There he goes again ...

In a speech to ....., Tengku Razali Hamzah reminisced about the good old "malaysian" days when our football was among the best in Asia, our prime ministers among the most respected (including one who was the most revered) and our economy was among the better ones in Asia. What he really meant that, at that time, he was among the top Malay elite and getting a good salary during the days when the word "inflation" was non-existent in Malaysia.

I must admit that Tengku Razali was one smart guy for he was young when he became a minister and a respected figure in Malaysian politics then. I remember listening to his interview on TV and admired how well he answered the questions, giving forceful and meaningful replies to some of the difficult questions given to him. Not only that, the formation and inception of Petronas, Pernas, Bank Bumiputra and many other institutions in the early 70s, was due to his initiative. He was of prime minister material had it not been for the untimely demise of Tun Razak, and the rise of Mahathir.

When under Mahathir, his position of Finance Minister was relegated to one of "Industry" Minister, albeit still an important portfolio. But his fall from grace came about when he miscalculated and challenged Mahathir to the presidentship of the UMNO party. Here, he was narrowly beaten. Mahathir being the incumbent president and being smarter and more determined than Razali made sure that the post, and subsequently the post of the PM of Malaysia, was his.

So it came to pass that from then onwards, Razali quietly faded away out of important political life, even trying to be a significant political force by setting up a new party to challenge UMNO. He got enough people to join him and even became influential in Kelantan but, lacking in determination, he disbanded the party and rejoined UMNO. He is now an old man whose views in politics occasionally appear in the mainstream media and on the internet but they are not taken seriously.

And so when he talks about how the country ought to be run, how the economy should be improved, or how ministers should behave and how Malaysia should conduct herself in a world of globalisation, reporters would only in fill their columns in the main media while bloggers just made inserts just to show that here was a "statesman" of standing when actually he himself has accumulated many hidden and personally repugnant secrets when he was an important political figure in the country

To be continued .......