Glimpses of leadership

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THERE has been a flurry of invitations to upcoming conferences and seminars in conjunction with the 26th Asean summit taking place in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi from April 24-27. Coincidentally this week I have visited three Asean capitals which will inform my contributions to the events where I’m speaking.

First it was across the Second Link where I was forced to pay GST for the privilege of bringing in copies of my book ‘Roaming Beyond the Fence’ – after checking whether the book is allowed due to its “political content”. My audience at the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore the next day were most amused about this incident. Their questions, informed by a solid knowledge of our constitution and political history, revealed how concerned they were by what they saw as rising extremism enabled or catalysed by inter- or intra-party political contestation in Malaysia.

It was our turn to question the Singaporean Prime Minister that evening at the inaugural Singapore Forum. On loyalties in the region Lee Hsien Loong quoted a saying that “small countries have no right to a foreign policy”: they have to operate within the prevailing realities. In response to Ideas’ question on how governments should respond to demands for greater political participation and competition, he replied “with a team that has a mix of people with grey hair and young, vigorous people”. A very good sidestep.

The next morning Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered a keynote that began with a generous tribute to the late Lee Kuan Yew and outlined four forces that are changing Asia for the better: the “phenomenal growth of the middle class”, the rapid spread of entrepreneurship (ideology-free, unlike “capitalism”), connectivity (as opposed to 20th century preoccupations with sovereignty) and regionalism. After outlining familiar regional geopolitical issues, he returned home: “Indonesia can prove that democracy, Islam and modernity can live together.” It was a speech more Malaysians should have heard.

So was the lunchtime speech by Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam: a statesmanlike affirmation of economic competition over protectionism with some sound advice for keeping societies together: “give people the pride of their own religion and culture, but maximise common space and develop a common identity for the future”.

After the region’s physically smallest country I went to its least populous. In Bandar Seri Begawan, I saw and felt a common identity, defined by the national philosophy of Melayu Islam Beraja: not just in palaces and museums, but on the water of Kampung Ayer and homes as well. I asked many about hudud, and the responses approximated “we haven’t seen how it will be implemented”, but certainly constitutional and state-federal questions do not arise.

Now I’m in Asean’s largest and most populous country, where hudud is implemented in Aceh, after long-held demands for autonomy and political compromise. I’m in Jakarta with the Kuala Lumpur Business Club’s delegation, and during the meeting with Joko Widodo the priority was ascertaining the President’s attitude to foreign investment. “We are open,” he said in response to a question on foreign ownership in the plantation sector, and went on to emphasise four priority areas his government is focusing on to attract more investment: infrastructure, land, power and easing regulation.

It is sometimes the case when learning about foreign leaders to over-appreciate their merits while failing to appreciate local problems that don’t affect non-residents. But in the three countries I visited, I was questioned on what’s happening in Malaysia: in particular, why certain political actors are acting (or not acting) as they are.

The night before I started this mini-Asean tour, our Prime Minister featured in a televised pre-recorded interview. Some individuals and groups have declared that they are satisfied with his answers; others have said that they are not: in both cases it’s hard to tell whether they really think this or are just acting according to pre-determined political goals.

Evidently, the interview was keenly watched in neighbouring countries too, and I was often asked to comment. I explained that I was a supporter of the Prime Minister’s touted transformation agenda from the beginning. So many in civil society cheered him on as he said “the era of government knows best is over” and embarked on the New Economic Model, the Economic and Government Transformation Programmes, repealed the Internal Security Act and promised the same for the Sedition Act. It is tragic that many of these have been relegated or contradicted by later policy decisions, and political news is today dominated by a clash between the incumbent and a former Prime Minister.

This week I learnt something good about Asean: it encourages people to measure their leaders and institutions against their neighbours’.

Tunku Abidin Muhriz is president of Ideas.