PKR’s young lion

PKR's director of strategies has come a long way since his student days in the UK to be at the forefront of the reformasi journey.

INTERVIEW

The reformasi movement has been described as many things but “sexy rebellion” was never one of them. At least not until Rafizi Ramli called it so.

Rafazi, PKR’s director of strategies, was still an engineering student in Leeds when pandemonium broke out on Malaysia’s political landscape in 1998.

At the time he was the chairman of the United Kingdom and Eire Council (UKEC) for Malaysian Students which prided itself on allowing diverse political views to flourish despite its pro-establishment stand.

Rafizi himself was pro-establishment – although not pro-Barisan Nasional as he pointedly said – and he gleaned all news of home from Utusan Malaysia which he “took seriously” as the “voice for Malays”.

But the sacking of then deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, shell-shocked him. As the drama unfolded, Rafizi’s trust in a regime that he once believed upheld both truth and justice was shattered.

“It wasn’t so much about Anwar then; it was about how the fiasco was handled by the government,” he said in an exclusive interview with FMT. “It made everything I thought I knew about my country false.”

For a self-confessed opinionated person like Rafizi, waking up one morning to find that that his opinions had been built around half-truths was a massive wallop to his sense of self.

“I realised that I had had it all wrong and there was a hidden side of the truth,” he said. “That shock has scarred me to this day. And I never read Utusan Malaysia again!”

Reformasi spirit

Reformasi split his generation into two camps with no grey area in between. That single event was his tipping point from political neutrality to being partisan.

Recognising the importance of being a part of a historic passage of time, Rafizi and his friends embraced the reformasi spirit. They just didn’t expect it to last 13 years.

“It was more of a sexy thing, to be rebellious,” said Rafizi, deadpanned. “We honestly thought a change in society could be effected quickly, that it would all blow over within a year and we could return to our ordinary lives.”

When it finally dawned upon him that the reformasi journey could be one for the long haul, he stayed the course and has since gone the distance.

Aside from his party post, Rafizi, 35, is also the CEO of the Economic Advisory Office in Selangor. But neither thrust him into the limelight as spectacularly as the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) scandal.

From the time the first scorching document reached his hands to NFCorp chairman, Mohamad Salleh Ismail, being charged with criminal breach of trust, Rafizi hasn’t had a moment to step off-stage.

NFCorp aside, Rafizi dutifully rolls up his sleeves at the Selangor office everyday before shooting off to meetings, forums or ceramah that sometimes stretched into the wee hours of the morning.

“It has taken a toll on me personally,” Rafizi admitted. “I don’t think I adapt well to being a minor public figure. It’s more difficult for me than for those born politicians.”

And it’s about to get more difficult. Rafizi’s popularity coupled with a looming general election means that he has to ready himself for the next act in his political career, that of a parlimentarian.

Reluctant politician

Rafizi searched carefully for the right words when the inveitable subject of his candidacy arose, acutely aware of the fine line between humility and ingratitude.

“There was never a plan for this,” he began earnestly. “I just wanted to contribute in terms of policies and ideas. Everything else… just happened by accident.”

“I’m sure I will be fielded. But the party understands that I reserve every right to decide in the future that I have given a fair contribution and it is time for me to move on.”

In his next rush of words, Rafizi confessed that he is easily bored and has a habit of walking away when he feels that his time is over.

His reluctance to wear a politician’s hat is, according to him, an open secret . He stressed that a victory would not be a rung up the political ladder but an assignment that he must undertake for the time being.

“After some of our MPs jumped ship in 2010 there has been an urgent need to rebuild and reinforce PKR’s image,” said Rafizi. “And to do that we want more young people to step forward.”

“I can’t be pushing this strategy while refusing to be a part of it so there is a necessity for the time being for me to actively consider myself a politician and stand on the frontline.

“But again there is no guarantee that I won’t wake up one day and say that this is not what I want to do. I tell this to everyone so that there are no surprises,” he added.

Rafizi’s fluidity is not to be mistaken for fecklessness because if it were the latter, then he would have tripped over the next question on the policies he would champion as a “Yang Berhormat”.

After a soft snort at the honorific, he disclosed his deep-seated passion for education. Eight years of coaching students has made him privy to the glaring holes in the education system, primarily the inordinate amount of time spent on non-academic activities.

Quality education

“Forget the colleges and universities; education begins in schools and right now schools have become experimental grounds for non-academic initiatives and campaigns,” he said.

“Teachers are being pulled away from their core function of teaching and students are exhausted from taking pert in these various [education] ministry programmes. Schools must return to what they are meant to do, which is teach and make learning fun.”

Rafizi’s fervour for education, however, includes an opposition to the recently abolished policy on the Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI).

The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) has spent the last two years lobbying to reinstate the policy and Rafizi’s stand will likely infuriate them. But while he readily acknowleged PAGE’s sentiments, he nevertheless remained unyielding and unapologetic of his own.

With a sister as a teacher, Rafizi has witnessed firsthand the harm that PPSMI has caused to students in rural schools who barely have a foundation in maths and science.

“The damage that PPSMI has done to rural students has outweighed its benefits in urban schools,” he stated. “The national education policy must give the mininum opportunity to every student and look after the most vulnerable groups in society.”

“PAGE feels a certain way about PPSMI and I feel another. But at the end of the day we are talking about the same thing – improving the quality of education in this country.”

Young voters, the wildcards of the next general election, have been recently plied with surveys on their expectations of future leaders. Their answers painted the image of intelligent, principled and responsive leaders within their age group.

A majority of those surveyed would have never met Rafizi Ramli. But all of them could very well have been describing him.