Ketokohan Tunku Zain Al'Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz dalam memperkasakan demokrasi dan ekonomi sebagai presiden dan pengasas Institut Hal Ehwal Demokrasi dan Ekonomi (Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs – IDEAS) mengingatkan saya kepada ketokohan seorang pemimpin muda yang hebat tetapi semakin dilupakan oleh generasi kini iaitu Undang Rembau ke 18.
Kisah ketokohan dan ketegasan Undang Rembau ke 18 di http://rozmal.blogspot.com/2013/02/pemimpin-yang-perlu-dicontohi.html
An opportunity to quash rumours
Friday, February 01
by Tunku 'Abidin Muhriz
NORMALLY I wake up early on Sundays so I can play tennis with my buddies but last Sunday, I was woken up earlier than usual because my phone was buzzing incessantly. Bleary-eyed, I opened my inbox to read the messages. "IS IT TRUE!?" they screamed. "What is your response to this???" they quizzed. "We want your statement on this TODAY," they pressured.
As has now been widely reported, Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim had said at an event in Seremban the previous evening that DAP had approached me to be a candidate for them in the next general election.
I must say that I was not at the ceramah and do not know the circumstances in which Tunku Aziz said this. Tunku Aziz and I share many friends, and he has always been friendly to me in person.
He wrote a generous foreword for my book Abiding Times, and invited me to launch a book written by his brother (Memali: A Policeman Remembers by Tunku Muszaffar Shah). Since then, I have seen him at British Malaysian Society events and numerous panel discussions where the same congeniality has been maintained.
Anyway, the leader of the Opposition in Negri Sembilan, DAP's Anthony Loke, then made a statement admitting that a meeting did in fact take place.
I was playing squash at the time, and decided that it was time to end these backhand volleys with a cross-court drop shot.
That is when I issued my statement, which was carried by this newspaper. Of course, long before all of this took place, there had been rumours that the son of a Ruler would be joining a political party before the next general election.
Eventually, one did — in October, Tengku Paduka Sri Raja Tengku Ibrahim ibni Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, son of the late Sultan of Terengganu and former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, joined PAS, having once been active in Semangat 46 in the 90s.
I recently met him at a wedding, which was also attended by Tengku Datuk Sri Azlan ibni Sultan Abu Bakar, another former Semangat 46 prince-politician who later joined Umno. He served as deputy transport minister and is still MP for Jerantut.
By coincidence, we were all sitting close together and had an extremely interesting chat about issues concerning the future of the country.
I won't reveal what they told me, but I told them that back in school, at the age of ten, I had drawn "S46" logos in my homework book, because they were obviously the good guys.
Semangat 46 was the last political party that was supported by the Father of Independence.
Today, unfortunately, I see no political party in this country that truly espouses the spirit of Merdeka in a convincing and consistent manner.
My hope, ever since I signed anti-ISA petitions while at the London School of Economics and Political Science, to the formation of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, has always been to see our country become the democracy it was promised to be on Merdeka Day in 1957, a vision reaffirmed on Malaysia Day in 1963.
That there is no political party wholly worth supporting is not necessarily cause for despair, though.
As I have written many times, there are plenty of admirable individual politicians across the parties, which is why I keep banging on about how important it is to vote for candidates and not just look at the party logo.
Perhaps more importantly, it has become clear that party politics is not the only platform from which to advocate change, because civil society in our country has grown spectacularly in recent years.
The frequency and normality of debates, seminars, petitions, rallies and of course, provocative articles, is constantly increasing, and this in itself is an achievement for Malaysian democracy.
No doubt many friends have chosen to enter party politics, and I bear no grudges for that, but it is crucial for some activists to remain on the outside as well.
This is particularly important as once an individual enters a political party, there is always the possibility that they might be subjected to constraints, waylaid by internal party matters, subjected to intense jealousy and tempted by corruption.
The role of civil society is essential in scrutinising their actions and advocating reforms which party members cannot. That is why I will continue doing what I started before my father was elected Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan. I will not be joining a political party this time, so I'm sorry to my acquaintances who were asking me to approve various projects as menteri besar of Negri Sembilan.
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