YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir on MCA, the future of Barisan and Beyonce

In the final part of his first interview with MSN Malaysia, the deputy minister of International Trade and Industry reflects on the future of our nation, and tells us he’s a big fan of the R&B diva!

YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir with his father, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia

On the current MCA drama...

MCA is the second largest party in the BN. (But) even one small part can damage the whole of BN. On one hand I'm glad that we're going through this painful experience early on, not two years down the road. On the other hand, I just hope that all the leaders who are at each others' throats now, are thinking of the interest of the people.

It's obvious that it's a race for positions in the party. It's come to the point where we don't see people willing to sacrifice self-interest for the party. If they assume to represent the Chinese community, I'm wondering whether they have the best interest of the Chinese community at heart.

Ironically, I don't think (MCA still speaks for the Chinese community). This is what happens when you forget your own mission in life. You don't realise your house is burning down and you're still squabbling. It happened in UMNO also. If you asked me the same question maybe a year and a half ago, I'd have said, "Yeah, the UMNO house was burning down, definitely." And yet, the infighting was just too much. Never in our history have we had such a long party election. It lasted 15 months, or something like that. Tussling. It was a marathon, one that was fraught with a lot of dirty tactics... all within one party. It's not like we're using this against the opposition; it's amongst ourselves. That seems to be happening to MCA right now. The more they're like that, the more support the DAP gets.

But solving the internal issue is only one problem. After that they have to try to convince the Chinese community, and all of Malaysia at large, that they're worthy of support. I haven't seen them do that just yet. Everyone's really turned off by what's going on there now.

On the future of UMNO...

(There's) still the perception that we have not addressed the issue of corruption. It doesn't seem to me like we have gone on an all out war to cleanse ourselves of this scourge. I feel very strongly that if we don't at least show some sincerity in doing so, support from our young people - our idealistic young people, particularly - will be pretty slow to come. You can talk about everything else with the youth, but if you have this shadow over your heads...it doesn't help.

 

On Beyonce and the West...

I believe that there is a balance to be struck between Western and Eastern values. It's absolutely possible to do that. I'd love to see Beyonce performing here. But I'd like, if I had the chance, to tell her that we enjoy her music and her voice, and it doesn't necessarily have to come with all the flesh.

As I understand it, she feels that it's a package - it's her music, show and the outfits - so it's "take it or leave it". We can't get her to change anything. That's disappointing because she's got a huge fan base here, myself included. I've seen her perform in Jakarta, and it's an enjoyable show, so I'd love to see her here. It's just local sensitivities, that's all.

And finally...

We (Malaysians) are survivors. I mean, how does a nation fail? It's not easy to fail. Of course it's even harder to succeed. I think the most important thing is the government has identified what the problems are. That's a major first move.
It's a work in progress. The clock is ticking; we don't have the time to while away. We really need to solve all these problems now.

copied from news.malaysia.msn.com

YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir on that fateful letter

An interview with YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir by MSN News

The deputy minister of International Trade and Industry puts to rest any confusion about the events leading to his call for Tun Abdullah Badawi’s resignation.

"It was the worst ever election result we ever had"

I contested as an MP representing the BN and won in Jerlun. I couldn't celebrate because we lost the state. This had never happened before. My state of Kedah fell to the opposition. Not only that, three other states fell also. And if you include Kelantan - which has (belonged) to the opposition for 19 years now - five out of 13 states fell to the opposition. It's the worst ever election result we've ever had. In Parliament we lost our two-thirds majority and that's never happened since 1969. To me, it all pointed to one cause.

I decided to call for a press conference in the State of Penang for some pretty obvious reasons. People got wind of my intentions and all sorts of pressure was put on me practically to block me from doing so. I realised that the situation could very easily get out of control.

At the venue where I was going to make a statement there were two opposing forces ready to get at each other. I didn't want to be the cause of any untoward incidents. Due to that I kind of watered down my statement and I said "The people have spoken in this General Election and the government should listen. I am sure the government will act accordingly and do something to rectify the matter."

"I came under undue pressure to leave my principles behind"

It turned out that the media, for whatever reason, kind of turned around the statement and said I supported the government; that I knew the government was going to do the right thing.

I was totally aghast! I didn't understand how they could make such a report. So, again, there was a lot of pressure. Some even said that, "Look, if you're thinking of saying anything else, please bear in mind that the Prime Minister is about to announce the new cabinet line-up. Surely you have ambitions to be on that list. Could you not postpone whatever intended statements you want to make and if and/or when you're already in the cabinet, then you may choose to affect change from within."

That was the, so called, 'party line'.

That got me even more fired up. (Laughs) What it meant was I was under undue pressure to basically leave my principles behind and go with the flow. First there (was) no guarantee I (was) going to be appointed (to) any position. Obviously I was not going to lobby for it.

Secondly, I don't understand this "change from within" concept. Once you've been appointed, how are you going to be critical of your own bosses, from inside? Whether you like it or not, you're going to end up being very obligated and you're going to have to tone down the language when it comes to things that you don't agree with.

"Singapore started it and it just blew up here"

I knew that the announcement (of the new cabinet line-up) was going to be made soon. I (wanted) to avoid any misconception that (because) the announcement was made and I was not on that list, I called for a resignation. It would sound as if I was a bad loser. So on the 12th of March I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to take responsibility for the dismal general election results and for him to hand over the reins of the government to his deputy.

It was a private letter. In good form, I cc-ed the Deputy Prime Minister, the two Vice Presidents in UMNO and the Secretary General. That was all I did. I didn't tell anyone about it. The Secretary General called me up that evening and asked me whether this was really my letter. I confirmed that (it was). He read it to me, I said, "Yeah, that's my letter." (Laughs) So, he said, "Okay." He didn't say anything more.

Next thing I knew, it was printed in (a) Singapore (newspaper). It came out online first. It was not a printing of the contents; it was a printing of the letter. For the life of me, I didn't understand how they got a copy of it. Singapore started it, and then it just blew up here.

In the aftermath...

The party line at that time was that we did not lose. The party line was, we still have the Parliament. To me it didn't matter, because from the best ever election results in 2004, within four years, it turned into the worst ever election results. What does that tell you?

(Since then) we have had a smooth transition of power to Datuk Seri Najib, which (was) a Godsend to me. That was what I called for and it happened. There was absolutely no way we could win the next general election if there was no change in the top leadership. And then you have a good Deputy Prime Minister...so the combination of the two is, to me, perfect. You have a party that's well on its way to mending fences and ridding itself of internal conflicts and troubles.

I'm talking about UMNO; BN (Barisan Nasional) is another matter.

I think the policies of the new government, led by the new PM, have been well received. Perhaps not in the beginning but now it's beginning to resonate with a lot of people. You don't want to have to go through an election with your number one being the core problem. There would be no end to the damage control and spinning just to turn the tide. It's a good start and I think we're well on our way to a full recovery. Confidence in the present government is improving. We're doing all right.

Copied from news.malaysia.msn.com

YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir on family and fulfilling a legacy

Interview with YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir by MSN News

 

On family...

It's been tough. You get to the point when you have to schedule in family time, literally scheduling in dinners and weekends. If not, there are others who decide what I should be doing with my time! Quite a number of people have access to my schedule so, before I know it, I look at the weekly or monthly calendar and there's not a single day I'm free. I try not to break promises to my family. It's been tough but they're beginning to understand and they know the kind of sacrifices they have to make.

On hopes of being PM...

Let's put it this way, I was the son of the Prime Minister for 22 years. I know what it's like to be the person responsible for the wellbeing of 27 million people. It's no joke. The kind of decisions you have to make on a daily basis are the types (of decisions) that would make you lose sleep, if you don't have a good conscience and you're (not) confident that you're making intelligent and informed decisions. So I, at this moment, cannot imagine assuming that position.

I know some people say, "Oh yeah, you know, I'd like to be Prime Minister." I think they haven't really given much thought to what that means. Sometimes people like the power but they don't see the responsibility that comes with it. I think that came from a very profound movie - Spiderman! (Laughs)

On saying what many shy away from ...

You're not outspoken just for the fun of it. You're outspoken when you see something that's not quite right and that needs to be righted. (It) would be irresponsible if you didn't say something about it. My statements have gotten (me) into trouble (but) I'd like to think that people understood why I had to say what I did. I'd also like to think that the majority of them agreed with me, if not then, then maybe perhaps now, in hindsight.

Copied from news.malaysia.msn.com

Interview with YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir by MSN News

 

On his new post...

It has been a very steep learning curve. Before as an MP, I was supposed to bring up difficult issues in Parliament; one of the things I used to harp on was FTAs (Free Trade Agreements). Now I'm on the other side where I have to actually respond, so it has not been easy, but it is a very interesting, very challenging ministry. To be able to contribute directly to the economic wellbeing of the country is a real privilege.
The other thing that I find is that I have to read a lot. From day one, the media expected me to know every bit about everything. It's been tough when they shoot me some really difficult questions (and) I've found myself trying to wing it, (but)I'm not allowed to do that actually because now I'm speaking for the ministry, I'm speaking for the government; I'm not speaking for myself.

On the global financial crisis...

We've been lucky in that we were somewhat insulated, due to the first experience we had in '97/'98, during the Asian crisis. The lesson we learned then was that we had too many banks - 30 at the time. So, to avoid a bloodbath, the government imposed on this 30, to start merging. Eventually we ended up with only 9 banks. We've built up again, so we now have about 17 but still, it's a far cry from the 30 we used to have. Financial governance has tightened.

I think that has helped us avoid some of the pitfalls of speculative type of lending. We were not at all exposed to the sub-prime crisis in the US, unlike some of our neighbouring countries. Due to that, we were affected only to a limited extent.

Out of 190 or so countries, we're the 19th largest trading country in the world. We were impacted, of course, by the slowdown in global trade. January was the worst month for us. Fortunately, it was not only the two stimulus packages that we launched that helped float the economy again. Interestingly enough, the stimulus package in China helped us directly, in that orders coming from China picked up, around the end of the second quarter. Factories in Penang and Johor started getting orders; some had to even re-hire some of their old employees. We are slowly picking up the pace, so the worst is over.

On pushing our potential...

For a long while, the economy has worked on enlarging the middle class and to a large extent we have succeeded in doing that. But it's been sort of five (or) six years now (and) we haven't really grown. It's what we call an 'upper-middle-income trap' - incomes have not been appreciating and on the other hand, the cost of living is coming up. We can't seem to push the envelope, so that we can move from an upper-middle-income to a high-income economy. We desperately need to do this, because we can't promote ourselves or market Malaysia as a low cost producer, as we have China and India right next door (and) we can't stay at middle-income, because we've got Indonesia and Vietnam also nipping at our heels. We definitely need to move up and find a new niche. The PM says that in order to do this, we need to be more innovative and more creative. We have to focus on higher value added industries and I think that it is a matter of survival for us to do this.

On Vision 2020...

If you listen to what the PM said, he said that if we dropped to 6% (annual rate of growth) for the next 10 years, the targets of 2020 will only be achieved in 2030. Having said that, to achieve 8% every year (the rate needed to be on course for 2020), for the next 10 years, is not going to be simple. It's going to take some really extraordinary measures to attract the kind of FDIs that's going to help us achieve 8%.

It's not the same as it was in the '80s. At that time Malaysia was seen as the darling for investors in this region. We didn't really have China and India competing in the same space, let alone Indonesia and Vietnam. Now, we're just one among many and the other guys seem to be very attractive, in terms of incentives and future potential. They have huge domestic market(s), which we don't. So we're up against some stiff competition. I'm not saying it's impossible, but we really have to put every resource together.

On China...

I think our economy is intertwined with China's. We can't help that. We've been trading with China for hundreds of years already and interestingly enough, they never felt compelled to invade us, in those hundreds of years (laughs) - unlike some other Western nations.

They consume anything and everything you can produce, especially raw materials. In our case it's palm oil, rubber, gas and petroleum products. One of the (other) big exports we have from here to them (is) electronic components. China-made products commonly consist of some Malaysian made components, especially computers. We definitely need to intensify the trade that we have with them. They are beginning to invest in Malaysia. I think there is a lot more potential there.

I'm in the midst of attracting a couple of Chinese private companies, which are of a considerable size, to invest here. The government has basically committed to approve a banking licence for a large Chinese bank to facilitate trade and investment as well. So I think that's going to be really good for us.

On 1Malaysia...

(1Malaysia means) moving away from this idea of 'tolerance' to 'acceptance'. The word 'tolerance' still has a negative connotation, in that you're forced to accept other people's differences. But 'acceptance' is something where you willingly accept how they are and they accept what you are too. Thereafter you move on to a next stage, which is to celebrate the differences.

Malaysia is not a melting pot. We don't assume to be one. We have never advocated a policy of assimilation, whereby anyone who immigrates to Malaysia gets assimilated into the dominant culture - in terms of language, culture, religion even - unlike some of our neighbouring countries. Some people say that there's a different approach and it may not be advantageous to us, if we continue to be (this) way. But we feel that it has been. Each of us has something good to put on the table. As long as we're taking advantage of everyone's positive points I think we could do well as a nation. I believe that's what 1Malaysia means.

On cyber communication...

I enjoy it (Twitter and Facebook) because I get almost an immediate response from anything I say. Whether it's positive or negative is another matter. As long as I know people out there are interested to know what I think, and they are willing to give me feedback, that is absolutely invaluable.
When the ministry announced the new automotive policy, it got all sorts of feedback (through FB and Twitter). Many were supportive but many too were critical of it, particularly on certain points of the new policy. We really took (them) into consideration. We discussed it in the ministry and we changed it.
I wanted to be committed to using technology as a means of communicating with people. (But) I felt that sometimes a blog seems impersonal or less committed, so a website would be more of a show of commitment that we're serious about this. That's why we came up with Mukhriz.com.

On blogger censorships...

I think it's important that we try to instil or imbue the right ethics so that it's self-regulated rather than imposed on them by governments. It's one thing to have freedom of speech in the conventional media but on the Internet it's automatically, free.

If we accept the fact that, even at this particular moment when it's quite free, there is more good coming out of it than those that are not good, that's good enough for me to not pursue this censorship thing.

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