Inside the Outsyed Box

Syed Akbar opined that the government must empower the Malays, not spoonfeed them. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, October 13, 2013.Popular blogger Syed Akbar Ali was just a regular Umno member until he caught the eye of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Known in the blogosphere as "Outsyed The Box", this 53-year-old was appointed by Najib in 2011 to sit at one of the five committees governing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) – all this while he was whacking the prime minister in cyberspace for "inefficiencies".

In fact, he reveals, with a smile, that although he is an Umno member, he has not attended a single meeting since Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over leadership from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Activist Haris Ibrahim once called this blogger "Dr M's chief spin doctor", due to his unwavering support for the former prime minister.

But Syed Akbar is now busy criticising the government, even calling Najib "sewel" (insane) several times recently in his writings, blasting the latter for his "bodoh" (stupid) decisions and policies.

"I am just angry about the mismanagement and the cluelessness of the present government. They have no direction at all and we have not seen a growth in the economy for so long now," he says as he sips hot chocolate at a cafe in Kuala Lumpur, where The Malaysian Insider caught up with him.

Syed Akbar is particularly critical of the Performance Management & Delivery (Pemandu) unit, established in 2009 to oversee government initiatives and programmes.

"It is because of the philosophy behind the setting up of the unit, which shows that the government has given up on itself. A defeatist attitude, rather."

He then makes comparison with Dr Mahathir's time, a time when the country had "fairly good governance", according to him.

"The Economic Planning Unit was fully utilised and everything was done by civil servants. That was how efficient the civil service was.

"But now, everything has been outsourced to Pemandu who in turn has outsourced them to consultants, which cost the government millions of ringgit every year. The civil service is being sidelined," he adds.

Fellow blogger Ahiruddin Atan (Rocky's Bru) once said that Syed Akbar was not driven by politics, being fiercely critical of Pakatan Rakyat just as much as he is of Barisan Nasional.

To Syed Akbar, the DAP is too Chinese-centred, PAS uses religion as its shield, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat is only surviving because of its leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"Their pact is just a 'marriage of convenience'. They are much too different to be together," he points out, and predicts that the Pakatan Rakyat alliance would soon crumble.

On his interest in politics, Syed Akbar says it is because he believes he has useful ideas for the country.

"I think a lot. And I believe that I can contribute a lot to the country," he says.

He reveals that shortly after he joined the MACC panel, he wrote a paper proposing a more effective case management system, which would allow agencies with high corruption cases to work on their problems.

"And of course, we have to take action against those who are involved in corruption but the department must go through an overhaul process to be rid of the culture."

The proposal was approved and then adopted several years ago. Besides MACC and blogging, Syed Akbar keeps himself busy at the jewellery shop he owns with his wife of 28 years – Zeenath Begum – who he met through a family friend.

"I was studying business at the Purdue University in the US. I came home to get married and then we went back to the US, where I finished my studies at the Oklahoma University."

The couple have two boys aged 25 and 23, and another foster child. Their eldest son is an architect while the younger one just graduated from medical school and is looking to be posted to East Malaysia for his housemanship.

Syed Akbar's father was a civil servant who taught bureaucracy at the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) in 1970. The family, including Syed Akbar and eight other siblings, moved from their hometown in Ipoh to Malacca, where he did his secondary education at the ACS Malacca.

"Then I went on to Malacca High School for Form 4 and 5. My desk mate for the first year there was none other than Lim Guan Eng," he adds, referring to the DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister.

Shortly after completing the Malaysia Certificate of Examination (equivalent to SPM), his father was transferred to Penang. Syed Akbar continued with his Form 6 at the Penang Free School and went to the United States to further his education.

Along the way, he developed a passion for writing, penning letters to newspapers and magazines. Later, he became a regular columnist for Berita Minggu.

He has written three books, including "Malaysia and the Club of Doom (The Collapse of The Islamic Countries)" where he argued that Muslim-majority countries have collapsed economically, politically and socially.

In Malaysia, says Syed Akbar in frustration, the government has crippled the Muslims in the country by "spoon-feeding" them.

"The New Economic Policy has not created opportunities for the Malays but it has crippled them.

"What the government must do is empower the Malays to be able to compete with the other races and not disable them. They must learn to 'graduate' from these special rights," he says.