It’s important for me to remain impartial: Vinod

KUALA LUMPUR – Politics do not determine his friendships but the individual does.

This is the stand of industrialist and philanthropist Datuk Dr Vinod Sekhar when it comes to his personal relationships with politicians

The Petra Group chairman and chief executive said he remains impartial when it comes to politics as he has friends from both sides of the political spectrum.

“Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is one of my closest friends; he’s known me since I was 13 years old.

“At the same time, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is also a friend,” he said in a recent podcast interview on OJ Chitchats, hosted by Oon Yeoh and Datuk Jake Abdullah.

The days of a single party ever having power again, fully, are gone. That is an amazing change in itself.

“When I was sick in hospital a while ago, he (Muhyiddin) spent an 1½ hours just chatting and keeping me company. Despite all that was going on, he took the time to check up on me.

“We non-politicians have to understand that politicians are a different kind of animal; what we see in the public eye is often not who or what they really are, which is unfortunate but no different than politicians anywhere else in the world,” Vinod said.

He was responding to questions on the formation of the news portal The Vibes, which launched six months ago on September 19.

Vinod also said he did not care about what politicians thought of him as he just does his work and promotes social capitalism.

“The idea that we must walk on eggshells around them (politicians) and kowtow (is wrong)... they are paid to do their job and every five years, if they don’t do their job, we (can) throw them out. Some of them do a good job, some of them do a disastrous job.

“It’s our responsibility as citizens to be very involved in ensuring that we keep them on their toes, that we remind them that, when the time comes, we’re the ones that decide if you keep your job or you don’t, and that’s important.

“There’s this talk of everyone being fed up of politics, or that ‘we don’t care anymore’, and if there’s an election, the turnout would be very low. And that’s sad because, look, we changed our nation two years ago.

“The days of a single party ever having power again, fully, are gone. That is an amazing change in itself.

“You can’t expect something that has been damaged for over 30 years, that has been broken down into pieces, you can’t fix it in two (years) or one or six months,” he said.

If we give up, then what’s the point of it all? If our stand is so easily shaken, it can’t have been strong in the first place. I know we’re strong – I have faith in the Malaysian soul.

“It will take patience and time, but we will get there. We just have to stay the course and have faith in ourselves as Malaysians.”

To a question, Vinod said the people cannot be faulted for feeling lethargic with the current political situation.

“I don’t blame them but I think it’s up to many of us, like both of you, to at least keep inspiring our fellow Malaysians. To make them feel that this fight is worth it and they have to keep standing and being counted.

“If we give up, then what’s the point of it all? If our stand is so easily shaken, it can’t have been strong in the first place. I know we’re strong – I have faith in the Malaysian soul.”

Vinod also fielded questions on Petra News stable, home to portals The Vibes and Getaran.

He said the coverage by The Vibes involved both sides of the political divide as the news portal has interviewed the likes of Umno leaders, such as former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his former deputy Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as well as former two-time prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

“Our value system will be represented by our editorials, but our news will be news,” said Vinod. – The Vibes, March 24, 2021