INTERVIEW | Although Pakatan Harapan youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was not appointed to cabinet, he will continue to push for the youth agenda in reforms.
The Setiawangsa MP was among the those tipped to be named as the youth and sports minister, with some Harapan youth members also lobbying for him to be included in Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s cabinet.
"To me, there are no issues at all (with not being appointed).
"The position is secondary, and what I have gone through these years as an assemblyperson, political secretary to the menteri besar, deputy state speaker, exco, PKR youth chief, Harapan youth chief and all that.
“I take it as a bonus," he told in Malaysiakini in an interview.
Nik Nazmi said this when he was asked if he felt discouraged over the appointment of his deputy Harapan youth chief, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, as the youth and sports minister.
With the appointment, Syed Saddiq became the youngest ever cabinet minister at 25, breaking the record of former prime minister Najib Razak who held the same portfolio at 33.
Many made comparisons between Nik Nazmi and Syed Saddiq based on their somewhat similar trajectories.
Nik Nazmi was the youngest candidate standing for elections in 2008 when he contested and won the Seri Setia state seat.
The opposition coalition, then known as Pakatan Rakyat, denied BN's two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time and took over five states.
Looking back at his involvement in PKR during the early days, Nik Nazmi said that it never crossed his mind that he would one day be a lawmaker, let alone imagine the return of Mahathir as prime minister.
Like Syed Saddiq, Nik Nazmi also turned down an offer to further his studies at Oxford University to focus on politics.
"When I first joined politics when PKR was only offered a seat. I thought I had to leave my professional career and thinking about paying back my scholarship.
"I never thought about becoming an assemblyperson at that time. Who would've thought that one day Mahathir will be the prime minister again?”
Ready to criticise
On August 22, 2014, Nik Nazmi won the position of PKR youth chief, defeating his contenders Amirudin Shari and Mohd Nazree Yunus with a slim victory after a vote recount.
The victory did not come easy for him, as his team lost out to Amirudin’s AMK Baru. During his maiden speech in the national PKR youth congress, 14 out of 16 exco members walked out from the hall.
Days later, after several discussions had been held, Nik Nazmi organised a press conference with a majority of his exco members – seen at the time as a move that he had won over the discontents.
His former challenger, Amirudin, is currently the Selangor menteri besar while Nik Nazmi finds himself a Parliament backbencher.
Regardless, Nik Nazmi expressed his readiness to be vocal in Parliament, saying he will not hesitate to criticise the new administration, and that he is ready to accept criticism in turn.
"Backbenchers are usually vocal and sometimes 'louder' than the opposition bench. So, don't be surprised when we are criticising the government openly because this is ‘Malaysia baru’.
"I don't think that it is a problem, and it is the right culture that we should introduce in Malaysia baru because the government no longer knows best.
“No government is perfect or free from any mistakes, and that is why we need to admonish them," he said, though stressing that not everything should be criticised.
Young leaders stepping up
When asked about his views on young lawmakers as cabinet ministers, Nik Nazmi said that age and experience is no guarantee for success.
He added that he is confident with the young leaders in Harapan to play an important role in Parliament.
"If you're looking for an experience, you need to do it. If not, you will not have such experience (as ministers). It is not a big issue for me, but the burden is now on the shoulders of those appointed as ministers.
"It is important to have the best of both (young and old). We have an experienced leader like Mahathir and young leaders like Batu MP P Prabakaran and Syed Saddiq to bring in the views of the young people. There is a need for a balance for both.
"We will face trouble if we only have inexperienced young people on board and the same too when you only have those who are experienced. That's the problem with Umno then," he said.
Nik Nazmi smiled when asked if he has any advice for Syed Saddiq, and reminded him to be careful and not to slip into old practices of the previous administration.
"When we are in power, we have to be careful and as the saying goes, 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'.
"We do not want to go back to the old ways by Umno. I think that there is a high expectation on Harapan, including Syed Saddiq.
"The people are looking forward to change.” - Mkini
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