite Tunku having announced six times that Tun Razak was the natural successor.
He took over at a time when the Tunku himself wanted to retire, for what reasons, we won't know for sure. 
TMI: How did you assist Tun Razak after the May 13 racial riots?
Chen: I lost my seat in the 1969 general election and I had to leave my parliamentary secretary post.
The results of the election was announced on May 10, and three days later, the race riots of May 13 happened.
Subsequently, he told me I couldn't leave, I had to assist him. There was no Chinese senior official in the government so he wanted me to stay, and I had no choice but to do so.
I stayed back for one-and-a-half years, when Tun Razak was the director of the National Operations Council (an emergency administrative body which attempted to restore law and order in Malaysia after the May 13 incident) and I assisted him, acting as a go-between for the government and the Chinese community.
After the riots, Tun Razak had to visit all the sensitive areas to meet with the Malays and the Chinese, explaining to both communities the importance of peaceful existence and cooperation.
In those days, the Chinese were not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia so I was the bridge between them and Tun Razak.
TMI: Tun Razak set up the Barisan Nasional (BN) to replace the Alliance in 1973. Do you think this formula of one-race parties sharing power in an alliance is still relevant today, or should Malaysia move towards more inclusive and multiracial political parties?
Chen: He formed BN and allowed the inclusion of both race-based and multi-racial parties like Gerakan and the People's Progressive Party (PPP) to promote national strength. He wanted to transform BN to be more multiracial but unfortunately, the process did not go through because he died three years after its formation.
During the early years, we couldn't form multiracial parties. Umno founder Datuk Onn Jaafar tried to do it but it wasn't accepted by the communities then.
TMI: Malaysia first established diplomatic relations with China in 1974 when Tun Razak was the prime minister. How did you help with this endeavour?
Chen: I was the Alliance secretary-general as well as the table tennis association president. At that time, China was utilising "ping pong diplomacy" and we were invited to the country for a game in 1971.
Before we left for Beijing, I raised the matter, asking Tun Razak if we were interested in having diplomatic ties with China. After all, it is a matter of time, so why not take the initiative.
He was keen but I told him the Chinese leaders wouldn't know who I am until I got a letter from him, so he gave me a letter, written in his capacity as the Olympic Council of Malaysia, to be handed over to the then prime minister of China, Zhou Enlai, thanking him for the invitation.
The invitation came at the right time, and it opened the doors for the two countries to establish a relationship.
TMI: How do you evaluate Tun Razak's economic and social integration policies, particularly through the affirmative action-based New Economic Policy (NEP), in light of the last few decades? Has the policy succeeded? What went wrong? What needs to change?
Chen: He was a very pragmatic person. At that time, Malaysia was an agricultural-based country so he launched the Felda and Felcra schemes and they have proven to be very far sighted as Malaysia is now one of the biggest palm oil producers in the world.
Do you know that the Felda scheme was not purely for Bumiputera, but for all races? There were allocations for the Chinese and Indian communities to take up the scheme but it did not see any take-ups because the settlements were located in remote areas.
On the NEP, if you read the speeches made by Tun Razak at that time, you will realise that it was meant to eradicate poverty in every community, and not just for a particular race.
Two-thirds of the people here are Malay so whatever government policies drawn up, it will appear to favour the Malays when it is not. But because of this impression, the other communities will not participate.
I think the NEP has succeeded as far as the economic side is concerned, but it is not fully appreciated as far as the objective of giving it to all communities.
TMI: Did you know Tun Razak was not well? How did he go about his work during his last days in office?
Chen: When he discovered that he was not well, he did not realise it would be so fatal. I remember persuading him to take a rest because he didn't look well and he was weak and losing weight, which were not good signs.
When he was seeking medical treatment in London, he still believed he would survive and he would return.
He had bought five suits from Austin Reed in London during Christmas in 1975. He was looking forward to return and work on the 3rd Malaysia Plan for 1976-1980.
TMI: What do you think of his son, Najib, as a prime minister? Do you think he lives up to his father's legacy?
Chen: They belong to different periods and they have different approaches. The only commonality is that both share the same fate, whereby both became prime ministers and encountered challenges in their own respective times.
Under Tun Razak, he was faced with the aftermath of the May 13 racial riots and he replaced the Alliance with BN.
When Najib took over the premiership, he was leading BN which faced considerable electoral losses in the 2008 general elections.
But Tun Razak pulled through and I believe Najib could as well, but he has a huge task in his hands.
- TMI

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.