Saifuddin: Go beyond party lines, speak up on real issues

INTERVIEW | Saifuddin Abdullah thinks politicians need to be brave enough to speak up on real issues, even if it goes beyond official party lines.

The foreign minister was responding to a question about rising racial and religious tensions of late over issues such as Jawi calligraphy and controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

"Sometimes we have to be unpopular. Some of us were not very popular when we were in our old parties, because we may not have toed the official party line.

"But you must be able to go beyond just party lines and step up and speak up on issues that are real and not just political," he said in a group interview at Wisma Putra last Saturday.

Surveys, Saifuddin said, show that most people think racial and religious issues stem from politicians themselves.

As such, he urged politicians from both sides of the divide to take responsibility and be more aware of the statements they make.

“What we say gets reported and nowadays, it will be viral. That is why I say politicians do certain things because of certain motivations.

“If your motivation is to win elections and party elections, then you will be making these kinds of negative and sometimes provocative statements. 

"But if politicians were to be more responsible and take leadership, then we should be able to change the discourse," he said.

Saifuddin stressed that he has faith in the rakyat, who are turned off by such negativity.

"It is the politicians who keep on doing this (blowing things out of proportion),” he added.

At the same time, Saifuddin said, his Pakatan Harapan colleagues have collectively tried their best to overcome such racial and religious issues, though he acknowledged there have been hiccups along the way.

"You may see remarks made by one or two of our leaders. We are not immune from making those kinds of hiccups, but collectively, we have done quite well."

Not running away

The minister also responded to criticisms that the Harapan government has failed to fulfil many of its election promises despite being in power for over a year.

He pointed out that a committee chaired by Liew Chin Tong of DAP was recently formed to see how the coalition can best fulfil its promises.

"They are now meeting every Tuesday. They are calling representatives from ministries to look at where we are now from the manifesto point of view.

"So, what I am trying to say is that we are not running away from our manifesto. We are seriously looking at it, each and every promise, what we have done, what we have started halfway.

"Perhaps there are one or two (promises) where we have to tell the rakyat, 'This is really impossible.' We have to admit this."

Saifuddin also noted there were both "small and big projects" contained within the manifesto.

The big projects are the various reforms that would take a long time to manifest and involve intangibles which cannot be seen easily.

Meanwhile, small projects are those such as replacing GST with SST as well as abolishing tolls, he said.

"I think we are doing both of it, small and big. So when people ask me, are you making U-turns, (I say) it depends on what reforms you are looking at.

"(For the) big ones, we are not making U-turns."

Saifuddin also reiterated that when Harapan came up with its manifesto, it did not have access to full figures – meaning that adjustments now need to be made to some of the small projects.

"I won’t deny the fact that we have problems and even when people accuse us of making U-turns, I won't argue. We have our issues.

"But the big ones, the fundamentals, (are ongoing)," Saifuddin said. - Mkini