A case of sour grapes?

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
October 20, 2015

SOMETIME back this column (Aug 26) commented that we may not have "failed" so much as a nation as such "but as individuals who make up the nation ... brought about by the collapse of earlier assumptions; on the need to conform rather than agree to disagree." It was referring to the new generation who have had different expectations and experiences especially stacked against the high stakes in the future.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, 55, may not be exactly from the young generation so to speak. But he has an excellent track record of leading and managing the youth movement, especially the Malaysian Youth Council for a number of years. Even in the days when the then US vice-president Al Gore spewed "uncouth" comments during his brief 1988 visit to Malaysia, Saifuddin as the newly-elected president of MYC took a position and on record urged the US president to "do something visible" to counter Al Gore. "We are not setting the terms for the president but I believe someone of his stature is capable of setting the public record straight," he was quoted as saying. The next year, he voiced his view on the concept of Malaysian Malaysia which he deemed as "no longer relevant as we approach the new millennium".

As a former MYC president, he continued to express his view that "an NGO can take a political stand on issues but it should be non-partisan.

"An NGO should not be too close to any political party otherwise people question your independence.

"The person leading the NGO should also not hold too high a post in a political party or the government. There must be some balance," he said some 10 years ago.

He was always actively involved, without fear or favour, as a respected national youth leader.

When he took office after the 2008 election and became the first deputy minister for higher education he continued to voice his opinion even against his own government, as in the case of handling a street rally in 2011 where over a thousand rally-goers were arrested. In early 2013, before he lost the subsequent election in May that year, he made known his unhappiness when a student was talked down to in what was known as "the listen, listen, listen" saga during a forum held at a university.

In his short ministerial stint Saifuddin left a remarkable legacy when he facilitated the establishment of the first Students Parliament in Malaysia. The idea mooted in 2003 took seven years to become a reality when Saifuddin instinctively recognised the value of a "new milestone" in Malaysian students' intellectual movement as part of the Apex initiative in training potential leaders beyond the business-as-usual.

He was quick to endorse that university students "had the maturity and confidence to raise their views and opinions in an objective manner, which would be useful in helping the government shape national policies".

"There is nothing wrong if the students raise concerns which are political in nature but these must be done within the confines of the learning process," he told reporters after personally accepting the proposal for the formation of the "Students Parliament" from Universiti Sains Malaysia Students Representative Council president Mohammad Shafiq Abdul Aziz at the university in January 2010. This idea was then taken up by various others including NGOs and youth movements as envisaged by the then deputy minister.

In all these, Saifuddin demonstrated an inclination towards scholarship being an avid reader and author of six books, one interestingly entitled New Politics (2008). He was aptly offered to be a research fellow at the University of Malaya (UM), after he lost the 2013 election. But true to himself he left the position in June when a UM academic was allegedly asked to "resign" reportedly due to a research finding that did not go down well with the powers that be.

His level headedness as well as his intellectual prowess landed him a position as the CEO of the Global Movement of the Moderates formed to spearhead "a new approach in international relations and foreign policy, with the main goal of applying perspectives and frameworks of moderation to realise world peace and harmony." As it is a very responsible portfolio for the government, Saifuddin was handpicked for this enormous role. It is certainly not meant for just anyone, far less for "a thorn in a flesh" or "rubbish" as how Saifuddin was described by his critics recently. Otherwise it would reflect very adversely on the person(s) who did and concurred on his appointment.

So is it a case of sour grapes? – that one's loss is another's gain. Or just a lack of finesse as in the proverb "habis manis sepah dibuang".