Nazir: My right to speak up on current affairs

CIMB chairperson Nazir Abdul Razak may have copped criticism from a cabinet minister for being vocal on current affairs, but the prime minister’s brother is not zipping up.

He said there are those who consider his views on current affairs as unsuitable.

"And they will look for 1,001 motives behind my suggestion of NCC2 instead of what I have just articulated. That is their prerogative.

“Just as it is my prerogative to say we can and must opt for national – politics, economics and social – recalibration,” he told the Khazanah Megatrends forum in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He was referring to his suggestion that a second National Consultative Council (NCC) be set up in the model of the 1970 NCC.

The 1970 NCC was chaired by his father and second PM Abdul Razak Hussain, to understand Malaysia’s problems and formulate solutions following the 1969 race riot.

Nazir’s suggestion comes after BN strategic communications director and cabinet minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan urged the banker against making Instagram posts that can spook the market.

"However politically tempting it is, a banker must refrain from making statements which only add to anxiety of the market. That's paramount,” Abdul Rahman (photo) had said.

Nazir was speaking at a closed-door luncheon talk at the annual event. The speech was later published by news portals.

He said Malaysia needs "urgent" social and economic re-engineering and the NCC2 should look at the following "critical issues":

1) Constitutional reforms;

2) Electoral reforms;

3) Economic reforms-affirmative action, role of government;

4) National unity and the social contract;

5) Preserving and strengthening the integrity of the federation; and

6) Institutional integrity – checks and balances between various branches of government and within government itself.

Did you bring your toothbrush?

Nazir said that even he had experienced how institutions can be abused to safeguard personal interests, when he was threatened with arrest when trying to raise alarm over a dubious government venture.

The venture, he said, was InventQjaya a firm which piggy-backed on the drive for research and development, to acquire government funding for its "killer invention".

"The turning point for me was when he (the company founder) showed us his 'killer invention' – a glass window which would turn opaque at the touch of a button.

"Well, massage parlours in Korea had had them for years – so I was told!" he said recalling his time as InventQjaya board member.

He said the independent directors and Finance Ministry official Rahim Mokti decided to blow the whistle after finding more "dubious" inventions.

The state-funded InventQjaya, he said, had expensively paid for intellectual property from the founder's own firm in the US, he said.

"Truth be told, if we knew how painful blowing the whistle was going to be, I’m not sure if we would have done it!

"Etched in my memory is the day Shahril (Shamsuddin) and I went to report the case at the A-G’s Chambers.

"After spending a couple of hours showing all the evidence, the officer calmly asked 'Did you bring your toothbrush?'," he said.

He said the government's intentions to push for innovations may have been good, but the experience of InvetQjaya and many others show government in business lead to checkered results.

Nazir said socio-political reasons are dragging Malaysia down and a "potentially toxic mix of race and religion" embedded in the political system may pose a challenge to Malaysia's transition to a multi-party system.

"I won’t try to predict the consequences of continuing with the current trajectory of Malaysian politics.

"But I will predict that if we don't undertake major structural reform of our socio-economy soon, we may well lose the international economics game," he said.