CORRUPTION, DOUBLE-TALK, DISHONESTY: 'Najib may now set his legacy'

KUALA LUMPUR - AMERICAN author and journalist Dr Fareed Zakaria has painted a bright future for Malaysia under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

"Prime Minister Najib is a bright man and good leader," he told the New Straits Times yesterday in an interview on the sidelines of the two-day World Capital Markets Symposium here.

Fareed said now that Najib had overcome the political hurdles of the general election and his party's leaders selection process, he should be able to chart the country's progress the way that he had wanted it.

"He has won the election and he has gotten the Umno election out of the way. Now, he has two years to implement his agenda before politics rears its head again.

"In the next two years, he can set his legacy and should ask himself what does he want to be remembered for. He is a bright man and he knows where Malaysia needs to go."

Fareed, who is the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, and Time magazine's editor at large, is the author of New York Times bestseller The Post-American World and several highly regarded books on international politics.

He had earlier gave a presentation on geopolitical and economic realignment at the symposium organised by the Securities Commission in conjunction with its 20th anniversary.

Fareed suggested that Najib's administration guide Malaysia to move its priority from physical capital to human capital development.

"It's not just funding education but also making society more merit-based and has more skilled workers working on merit, education and skills rather than other things.

"It doesn't have to happen overnight and it doesn't have to be revolutionary, but it has to start moving in that direction. Otherwise, you will get left behind."

Fareed also credited Malaysia for its "pro-growth" policies, which have helped it to become one of the most successfully developed countries in the world.

"I think Malaysia has done well even though it's a single partydominated state, which could lead to bad directions.

"In the past 15 years, there's been a movement in the right direction."

Asked on Malaysia's foreign policies that put equal emphasis on maintaining good ties with both superpower United States and rapidly emerging China, Fareed said it was the right thing to do.

"I think by and large, Malaysia is handling its foreign policy quite well. Naturally, you would want to maintain your independence but I would argue that there is a kind of natural bond that Malaysia has with the US."

Fareed, who is well-regarded as an expert in US politics, said it could be noted that Malaysians were rather more connected to the US' cultural influence than those of China.

"Even Chinese in Malaysia don't have that fascination (to China). People are talking about the Chinese migrating from Malaysia but they don't go to China.

"They go to Australia, Singapore, or the United States. They're not going 'back' to China."

He said China's rise to power did not mean Malaysians were fascinated by the "Chinese dream".

"They respect China but they don't fall in love with it."

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with Dr Fareed Zakaria at the World Capital Markets Symposiumin Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Pic by Yazit Razali