KUALA LUMPUR – Amid continued political instability that threatens to drag Malaysia further down the doldrums, corporate leader Datuk Seri Nazir Razak suggested that the royalty be given the opportunity to put the country back on track since the ruling politicians have failed.
The Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd chairman said this recently during a visual podcast hosted by AirAsia founder and group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes on August 5.
Fernandes had asked if Nazir was optimistic about Malaysia’s future looking at the current situation.
“Honestly, I’m pessimistic. But I’m going to work hard at becoming optimistic…And I just want to leave one comment, which is that leadership is important.
“And if we can’t get that leadership from the political platform, why don’t we get it from the royal platform?” he suggested.
Fernandes, who appeared taken aback by the suggestion, said jokingly: “Nazir is advocating an absolute monarchic system. We’re going to be like Brunei.”
To this, the former banker said: “Just to set the platform. It can report to Parliament, but the monarchy should set it up.”
Nazir’s comment comes on the back of a brewing political crisis, with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin supposedly having lost the support of the Dewan Rakyat’s majority after the withdrawal of more than a dozen Umno MPs.
Muhyiddin is understood to be meeting party leaders of his Perikatan Nasional government this evening, following his weekly cabinet meeting and audience with the king.
Earlier in the podcast, Nazir said he believes the current generation of leaders has let the country down by allowing aged individuals to continue running the nation, highlighting the need to allow younger leaders to take over.
At present, he said the country appears to be run by a “three-headed monster”, each head representing identity politics, money politics, and the centralisation of power respectively.
“If you chop off just one head, the other two will be around and the head will grow back. We need to chop all three altogether.
“The only way we are going to deal with it is to really sit down and overhaul it together,” he said.– The Vibes, August 11, 2021
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