Thursday, August 9, 2012
Who is Rafizi Ramli ?
That question was imposed to many people on the ground as soon as he has started to emerge from obscurity and into the limelight after his revelation of the National Feedlot Centre scandal. Many answered and know him as "Director of Strategies for PKR” . But many didn't know who he really is?
So the questions now - Who is Rafizi Ramli?
Rafizi has been endowed with brilliance, scoring exceptional academic and professional achievements, which means he possesses solid underpinning knowledge for life’s tussles. And he demonstrated this quality in his ingenuity in digging out the NFC scandal where he exposed questionable practice and expenditure of NFC money by its top management, and in those revelations, succeeded in damning a senior UMNO minister from palace to cowshed .
Along the way, he has held in his possession a good deal of raw information that he, an accountant by training, analysed to bring his findings to light. There are few politicians with such professional qualities in this country.
Not someone with respectable political experience to his credit, Rafizi is nevertheless endowed with an exceptional aptitude in politics. He has not laid everything on the floor and set off a bomb to end it all just like that. On the contrary, he was slowly peeling off the onion, layer by layer.
With every layer he peeled back, people from the NFC or some political party would stand up to deny, and fall into his trap by doing so.
Thanks to his revelation, NFCorp chairman Mohamed Salleh Ismail was charged in a court, and his wife Shahrizat Jalil lost her Cabinet post. Rafizi’s sterling performance in the NFC disclosure has opened the eyes of Malaysians to the rise of a new sparkling political star.
Public interest
The Malaysian government now decides to charge Rafizi for disclosing the NFC accounts; he can be fined RM3 million or jailed three years if convicted. Indeed Rafizi has been implicated in the disclosure of classified information, but what if such disclosure has been done in the interest of the public?
Moreover, the prosecution could have contradicted the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, created by the government to fight corruption. Under the Act, informers exposing corrupt practices and other misconduct shall be immune from all civil and criminal charges.
Rafizi should be protected from, not subjected to, such charges.
Unwise
Politically speaking, prosecuting Rafizi is an unwise strategy. A new generation PKR leader often associated with a clean image, Rafizi has no past alliances with the Umno.
His open debate with Khairy Jamaluddin in Kuala Lumpur merely two months ago bore witness to his eloquence, sense of humour and gentleman-like disposition. Trying to bog down a rising star in politics will only invite more backlash from the public, doing him a huge favour by boosting his popularity.
Like Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, there is no turning back now for Rafizi. Prosecuting him will only energise him in his forward charge.
In fairness to Rafizi, I am posting to all readers in my blog a writer wrote this article below about Rafizi after reading many articles that were uncalled for and difficult to stomach.
A Young Tun Razak
Then there is Rafizi Ramli. If there is one person who has caused the Barisan government much embarrassment today it would be Rafizi. If Barisan, specifically UMNO, were to do badly in the next general elections, much of the credit would have to go to him, specifically his dogged pursuit of the National Feedlot Corporation scandal involving the family of Women's Minister Shahrizat Jalil as well as UMNO and the Barisan government.
Rafizi's tenacity matches his meticulousness in his pursuit of that national mess. Then in a brilliant display of strategy, he released the details in tantalizing bits and pieces, lulling his opponents. Shahrizat, her family, and UMNO leaders fell right into his trap.
When the first brief details were revealed, NFC officials quickly responded with their vigorous denials. Then having successfully lured them into the trap, Rafizi pounced upon them by revealing even more facts, forcing them to essentially recant their earlier denials. Continuing to underestimate Rafizi, they put forth another vigorous line of defense, only to be demolished by yet another revelation from him. Rafizi made them appear unbelievably stupid, embarrassingly incompetent, or both, quite apart from possibly breaking the law.
When Rafizi released the fact of the purchase of luxury condos, NFC officials initially denied it in and tried to gain the offensive by belittling Rafizi, only to quickly backtrack when he released even more specific details. This time they tried to rationalize the purchase as prudent "investment" decision!
The NFC managers were not the only ones snared by Rafizi. The Chief of Police initially dismissed the allegation only to backtrack and reopen the investigation. This time those wise investigating officers went public with their recommendation that NFC officials be charged for criminal breach of trust, essentially preempting his superiors who might be tempted to whitewash his work.
All these conflicting accounts prompted Law Minister Nazri Aziz to tell NFC officials to essentially shut up, a very unusual advice from a typically babbling politician.
Rafizi's biggest trap was to trigger Shahrizat's filing a defamation suit against him. In a civil suit, in contrast to a criminal one, both plaintiffs and defendants are subject to cross examinations. Now Rafizi will have a forum where those involved would have to testify under oath and in open court. This libel suit may prove to be the most effective way to expose the corrupt nexus of politics, government and business that so blighted our nation over the decades.
In terms of amount, at RM250 million this NFC scandal is but small change as compared to Bank Negara's foreign exchange debacle or the current Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, for example. What it lacks in monetary value however, is more than made up by the sordid details that would be exposed, especially the unbelievable greed and pure hubris of those UMNO Putras.
Rafizi Ramli very much reminds me of a young Tun Razak. Like him, Rafizi is from a village in east coast Malaysia, Kemaman (Trengganu for Rafizi, Pahang for Razak). Both were top students at Malay College, and both were sent to Britain on a scholarship to pursue professional studies, law for Razak and engineering for Rafizi. Again, both had promising careers before giving them up for politics. Razak could have been the first "native" Governor-General of British Malaysia. He gave that up to join UMNO at a time when there was no promise of success or material rewards. Rafizi had a "fast track" career in PETRONAS and could have been its future CEO but gave that up to join PKR at a time when the party had no political power.
Great organizations have great leaders. Everyone recognizes that. Less appreciated is that to maintain its greatness an organization must actively nurture its next generation of leaders. Failure to do so would doom the organization.
The late Tun Razak was acutely aware of this crucial aspect of leadership. In his frequent visits to the districts he was always on the look out for talent. On spotting one, he would bring that promising individual back to headquarters for what we would call today "fast tracking." Likewise Jack Welch, the legendary chief executive of GE. Whenever he toured the various units, he would ask those divisional heads to name two or three of their promising underlings. He would then ask those managers what they were doing to nurture the talents they had under their wings.
As a corollary to my observation, you can tell much about the potential for future greatness of an organization by looking at its next tier of leaders. It is for this reason that I am bullish on the future of PKR. The party is blessed with an abundance of young talent.
Currently in the news is its chief strategist, Rafizi Ramli (left with Khairy in London). It is a measure of the caliber of the young leaders in PKR that Rafizi's rising status does not diminish the other shining stars. Nurul Izzah Anwar, Nik Nazmi Ahmad and Sim Tze Szin are among the many stars that glitter PKR's sky. That augurs well for the future of not only PKR but also the nation.
The challenge for current PKR leaders is to keep these bright stars shining, for they in turn would attract others into their orbit. Bright talents attract other even brighter ones. They are not like dim candles; the only way to make a dim candle shine brighter (or appear so) is to snuff out the other candles. Bright stars welcome competition, for together they form an even brighter galaxy to light up the evening sky.
Razak's formidable adversary was the white-skinned, deeply-entrenched colonial-minded British; Rafizi's was equally formidable – those brown-skinned, deeply-entrenched feudal-minded warlords in UMNO masquerading as Malay nationalists.
It would be easy to dismiss Rafizi as another freelance muckraker or to call him names, as Women's Minister Shahrizat (left with Rafizi) did. It would be worse to underestimate him, as many in UMNO are. Those involved in this shameful greed of the NFC scandal would be better off answering the specifics exposed by Rafizi, and do so without insulting the intelligence of Malaysians.
Rafizi could not have secured those details and documents without the help of "insiders." That they have chosen to entrust him reflects their confidence in him. That is the measure of this bright young man.
Rafizi Ramli, Khairy Jamaluddin, Nik Nazmi, Tze Szin and Nurrul Izzah are not only PKR's or UMNO’s shining stars, they are also Malaysia's. It is young leaders of their caliber who will guide Malaysia to a bright future.
My pray to you both Rafizi Ramli and Khairy Jamaluddin - Either one or both have to be PM for Malaysia in the future, May Allah guide both of you to be among the top leaders in Malaysia in the coming years and his talent can be utilised to the full so that Malaysia is a better place to live for our future generations irrespective of race, religion, creed or gender. InsyaAllah..
Jazakallahukhairan Kathira
So the questions now - Who is Rafizi Ramli?
Rafizi has been endowed with brilliance, scoring exceptional academic and professional achievements, which means he possesses solid underpinning knowledge for life’s tussles. And he demonstrated this quality in his ingenuity in digging out the NFC scandal where he exposed questionable practice and expenditure of NFC money by its top management, and in those revelations, succeeded in damning a senior UMNO minister from palace to cowshed .
Along the way, he has held in his possession a good deal of raw information that he, an accountant by training, analysed to bring his findings to light. There are few politicians with such professional qualities in this country.
Not someone with respectable political experience to his credit, Rafizi is nevertheless endowed with an exceptional aptitude in politics. He has not laid everything on the floor and set off a bomb to end it all just like that. On the contrary, he was slowly peeling off the onion, layer by layer.
With every layer he peeled back, people from the NFC or some political party would stand up to deny, and fall into his trap by doing so.
Thanks to his revelation, NFCorp chairman Mohamed Salleh Ismail was charged in a court, and his wife Shahrizat Jalil lost her Cabinet post. Rafizi’s sterling performance in the NFC disclosure has opened the eyes of Malaysians to the rise of a new sparkling political star.
Public interest
The Malaysian government now decides to charge Rafizi for disclosing the NFC accounts; he can be fined RM3 million or jailed three years if convicted. Indeed Rafizi has been implicated in the disclosure of classified information, but what if such disclosure has been done in the interest of the public?
Moreover, the prosecution could have contradicted the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, created by the government to fight corruption. Under the Act, informers exposing corrupt practices and other misconduct shall be immune from all civil and criminal charges.
Rafizi should be protected from, not subjected to, such charges.
Unwise
Politically speaking, prosecuting Rafizi is an unwise strategy. A new generation PKR leader often associated with a clean image, Rafizi has no past alliances with the Umno.
His open debate with Khairy Jamaluddin in Kuala Lumpur merely two months ago bore witness to his eloquence, sense of humour and gentleman-like disposition. Trying to bog down a rising star in politics will only invite more backlash from the public, doing him a huge favour by boosting his popularity.
Like Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, there is no turning back now for Rafizi. Prosecuting him will only energise him in his forward charge.
In fairness to Rafizi, I am posting to all readers in my blog a writer wrote this article below about Rafizi after reading many articles that were uncalled for and difficult to stomach.
A Young Tun Razak
Then there is Rafizi Ramli. If there is one person who has caused the Barisan government much embarrassment today it would be Rafizi. If Barisan, specifically UMNO, were to do badly in the next general elections, much of the credit would have to go to him, specifically his dogged pursuit of the National Feedlot Corporation scandal involving the family of Women's Minister Shahrizat Jalil as well as UMNO and the Barisan government.
Rafizi's tenacity matches his meticulousness in his pursuit of that national mess. Then in a brilliant display of strategy, he released the details in tantalizing bits and pieces, lulling his opponents. Shahrizat, her family, and UMNO leaders fell right into his trap.
When the first brief details were revealed, NFC officials quickly responded with their vigorous denials. Then having successfully lured them into the trap, Rafizi pounced upon them by revealing even more facts, forcing them to essentially recant their earlier denials. Continuing to underestimate Rafizi, they put forth another vigorous line of defense, only to be demolished by yet another revelation from him. Rafizi made them appear unbelievably stupid, embarrassingly incompetent, or both, quite apart from possibly breaking the law.
When Rafizi released the fact of the purchase of luxury condos, NFC officials initially denied it in and tried to gain the offensive by belittling Rafizi, only to quickly backtrack when he released even more specific details. This time they tried to rationalize the purchase as prudent "investment" decision!
The NFC managers were not the only ones snared by Rafizi. The Chief of Police initially dismissed the allegation only to backtrack and reopen the investigation. This time those wise investigating officers went public with their recommendation that NFC officials be charged for criminal breach of trust, essentially preempting his superiors who might be tempted to whitewash his work.
All these conflicting accounts prompted Law Minister Nazri Aziz to tell NFC officials to essentially shut up, a very unusual advice from a typically babbling politician.
Rafizi's biggest trap was to trigger Shahrizat's filing a defamation suit against him. In a civil suit, in contrast to a criminal one, both plaintiffs and defendants are subject to cross examinations. Now Rafizi will have a forum where those involved would have to testify under oath and in open court. This libel suit may prove to be the most effective way to expose the corrupt nexus of politics, government and business that so blighted our nation over the decades.
In terms of amount, at RM250 million this NFC scandal is but small change as compared to Bank Negara's foreign exchange debacle or the current Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, for example. What it lacks in monetary value however, is more than made up by the sordid details that would be exposed, especially the unbelievable greed and pure hubris of those UMNO Putras.
Rafizi Ramli very much reminds me of a young Tun Razak. Like him, Rafizi is from a village in east coast Malaysia, Kemaman (Trengganu for Rafizi, Pahang for Razak). Both were top students at Malay College, and both were sent to Britain on a scholarship to pursue professional studies, law for Razak and engineering for Rafizi. Again, both had promising careers before giving them up for politics. Razak could have been the first "native" Governor-General of British Malaysia. He gave that up to join UMNO at a time when there was no promise of success or material rewards. Rafizi had a "fast track" career in PETRONAS and could have been its future CEO but gave that up to join PKR at a time when the party had no political power.
Great organizations have great leaders. Everyone recognizes that. Less appreciated is that to maintain its greatness an organization must actively nurture its next generation of leaders. Failure to do so would doom the organization.
The late Tun Razak was acutely aware of this crucial aspect of leadership. In his frequent visits to the districts he was always on the look out for talent. On spotting one, he would bring that promising individual back to headquarters for what we would call today "fast tracking." Likewise Jack Welch, the legendary chief executive of GE. Whenever he toured the various units, he would ask those divisional heads to name two or three of their promising underlings. He would then ask those managers what they were doing to nurture the talents they had under their wings.
As a corollary to my observation, you can tell much about the potential for future greatness of an organization by looking at its next tier of leaders. It is for this reason that I am bullish on the future of PKR. The party is blessed with an abundance of young talent.
Currently in the news is its chief strategist, Rafizi Ramli (left with Khairy in London). It is a measure of the caliber of the young leaders in PKR that Rafizi's rising status does not diminish the other shining stars. Nurul Izzah Anwar, Nik Nazmi Ahmad and Sim Tze Szin are among the many stars that glitter PKR's sky. That augurs well for the future of not only PKR but also the nation.
The challenge for current PKR leaders is to keep these bright stars shining, for they in turn would attract others into their orbit. Bright talents attract other even brighter ones. They are not like dim candles; the only way to make a dim candle shine brighter (or appear so) is to snuff out the other candles. Bright stars welcome competition, for together they form an even brighter galaxy to light up the evening sky.
Razak's formidable adversary was the white-skinned, deeply-entrenched colonial-minded British; Rafizi's was equally formidable – those brown-skinned, deeply-entrenched feudal-minded warlords in UMNO masquerading as Malay nationalists.
It would be easy to dismiss Rafizi as another freelance muckraker or to call him names, as Women's Minister Shahrizat (left with Rafizi) did. It would be worse to underestimate him, as many in UMNO are. Those involved in this shameful greed of the NFC scandal would be better off answering the specifics exposed by Rafizi, and do so without insulting the intelligence of Malaysians.
Rafizi could not have secured those details and documents without the help of "insiders." That they have chosen to entrust him reflects their confidence in him. That is the measure of this bright young man.
Rafizi Ramli, Khairy Jamaluddin, Nik Nazmi, Tze Szin and Nurrul Izzah are not only PKR's or UMNO’s shining stars, they are also Malaysia's. It is young leaders of their caliber who will guide Malaysia to a bright future.
My pray to you both Rafizi Ramli and Khairy Jamaluddin - Either one or both have to be PM for Malaysia in the future, May Allah guide both of you to be among the top leaders in Malaysia in the coming years and his talent can be utilised to the full so that Malaysia is a better place to live for our future generations irrespective of race, religion, creed or gender. InsyaAllah..
Jazakallahukhairan Kathira
Labels: Current Affairs
just my 2cents at 10:40 AM |
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