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TwitterFor Zaid, winning in PKR polls is a step towards Putrajaya
To the 59-year-old former Umno man, the main goal is not to win a more powerful party post, but to capture the country from the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider in a recent interview near his home at Tropicana Golf and Country Resort here, Zaid explained that winning the PKR deputy presidency was merely a step towards the opportunity to help in the process of preparing Pakatan Rakyat’s future in the country.
To the veteran politician, the fledgling PR coalition still lacked cohesiveness.
“We are too fractured. We must have a concrete plan. We must be able to tell the people of the country – What will we do to Malaysia when we come to power?
“I do not care about who becomes the Prime Minister because if it is just more of the same, then what difference does it make? I am interested in policy transformation on a grand scale, not about who is most powerful in the party,” he said.
As such, Zaid pointed out that he was not at all interested in who is in whose camp and all the petty infighting within the party, ahead of the looming party elections.
“I do not care. I want to focus on issues. Issues like what we stand for... our stand on issues of various fields, whether they are about economic policies, educational, race relations.
“If you look at PR today, we can strengthen each other by articulating policies that are clear. I want to focus on that... it is key to convincing the people that we are a serious opposition and a viable alternative government,” he said.
Zaid said that although PR had taken huge leaps forward by coming up with its common policy platform last year, it needed better follow-up actions.
“I was an architect of that platform but I believe we can do better and I would like to develop that further. So that is why I think my role in PKR can help to remove some of the ambiguities.
“For example, there are so many policy issues that we have yet to resolve. Like when DAP said they wanted to give RM1,000 to senior citizens... When (DAP’s) Tony Pua spoke about the housing discounts.
“These became issues but they were not yet discussed among all PR parties,” he said.
Zaid noted that the fact that the issues were only being raised by individual parties within the PR and not by the coalition as a single entity, proved that the opposition still had a long way to go.
“These things are just being bandied about in that fashion and this suggests a lack of cohesiveness.
“To me, it is key to be able to answer all these questions and this is what I want to contribute.
“What do we want to do with Felda, with Felcra, with the issue of race relations, on oil royalty? What is our stand on these issues?” he said.
He expressed disappointment at the common practice of many PR leaders to immediately point their fingers at the BN whenever administrative matters were mishandled.
“It is one thing to blame BN, Umno or Najib for their mismanagement... but then you too have to come up with something, tell the people that this is what PR wants to do and why it is the better way,” he said.
He complained that this was the kind of leadership that PKR currently lacked.
“And as the leader of the opposition, PKR needs to take the lead in this. We need to move forward and mobilise our partners in PR to draft out these common policies.
“We may not be able to do everything now but at least when the time comes, we can work from there,” he said.
When asked if this meant that he felt the PR would not know how to run the country if it were voted into government in the next general election, Zaid smiled and said it was hard to tell.
“I am not a soothsayer so I do not know what the future holds for us... however, stranger things have happened in politics. PR had nothing in 2008... and then suddenly, here we are, so another miracle could happen.
“However, we cannot take for granted that we will have another 2008. We need to have more cohesive policies on the table so it would strengthen our case as the next alternative government,” he said.
Zaid acknowledged that PR may still win even without doing this but pointed out that it was better to be prepared than to make big blunders in the future.
“You cannot just brand yourself as a reformist and then do nothing about it or you feel you are afraid to take forceful steps forward for you fear losing votes.
“I think the opposition today has much responsibilities as the government of the day to make democracy work,” he said.
Zaid expressed disappointment at the lack of maturity in many political leaders who feared taking a stand for what they believed in because they were afraid of losing support.
“I am the sort of person that, if the government, or [Prime Minister Datuk Seri] Najib [Razak] comes up with a policy or a piece of legislation that is commendable, I will not be afraid to stand up and support it.
“There is nothing wrong with that... bipartisan support is very important in an effectively-run government. Your support on one bill does not mean you are going to jump and leave your party,” he said.
He noted that if all politicians feared making a stand, there would never be reforms in the system.
“That is the problem with this country... lawmakers are still afraid of their own shadow. That is why we need to start something new here and this is the role I want to play.
“I hope we can steer into a new approach to making policies in the country. I like to judge politicians by the policies they make. Policies should be their guiding measure of support because politics is about making policies.
“If you have nothing to offer, then why are you a politician?” he said.
Zaid famously caused ripples in the country’s political landscape when he spoke out against the arrests of DAP MP Teresa Kok and a journalist under the Internal Security Act last year.
He subsequently quit his post as the de facto law minister and was later expelled from Umno.
Zaid joined PKR in June last year and is presently the PR coordinator, a member of the party’s political bureau and the supreme council.
He is one of the two frontrunners vying for the party’s deputy presidency and is pitted against vice-president Azmin Ali, seen as PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s wing-man in the party.
Azmin has so far received endorsements from scores of party leaders while Zaid appears to be walking into the fight without the backing of any party heavyweights.
He is, however, said to be popular among the grassroots in Sabah and Sarawak.
A candidate needs only two nominations to qualify for the competition.
Nominations for national posts and divisional meetings begin this weekend.
The party’s 218 divisions will hold two separate meetings; one for the annual general meeting and election of divisional leaders, and a second meeting to vote for national leaders.
The divisions will vote for national leaders on weekends, from October 29 to November 21.
MI
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